Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Foers

It's six o'clock on the last night in January and I just finished reading this book.  Perhaps it's too soon to begin writing this, but perhaps not, perhaps now is best.  I'm fresh from the last pages, my hands just free from cradling the binding, and I'm not sure how I feel.  There's an overwhelming sadness that lingers after putting down this book that makes me want to sit and stare, draw the curtains and be alone with my gloom.

But then again, it's not really my gloom to claim.  This sadness is not mine, but Oskar Schell's. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close follows this 9-year-old boy's search for his father who was killed in the September 11 terrorist attacks.  He knows his father is dead, but a mysterious key left behind in his dad's possessions drives him to search for the lock,hoping to find some piece of his father he never knew before.  The lock provides Oskar with a ghost of sorts, a lingering presence, that proves his dad is still a part of his life as it keeps him awake at night and has him tirelessly searching for some unknown conclusion.

Using the only clue provided to him, the name "Black" written on the envelope in which the key was found, Oskar begins a city-wide search for something he believes was important to his father and is thus important to himself.  Along the way he meets people of all sorts and makes friends in the most unlikely places, from the top of the Empire State Building to the apartment above him.  He even, unbeknownst to him, meets his own absentee grandfather, who can neither speak nor admit his identity to Oskar after a promise to his ex-wife.  All are uncommonly friendly to him and offer aid in his quest, providing little help in locating the lock but keeping him fueled with cookies and lemonade nonetheless.  There is resolution to Oskar's search, in the end, but the answers he gets are not what he was looking for and he is forced to find closure n something other than the now-open lock.

Jonathan Foers narrates his tale not only in Oskar's present, but in letters from his grandparents past.  These letters are like memoirs, explanations of what happened in years before that shaped and molded the years to come.  They are addressed to both Oskar and his father and gain significance as the story progresses, showing the ties and parallels between father and son, between generation and generation.  In the end, they are the sum of everything unsaid and everything missed, being penned and then buried to give peace at last. 

Oskar's story is heartwrenching.  His pain is tangible and his suffering immense.  In attempting to come to terms with his fathers death, he both loses touch with the world and becomes a greater part of it, searching for meaning where there is none to be found.  While humorous at times and undoubtedly sweet, his story is chiefly that of a hurt little boy crying out for his father.  An exquisitely fine work of storytelling magic, Extremely Loud and incredibly Close screams to be read by all those who feel and who loved and have lost.  9/10