The Boots Come Off...Reluctantly*

I finished this book as we drove to my parents' for Thanksgiving last week. I had to use a flashlight to read the last 30 pages or so. When I finished, I looked out the window for a long while, pretending not to be crying until Rhett asked, "Why the face?"

I'll tell you what, I love a novel that tells parallel stories. In Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, we get the story of Oskar and his journey to find a lock which will accept his key. But we also get the story of Oskar's grandparents, how they met, married, and never fell in love. The Older Schells came from Dresden, Germany after their town was bombed during WWII. There are many mysteries involving this side/back story that do not completely unfold until the end of the book, so I will not go into detail. You will have to discover them for yourself.

Though this book made me very sad, it also made me laugh out loud numerous times. One of those times involves Oskar's pet Buckminster, whose moniker resembles a certain female body part that, when said aloud, can sound very shocking. It rhymes with wussy.

It is bold of me to say so, but I will: This is one of my favorite books

of

all

time.

*This is part deux of my review for ELaIC. For the first part, see below.