Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

Some books you read. This one you feel.

Meet Oskar Schell. He’s nine years old. An inventor, a Francophile, a tambourine player, a pacifist. He writes letters to Stephen Hawking and Ringo Starr. And he’s carrying a grief far too heavy for someone so small.

When Oskar finds a mysterious key tucked away in his late father’s closet—a father lost in the World Trade Center on 9/11—he sets off on an urgent, secret search through the five boroughs of New York. His mission? To find the lock that fits. Along the way, from Central Park to Coney Island to Harlem, he meets a wonderful, motley cast of survivors: a 103-year-old war reporter, a tour guide who never leaves the Empire State Building, and lovers both enraptured and scorned.

From the bestselling author of Everything Is Illuminated, Jonathan Safran Foer confronts the traumas of our recent history with humor, tenderness, and awe. What he discovers is solace in that most human quality: imagination.

This is a novel about loss and about the strange, stubborn hope that pulls us forward anyway. Oskar is endearing, exasperating, and utterly unforgettable—the kind of character who lingers long after the final page.

A modern classic that inspired the acclaimed film adaptation, this is a story to read slowly, on a rainy afternoon, with the sea just outside and a good cup of tea within reach.

Come find it on our shelves. We think it’ll find a permanent home on yours.

Additional information