Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close is the story of nine
year old Oskar Schell’s journey through New York
to find the lock that fits a mysterious key found in his father’s closet after
his death on September 11th. It
is a beautifully written, poignant and often hilarious story crafted in the
aftermath of one of America’s
biggest tragedies.
Oskar has only a single clue to help him along his journey,
the word Black written on the key’s envelope.
He begins this impossible task by figuring out that there are about 16
million locks in New York and deciding he’ll use his weekends to search it out
and find a new meaning behind his father’s untimely death. The story is told from multiple view points, interspersing
Oskar’s story with his Mother and Grandmother’s life stories, and the way they
deal with Thomas Schell’s life and death.
Oskar is a very bright and funny young man who kills time by dreaming up
inventions to make life easier for himself and people around him. His personality pops off the page and affects
the reader just as easily as it affects the other characters in the book.
The pacing of the book is broken up between the different
stories and sprinkled with full page pictures which at first glance may seem
unrelated, but always drive a point (or a joke) home and sometimes entire pages
have but a single sentence written on them.
The layout of the book lends well to the story, but it reads much faster
than it seems. It is as touching as it
is funny, as sad as it is uplifting and definitely should find its way into
your home.
9.0/10 Brilliant
Mahalo,
Duke