Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Chapter 8 Summary

How It All Goes Down

My Feelings

  • Grandma writes from the airport, but she says they aren't going anywhere. Delayed because of the polar vortex perhaps?
  • She tells Oskar that she misses him already, then she transitions to talking about the early days of their marriage.
  • He would often bring her own magazines so she could learn English expressions (LiLo, Kardashian, junk in the trunk, etc.).
  • She tells us about her first Halloween. She didn't understand she was supposed to hand out candy, so she paid a young ghost some cash to go away.
  • Also, a confession: she only pretended to type her life story by hitting the space bar over and over again because her life story was filled with spaces.
  • She decides that she needs a child, despite this being against the first rule they set, and she tells Grandpa that she's pregnant.
  • So he leaves her.
  • She knows he's leaving because his suitcase is heavy, so she follows him to the airport.
  • She convinces him to stay, so he goes home with her.
  • But only for a day. He packs again, and leaves for the airport.
  • This time, he doesn't come back.
  • Grandma feels the baby kick, and she decides to release all the animals in the apartment, which must look like the boarding house from Babe: Pig in the City by this point.
  • They leave and don't come back, just like her husband.