EAST LANSING, Mich. — The City of East Lansing and Michigan State University announce the One Book, One Community (OBOC) program’s 10th anniversary book selection, “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,” by New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Safran Foer.

Community members can meet the author as he kicks off the month-long OBOC 10th anniversary celebration on Sunday, Aug. 28 at 7 p.m. with a community talk and book signing at the East Lansing High School auditorium. On Monday, Aug. 29 he will also welcome the new MSU freshman class at the Academic Welcome in the Jack Breslin Student Events Center. Both events are free to the community.

A series of community and campus events are planned for this fall around the themes in “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,” a book that is about love, loss and the consequences of a tragic event in our nation's history. This year’s program simultaneously celebrates the 10th anniversary of OBOC, while also paying tribute to the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy.

About the Author
New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Safran Foer is best known for his novels “Everything Is Illuminated” and “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,” as well as his non-fiction book entitled “Eating Animals.”

A film adaptation of “Everything Is Illuminated,” starring Elijah Wood, was released in 2005 and a film adaptation of “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,” starring Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock, will be released in 2012.

About the Book
Foer’s wildly lauded, but controversial novel tells the story of young Oskar Schell’s hilarious and heartbreaking search to make sense of the death of his father in the World Trade Center on 9/11. One year after his father’s death, grief stricken, but undaunted, the nine-year-old boy sets out on an odyssey across the five boroughs of New York City in search of the owner of a mysterious key found in his father’s closet.

It’s not often a reader encounters a character quite like Oskar. He is engaging, endearing, exasperating, precocious, irritating and highly imaginative, as well as a sweetly suffering little boy who remembers his father as only a lonely child can. Along the way Oskar meets an assortment of New York City characters that show him compassion and encouragement. Oskar’s story is not about 9/11 itself; it’s about the consequences of that terrible terrorist act on those who survived. It is also a reflection of history repeating itself, as seen through the parallel suffering of Oskar’s grandparents, who survived the firebombing of Dresden during World War ll. 

Foer incorporates interconnecting storylines, photographs, drawings and a 14-page flip book to tell the story. While the 9/11 tragedy is the backdrop of this story, its universal theme is war and its inevitable feeling of loss, pain and suffering. Foer captures this theme with a writing style that is compassionate, while at the same time humorous.

About the Program
The annual OBOC program, sponsored by the City of East Lansing and Michigan State University, encourages the city-university community to read the same book and come together to discuss it in a variety of settings. First launched in 2001 by City and University representatives with Ray Bradbury’s classic “Fahrenheit 451,” the program has brought East Lansing’s diverse community together each academic year with a new book and talented author.

For additional information, please visit www.onebookeastlansing.com.

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