This novel from Jonathan Safran Foer (recently named one of Granta Magazine's best young American novelists) deals directly with the aftermath of 9/11 and its effect on the lives of those who were touched by the tragedy. The story is (primarily) told from the viewpoint of youngster Oskar Schell, whose father was killed when the World Trade Center collapsed. Oskar, who was closer to his father than any other person in the world, tries to make sense of his loss. When he discovers a vase with a key inside of it in his father's closet, Oskar makes it his mission to understand what his father had to do with the key and with a mysterious person named Black. To that end, he sets out to meet every single person with the last name in New York City.

Along with Oskar, the story is also revealed through the journals of his grandfather (a man who cannot speak and must write everything down - he left his wife and unborn son many years ago) and letters of his grandmother.

The book might be a little too precious for some - Oskar is a brilliant young mastermind with great knowledge of certain things but who is clueless on other subjects. There are also several "devices" used to further the plot that some might find annoying, but I rather liked.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close actually comes to a bit of an abrupt end - as if Foer got tired of writing and just decided to wrap it all up. Even so, it's easy to get wrapped up in Oskar's story and see it through to the end.

This is a book that is hard to do justice in a review. The story is about the family of a man who lost his life in the World Trade Center during 9/11, but it's so much more than that. There is so much raw emotion in this book - love, loss, regret, fear, guilt, forgiveness, happiness, sadness - it would be hard not to be touched by it. The writing style is highly unconventional. Some pages have one or two words, some have so many you can't even read them, some are nothing but pictures or numbers; but as a whole it works really well to portray the minds and feelings of the characters. An amazing read.