Latest Read: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

If you looked up whimsical in the dictionary you'd find a picture of Jonathan Safran Foer... But even though it is packed with whimsy to an extent that borders on irritating at times, I did really enjoy this book, and just as much on a second reading.

It's about a hyper-precocious 9 year old called Oskar, who lost his father in 9/11 and is on a quest across New York to find the lock that fits a key that belonged to him. There's also a parallel plot about his grandparents from Dresden and their strange ways of coming to terms with tragedies.

I found it really sad, and it actually made me cry at a couple of points, which is pretty unusual for me. It explores the distance that's between people, and the sometime impossibility of communicating with those you love, so it's pretty downbeat, but I did feel that it had an element of optimism about it too.

At some points I did find it a bit too unrealistic, like the fact that Oskar only wears white (why does no one comment on this bizarre trait? where do you buy white trousers from anyway?) and that his mom only lets him watch approved documentaries on TV but doesn't stop him searching the internet for inappropriate and distressing material. But on the whole I was carried away by Foer's great writing and the genuinely intriguing mystery that carries the story.