Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Trailer

Uh-oh, guys, the trailer is here for Jonathan Safran Foer's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.



Honestly, I'm not sure what to think. I definitely think it's time for me to reread this book.

Part of me doesn't get it. This book is so deep in Oskar's head and so much of the story depends on the words. On the unseen. Not on things you can really translate into film. I think it will be interesting to see how the filmmakers try to get across that same sense of wonderment and sadness at the world and life and death. Sometimes, words just do it better.

I'd like to see how they are going to translate the emotion these passages carry to film:

“I felt, that night, on that stage, under that skull, incredibly close to everything in the universe, but also extremely alone. I wondered, for the first time in my life, if life was worth all the work it took to live. What exactly made it worth it? What's so horrible about being dead forever, and not feeling anything, and not even dreaming? What's so great about feeling and dreaming?”

“Feathers filled the small room. Our laughter kept the feathers in the air. I thought about birds. Could they fly is there wasn't someone, somewhere, laughing?”

“I tried the key in all the doors, even though he said he didn't recognize it. It's not that I didn't trust him, becuase I did. It's that at the end of my search I wanted to be able to say: I don't know how I could have tried harder.”

One thing I hope this film does that I think was a great move for Everything is Illuminated is completely taking out the storyline between his grandparents. I know some people loved it, but I found myself wanting those parts to be over so I could get back to Oskar. It just seemed like he was trying so hard to be meaningful and obscure. That's how I felt with the storyline of Trachimbrod in Everything is Illuminated, too, though it was definitely more enjoyable than the grandparents. My preference for Safran Foer's storylines:

Oskar's quest in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Alex's letters/story in Everything Is Illuminated
The History of Trachimbrod written by Jonathan in Everything Is Illuminated
Grandparents' love story in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close


But enough about me. What do you think of the trailer? Have you read the book? Will you now?