Extremely Moving and Incredibly Touching

“What about a teakettle? What if the spout opened and closed when the steam came out, so it would become a mouth, and it could whistle pretty melodies or do Shakespeare, or just crack up with me?” This is how Jonathon Safran Foer starts his novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, a novel that appropriately enough, has an opening chapter entitled “What The?”. It is with this type of language that Foer is able to draw his audience into the story. Through this first chapter, Foer is able to slowly build up the audience to the introduction of the main character, Oskar, a nine year old boy whose expansive imagination, and beloved savant-like innocence pulls at the heart strings of all that he meets.

As you read, you discover that Oskar has recently experienced the loss of a parent. While Foer doesn’t come right out and say it, Oskar’s father was one of the many victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks. It is this loss that is at the heart of the story. Oskar and his father shared a special bond, as special as any father and son could have. The loss of his father left a void in the young boy, a void that Oskar was having a difficult time both explaining and accepting.

In an attempt to rekindle the connection to his father, Oskar frequently spends time in his father’s closet. For as Oskar put it, “Even though Dad’s coffin was empty, his closet was full”. One evening, on the highest shelf of the closet, Oskar found an envelope hidden within a blue vase. In the envelope was a key, “It was a weird-looking key, obviously to something extremely important, because it was fatter and shorter than a normal key”.

Determined that this was a clue left for him by his father, Oskar sets out on a journey to discover the lock that the key belongs to. The journey to discover the hidden lock takes Oskar up and down the streets of New York. Along the way he meets a memorable cast of characters and learns many valuable lessons about love and loss.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is an amazing journey towards healing and acceptance; a story in which one learns that a day should never go by without saying “I love you”. Jonathon Safran Foer is a master at his craft and the story that he paints will capture your imagination and your heart.