Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is a story about a 9 year old boy whose dad dies in the 9/11 attack. His name is Oskar Schell, and he is scared of so many things, but he and his dad have always had a tradition of having little missions made for Oskar. On 9/11, Oskar is sent home from school early. As he arrives the phone starts ringing; it's his father. He leaves 6 messages that day, none of which he picks up. He is rooted in place, just standing and hearing his father's last words.

The book then goes on to follow Oskar to finding a key in an envelope saying "Black" on it. He is determined to find what the key opens, and thinks it's a last message from his dad. The book follows him through every visit to every person named Black in New York.

This book is written really well. The author uses run-on sentences to build intensity and it works really well. I find myself holding my breath during them, just waiting for them to end. There is also a movie based on this book, but they have changed tons of small details. I think some of the small details that are different in the movie should be like that in the book, as they just round everything out and tie up loose ends.