Extremely loud and incredibly close (Jonathan Safran Foer)

So, 9/11 is now one of these exceptional historic events that serve as the background and frame for literature… Feels strange because we can all still remember where we were and what we were thinking when we first saw the footage of these planes hitting the buildings. We are the people in the book.

Strangely, even though it is called “extremely loud…” this story focusses on the very quiet silence after the storm, one little boy left alone, looking for clues about his father, who was one of the victims, a boy obsessed with an impossible task that will take an indefinite amount of time, to be able to keep on searching instead of having to face the terrible truth. I liked this book because it is sad but not graphically so and it has a strong storyline that goes beyond the one historic event, stretching all the way back into World War 2. Apart from the good story and specific way of telling it, it also charmed me with a lot of half random photos spread through the book.

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