Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Jonathan Safran Foer

May 2006 · Penguin UK

About this ebook

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

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From the critically acclaimed author of Here I Am, Everything is Illuminated and We are the Weather - a heartrending and unforgettable novel set in the aftermath of the 9/11

'Utterly engaging, hugely involving, tragic, funny and intensely moving... A heartbreaker' Spectator

'The most incredible fictional nine-year-old ever created... a funny, heart-rending portrayal of a child coping with disaster. It will have you biting back the tears' Glamour

'Pulsates with dazzling ideas' Times Literary Supplement

'It's a miracle... So impeccably imagined, so courageously executed, so everlastingly moving' Baltimore Sun

'Jonathan Safran Foer is a writer of considerable brilliance' Observer

In a vase in a closet, a couple of years after his father died in 9/11, nine-year-old Oskar discovers a key...

The key belonged to his father, he's sure of that. But which of New York's 162 million locks does it open?

So begins a quest that takes Oskar - inventor, letter-writer and amateur detective - across New York's five boroughs and into the jumbled lives of friends, relatives and complete strangers. He gets heavy boots, he gives himself little bruises and he inches ever nearer to the heart of a family mystery that stretches back fifty years. But will it take him any closer to, or even further from, his lost father?

Ratings and reviews

Bumped up because of some of the incrediblely harsh reviews. Some plots points are absurd. However, the book is still deeply satisfying to read. I throughly enjoyed it. I dont understand why people said they were confused by it. The novel was quite linear. Even with the grandparents occasional flashbacks. It was a fascinating read.

Absolutely adored this book. There is no other like it, which is sad because I love this style of writing and want more! It's so inspiring and makes you reflect on life and the world.

Couldn't put it down for a second.

About the author

Jonathan Safran Foer is the author of Everything Is Illuminated, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Eating Animals and Here I Am. He has also edited a new modern edition of the sacred Jewish Haggadah. Everything Is Illuminated won several literary prizes, including the National Jewish Book Award and the Guardian First Book Award. He edited the anthology A Convergence of Birds: Original Fiction and Poetry Inspired by the Work of Joseph Cornell, and his stories have been published in the Paris Review, Conjunctions and the New Yorker. Jonathan Safran Foer teaches Creative Writing at New York University.