hm...Very similar

In my last entry, I compared the formats of Everything is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close...not only are these stories similar in format, but in their plots and characters. First, both novels include portions that are in the present as well as flashbacks/storylines that are in the past. In ELIC the past portion pertains to Dresden and the grandparents' lives. In EIL, the "flashback" is the story of the main character's great-great-great-great-great grandmother. I think that Safran Foer uses this technique to add an additionally plotline that brings depth to the story. The second similarity includes the presence of old men. In ELIC, Oskar and Mr. Black help each other. In EIL, Brod (the great-great-great-great-great-grandmother) and her 80 year old "father" (Yankle) help each other get through life. Yankel is not Brod's real father, but she doesn't know that.

"Yankel didn't have the heart to tell her that he was not her father, that...it was her real father at the bottom of the river with her name," (77).

These similarities show how Jonathan Safran Foer transfers his writing styles and ideas to each of his books.