Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

Schell is on a secret mission. On September 11, his father lost his life at the World Trade Center and he is trying to locate a mysterious key that belongs to his father. Oscar, nine, embarks on an exhilarating, impactful, entertaining, healing journey on the back of this seemingly impossible mission. We will see whether Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close brings the narrator closer or further away from his father by taking him on this exciting and adventurous journey.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: An Adventure in New York

The narrator is Oskar, a nine-year-old boy who lost his father Thomas as a result of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. In the wake of his father's death, Oscar struggles with insomnia, nervous breakdowns, and depression. As he struggles to cope with the depression, he describes it as a heavy boot. Similarly, he feels that someone is going to replace his father, which has strained his relationship with his mother. Oscar accidentally found a small envelope in his father's closet. Upon opening the envelope, he finds a key inside. He concludes that Black can provide answers to his questions regarding the key lock after finding the key lock. As a result of his curiosity, Oscar tries to locate any person with the surname Black in New York City who has the key lock. A nine-year-old boy has a lot of adventures planned for him during his mission, and many of these adventures are accompanied by his old and mysterious neighbor. Several months of Oskar Schell's journey are chronicled in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

A passage from Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close reads:

William takes Oskar to his office. William's father wrote a letter to every one of his friends before he died. After his father's death, William was unable to read his father's letter because he never got along with him. In the letter, William learned that his father had left him a key to a safety deposit box in a blue vase but no message for him personally. At an estate sale, William already sold all of his father's belongings, including the vase. Oskar's dad had bought the vase for his mom as a gift on their anniversary. He says Oskar's father seemed like a nice man, but William doesn't recall much about him.

A security deposit box is opened by William, who invites Oskar to open it with him, but he declines. On September 11, when he got home, he saw that his father had already left him a message. Oskar couldn't bring himself to pick up the phone when it rang again. When his dad needed him, Oskar blames himself. Oskar apologizes to William for keeping the truth from him. William accepts his apology.

About Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: The Struggle Between Self-Destruction and Self-Preservation

There are several parallel narratives throughout Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, which eventually merge with one another. Oskar, a boy with an intriguing and clever personality, is the focus of the adventure story. A story developed from another project of the author of the book, which he became interested in. The plot of 9/11 was combined with the character the author was creating, and his reaction to it shaped his story. The story is framed by deep trauma, mourning, family, and the conflict between self-destruction and self-preservation. A video is included in the book's final pages that shows a man falling from the center of world trade. This animation is such that it looks like the man is going up. Foer illustrates the similarities between World War II and 9/11 to show that dealing with trauma is the same as dealing with trauma again. It is also important to pay attention to the effect of the child's narrator on the effectiveness of the trauma. The novel was praised by many critics and managed to get a score of 4.2 out of 5 on Amazon. In 2009, Foer's baby narrator was featured in a Guardian article entitled 'Ten of the Best Child Narrators'. Spectator wrote that the book describes the suffering that is spreading across continents and generations, and at the same time has a very sad and heartbreaking story. Sam Manson says in a review of the book: The author has a natural talent for choosing important subjects and conveys his voice so loudly to the reader that it can be heard above its historical noise. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is the best book of the year selected by the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post Book World, Chicago Tribune, and is recommended for adventure enthusiasts.