Struggling to get past chapter 3 on my first read several years back, I dismissed the novel as gimmicky and hokey. I never doubted the author’s skills, but always questioned his motives. Recently, film crews stationed in my neighborhood prepped the cinematic adaptation. Prior to the holiday release, I decided to revisit it. As a new father, it really struck a nerve with me. Jonathan Safran Foer’s “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” is actually a very, very touching and well-written book I’d like to endorse. It gives me extremely heavy boots that it took so long to (re)discover.
The fermentation is spontaneous. The author offers a reading. The painter invites you to a gallery opening. You’re so there, no question. You devour and consume the works. But you leave the room without word. You click the “like” button and you’re on your way. They go home, build and compose and create more continuing the vapid cycle. Like playing tennis with nobody on the other side of the net. You hold your head up high. You saw this, you read that. This relationship is not symbiotic, but forming curds. Sadly, yogurt has far more culture than you.
Richard is a technologist / satirist / skeptic hybrid species (genus : teknosatirskeptis). He has spent most of his life in New York City, aside from his undergrad stay at Syracuse University where he earned a degree in English while narrowly escaping hypothermia. He preaches quality by day at 