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A child’s-eye view of 9/11. A new literary sub-genre is surely called for, that of the “precocious child on personal quest” novel - recent examples include The Secret Friend by Donna Tartt and Nicole Krauss’ The History Of Love. Now here comes Krauss spouse Jonathan Safran Foer, with a poignant (aren’t they all?) post-9/11 epic about nine-year-old Oskar Schell, made fatherless after the towers collapsed and determined to uncover the purpose of a mysterious key he finds in his father’s belongings.With Oskar’s ruthless optimism, analytical brain and nerdish compulsions, his chapters are staggering. Full of subtle themes and infused with a child’s logic, they’re also brutally funny. This in contrast with the letters written by Oskar’s estranged grandparents, which are soggy and clogged with ponderous attempts to delve into notions of grief and loss by drawing parallels between 9/11 and the 1945 bombing of Dresden. Close for sure, but not that close.  conversations
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