Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

Jonathan Safran Foer emerged as one of the most original writers of his generation with his best-selling debut novel, Everything Is Illuminated. Now, with humor, tenderness, and awe, he confronts the traumas of our recent history. What he discovers is solace in that most human quality, imagination.
Meet Oskar Schell, an inventor, Francophile, tambourine player, Shakespearean actor, jeweler, pacifist, correspondent with Stephen Hawking and Ringo Starr. He is nine years old. And he is on an urgent, secret search through the five boroughs of New York. His mission is to find the lock that fits a mysterious key belonging to his father, who died in the World Trade Center on 9/11.
An inspired innocent, Oskar is alternately endearing, exasperating, and hilarious as he careens from Central Park to Coney Island to Harlem on his search.

Let's join him on his search!

P.S. There is a movie coming out based on this book with Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock!

The Book Thief - Discussion Q7

Do you think the author's choice to have Death narrate was appropriate? How did it enhance (or take away) from the story?

The Book Thief - Discussion Q6

The book mentions Liesel's children and grandchildren, but no specifics about them or her husband. Do you think Liesel ends up marrying Max?

The Book Thief - Discussion Q5

Liesel lives to be an old woman. On the last page of the book (p. 550), Death says that he would
like to tell the book thief “about beauty and brutality. But what could I tell her about those things
that she didn’t already know?” How does her life represent beauty in the wake of brutality?

The Book Thief - Discussion Q4

Death says that Liesel was a girl “with a mountain to climb” (p. 86). What is her mountain?
Who are her climbing partners? What is her greatest obstacle?

The Book Thief - Discussion Q3

Compare and contrast the lives of Liesel and Max Vandenburg. How does Max’s life give Liesel
purpose? At what point do Liesel and Max become friends?

The Book Thief - Discussion Q2

Liesel has complex relationships with her foster parents, Hans and Rosa. In what ways do they
show how they feel about her and about each other? How do you feel about these relationships? Have you seen any like them?

The Book Thief - Discussion Q1

The Grave Diggers Handbook is the first book Liesel steals. What is significant about the titles of each of the books she steals? (Other titles, The Whistler, The Shoulder Shrug, The Dream Carrier and The Complete Duden Dictionary and Thesaurus).