Book Review: Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

Oskar Schell and his Father shared a special relationship, filled with puzzles and games and fantastic stories such as the one of a mythic sixth borough in New York that used to sit right where Central Park is now until it floated away inch by inch. That all changed one day in September 2001, when the World Trade Center was struck, and his father died along with so many others. Now, a year later, he's still trying to cope not only with the death of his father, but how his Mother and Grandmother and the world around him have changed.

One day Oskar enters his Father's closet, someplace he hadn't been in quite a long time, and spies a blue vase high up on a shelf. He tries to get it down, causing it to fall and break instead. Clearing up the mess, he finds an envelope with the word "Black" written on the front, and inside a key. But a key to what? Could this be one last puzzle from his Father? Key in hand, he sets off on a quest around the five boroughs of New York to discover the lock into which this mysterious key fits and what mystery it holds for him.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close tells a very touchy story without pussyfooting around the topic of 9/11. It happened, and people need to deal with it and its consequences, just like Oskar does throughout his quest. Through his eyes, we learn not only how he lives with those events, but how his Mother -- and probably hundreds like her -- dealt with the loss of a loved one in the World Trade Center, posting a picture of him as one of the missing, the funeral without a body, getting on with living. What's great about this book is the characters: Oskar, who has a brain for facts and figures and tells things as they are; his Mother, helping him the only way she knows how by letting him find his own way; his Grandmother who suffered through the bombing of Dresden and with whom he keeps in constant contact via a baby monitor; Ruth Black who lives on the 86th floor of the Empire State Building; a Mr. Black who lives in the same building as Oskar, but has never left his apartment. Each one has a unique story, but at the same time, hints at a similar understanding to what Oskar's going through, dealing with loss.

At times, I had trouble following some of the unaddressed letters that appeared sprinkled here and there. I wasn't sure who wrote them or to whom they were addressed (though some of that was cleared up by the end of the book). I also thought the pictures and layout of some of the text -- a single sentence at the middle of the page, for example -- might be too gimmicky, but instead, they enhanced the story. Especially the series of photos at then end of the book; those gave me a smiling sense of hope.

A great story with wonderful characters and great writing. I found myself caught up in the story and Oskar's quest, and I think many readers will, too.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
by Jonathan Safran Foer
Mariner Books
ISBN: 0-618-71165-1
softcover, 355pp.

purchased copy

Image from The Book Cover Archive.