Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

I just finished Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer.  I've had it on my shelf waiting for over a year now, and I should have read it before now.  It really is a remarkable book.  I don't want to give away plot points because I hate it when people do that for me, but it revolves around a boy named Oskar Schell who lost his father in the 9/11 attack.  He goes on a quest to find the answer to a mystery, the lock for a key, and that quest is absolutely magical.  There are echoes of Hamlet in it, and that work is referenced several times by name.  I suppose that's to be expected in any great tragedy of fathers and sons.  There are also moments of magic and wonder in it, too, as well as deep grief and beauty, as the story of Oskar's grandfather becomes woven into the story in unexpected ways. 

I never know what to think whenever a book is hyped and praised as much as this one was.  Frequently, I am deeply skeptical because some things become "media darlings" because of PR campaigns or certain celebrity's endorsements (cough -- OPRAH-- cough), but this one deserved all the credit it got.  I'm still digesting all the ways it was wonderful, from the inclusion of all the visual elements in it, some of which are, quite frankly difficult to look at, to the storyline itself.  It gently brings many hard issues up and deals with them in ways that I think are respectful but not soft.  That's so very, very hard to do, to look at things as emotionally-charged as this issue is and still be able to tell a story that pulls the reader in so compellingly.

I will reread this one, but it will probably be a little while.  Even though it's not a huge tome, it didn't take me long to read it.  It will, however take me quite some time to finish letting the echoes of it die down.