Pages: 326
Rating: PG-13+ (for some language, and sexual references. No graphic sex scenes, but there are still a few references to characters "making love" with some vague descriptions. Also, Oskar informs the reader what he knows about sex from looking it up on the internet.)
Summary:Nine-year-old Oskar Schell has embarked on an urgent, secret mission that will take him through the five boroughs of New York. His goal is to find the lock that matches a mysterious key that belonged to his father, who died in the World Trade Center on the morning of September 11. This seemingly impossible task will bring Oskar into contact with survivors of all sorts on an exhilarating, affecting, often hilarious, and ultimately healing journey.
My Thoughts: So I read this book and then watched the movie. Personally, this book was not life-changing. It was interesting and definitely moving in a way, but I didn't feel like anything was really resolved at the end, or even that Oskar had healed in any way. I felt like the movie did a much better job of providing closure and healing in the end than the book did.
However, if you've only seen the movie, the book has the whole entire side story involving the Grandmother and Grandfather, who are much bigger characters in the book, and you get to hear their entire, sad story. Which really doesn't have much to do with Oskar, but it's interesting nonetheless.
I think the point of the whole book was for Oskar to realize that he is not the only person in the world who has suffered some sort of loss or sadness in his life. All of the people he come into contact with have dealt with a trial or tragedy of their own. We all just do the best we can to get through it, and if we can help other people out along the way, even better.
It also points out the senselessness of violence in the world. There's a part where Oskar plays for his class at school an interview with a Japanese person who survived the atom bomb. The horror she describes is just gut-wrenchingly awful, and there's almost a question of why do these things happen? But now that we can't change them, what do we do about it in the future? How do we go about living our lives without being scared of everything, like Oskar is?
In the end, I felt like I had to dig a little to get some meaning out of the book, but I think it was still worth reading. If you've seen the movie and were happy with it, then I don't think the book is necessary. But if you're interested in the grandparents' stories, then you need to read the book. It's quite the story.
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