Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

'Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close' is a novel written by Jonathan Safran Foer, following the life of nine year old Oskar Shell. On the morning of September 11th 2011, Oskar returns home from school to find five messages on the answering machine, all from his father, Thomas. Thomas is trapped in one of the Twin Towers, and his messages are full of despair, and are ultimately saying goodbye.

Soon after his father's death, Oskar breaks a blue vase that was in his parents room. Inside the vase is an envelope, and inside, a key with the word 'Black' written on it. Grief stricken, Oskar embarks on an urgent, secret mission to solve the mystery of the key by visiting every Black listed in the five boroughs of New York phone book. Through Oskar's mission, he meets a variety of different characters, all of whom teach him something different. But, he is unsuccessful in learning any information about the key.

Intertwined with Oskar's search are letters written by his grandparents, who are survivors of the 1945 fire bombing in Dresden, Germany. During the fire bombing, his grandparents lost everyone they had loved. Amongst those that died, was Mrs Schell's sister, Anna, who at the time was pregnant by Thomas Schell Senior. Thomas was so filled with grief that over time, he lost the capacity to speak. When Thomas senior meets Anna's sister years later in New York, he communicates with her only through writing. He does this usually with a notepad, and his tattooed palms: 'Yes' and 'No'. Brought together by mutual loss, their marriage was a pitiful affair. Their apartment is divided into two zones, 'Nothing' and 'Something' and they communicate primarily in silence. When Mrs Schell becomes pregnant, Thomas Senior leaves America to return to Dresden.

From Dresden, Thomas Senior writes Thomas hundreds of unsent letters, each trying to explain his unspeakable grief, loss, regret. Out of the hundreds letters, only one reaches Thomas. Thomas Senior returns from Dresden and is less than welcomed back into his wife's life. However, she has conditions of his return, which are to remain in the spare room in her apartment and he is not to see, meet or talk to Oskar. During Oskar's search, he eventually runs into Thomas Senior, who he refers to as "the renter", later realising that he is his grandfather.

Oskar finally tracks down the owner of the key after a little twist. William Black, the owner of the key, explains to Oskar how the key ended up in the vase. Oskar decides to share his biggest burden with William, that on September 11th, Oskar was in the house when his father was trying to call, but was too afraid to answer the phone and gave up the chance to talk to him for the last time. A while later, Oskar and Thomas Senior exhume Thomas' empty coffin and inside, they place the hundreds of unread letters. Oskar returns home and he and his mother reconcile, and she explains that she knew about his mission the whole time, and had called every Black listed in the phone book to explain the situation.

The novel closes, with a flip book of a man falling from one of the Towers. However, the pictures are ordered in reverse so that the man flies upward, safe.

This novel is absolutely heartbreaking, and even the humour of the protagonist does not hide the confusion, the pain, the torment that Oskar goes through. It's most definitely worth a read, be sure to have tissues at the ready!

Reviewed by Brogan Wilson