Contact:
Leah Seupersad, 404-413-1354
University Relations
ATLANTA—“Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,” by award-winning novelist Jonathan Safran Foer, is this year’s selection for the GSU’s First-Year Book Program.
The First-Year Book Program aims to provide all incoming freshmen with a common intellectual experience to stimulate discussion, to promote critical thinking and to develop a sense of community, said Allison Calhoun-Brown, GSU’s academic director of student retention.
“The First-Year Book Program is a compelling way to get students excited about joining the intellectual community here at Georgia State University,” Calhoun-Brown said. “All first-year students will read the book and be able to engage and discuss the issues it raises both in an academic context and with their classmates.”
Every first-year student will be presented with a copy during the Incept: New Student Orientation. Students are expected to read the book by the first day of class.
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| "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" was selected for the First-Year Book Program because of its humor and innovative writing techniques. |
With the support of Provost Risa Palm, the First-Year Book Committee selected the book because of its humor and innovative writing techniques, which communicate a serious tale about loss, recovery and the power of the human spirit to heal, said Calhoun-Brown.
“Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,” tells the story of Oskar Schell, a nine-year-old boy who embarks on a mission in New York City after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. His goal is to find the lock that matches a key that belonged to his father who died in the attacks.
“Many of our students were young children when the World Trade Center was attacked, and they have grown up in a post-9/11 reality,” Calhoun-Brown said. “This fall, on the 10th anniversary of this tragedy, reading “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” provides an opportunity for us all to consider how to embrace life and find meaning in spite of the uncertainty and difficulty that, at times, exists in our lives and in the world.”
Throughout the fall semester, GSU will offer programs and events related to the book. Foer will kick-off those events as the keynote speaker at Freshmen Convocation on Sunday, Aug. 21.
Foer was awarded the American Place Theaters Literature to Life award for “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.” His first book, “Everything Is Illuminated,” also received numerous awards including the New York Public Library Young Lions Award and the National Jewish Book Award.
The book will also be covered in English Composition and in GSU 1010 New Student Orientation, among other courses.
GSU started the First-Year Book Program in 2010, with the inaugural selection “Outcasts United,” by Warren St. John.
For more information on the first year book or for upcoming events, visit http://www.gsu.edu/success/2011_first-year_book_selection.html.