Literature Companion: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

By History World

The narrator of the novel is Oskar Schell, a nine-year old boy. The story basically revolves around Oskar’s discovery of a key in a vase that belonged to his father and search around New York to get more information about the key.

The story is written in first person narrative; however, the narrative keeps on shifting between the perspectives of Oskar and the perspectives of his grandparents.

There are different time periods but there is not fixed chronology. Different images and innovative formatting have been used to explore different perspectives of the characters on tragedy.

Literature Companion: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Copyright
Chapter One: Introduction
Chapter Two: Plot Overview
Chapter Three: History and Background
Chapter Four: Characters
Chapter Five: Complete Summary
Chapter Six: Critical Analysis

• Language: English
• Publisher: Raja Sharma
• Release date: Oct 4, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310593000

Book preview

Literature Companion: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

History World

Copyright

Literature Companion: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

History World

Copyright@2014 History World

Smashwords Edition

All rights reserved

Chapter One: Introduction

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer was first published in 2005. The book immediately made it the bestsellers list in no time. It was highly admired by both readers and reviewers, but the critical reviews were mixed, both positive and negative.

The narrator of the novel is Oskar Schell, a nine-year old boy. The story basically revolves around Oskar’s discovery of a key in a vase that belonged to his father and search around New York to get more information about the key.

The story is written in first person narrative; however, the narrative keeps on shifting between the perspectives of Oskar and the perspectives of his grandparents.

There are different time periods but there is not fixed chronology. Different images and innovative formatting have been used to explore different perspectives of the characters on tragedy.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close was adapted into a movie in the year 2011. Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock were the leading stars in the movie. The movie was nominated for several prestigious movie awards. It was also nominated in the category of Best Picture and Best Supporting actor at Academy Awards in the year 2013.

Since the time of its publication, the novel has not lost its popularity. It has now found its place in several schools and colleges around the world. It is often read in both high schools and colleges. It is also extensively discussed in academic circles around the world.

Chapter Two: Plot Overview

Oskar Schell is the narrator of the novel. He is a nine-year old boy. He is the central character.

Thomas Schell, his father, had died in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on 11th of September, 2001.

The story of the novel begins after the WTC tragedy. Oscar begins to narrate the events. He says that after the death of his father, he has been suffering from insomnia. He has sudden panic attacks and he is often depressed.

To describe his feeling of depression he says that it feels as if he is wearing heavy boots.

One day, he searches his father’s closet. In that closet he finds a small envelope inside a vase. When he opens that envelope, he finds a key. He looks at the envelope and finds the word Black written on the outside in the top left corner of the envelope.

He gets curious and decides to know more about that key. He sets out with a mission to find every person in New York City who has the last name Black. He begins his search in alphabetical order.

Oskar hopes that he