#1 Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (maybe you saw the movie) is by Jonathan Safran Foer. This story is about a boy named Oskar Schell, who's father, Thomas Schell, was recently killed in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. One day, while searching through his father's closet, he knocks over a vase. Inside the vase is a small envelope with the word "Black" written on it, and a small key inside. Oskar and his father loved to play games, especially ones with clues. Oskar knows that his father must have left this as some sort of clue for him, but he has no idea what it means. He is determined to figure out who or what Black is, and what the key is for. He began this journey, and so far he determined that "Black" must be someone's name. But there are many "Blacks" in Manhattan, so now Oskar has to figure out what he will do next. I am excited to see where his father's game will take him.
The case of Oskar and his key is the main story line. However, there has been one section so far that doesn't connect to Oskar's story at all. This section was a letter, written in 1963, addressed "To my unborn child". In this letter, the speaker explains how he became silent. He started losing the ability to say certain words. It started with him not being able to say the name, "Anna" (I do not know who that is). He starts losing other words, little by little, until he can't speak at all. He has the words YES and NO tattooed on the palms of his hands, and carries a book around with him, that he uses to write in so he can communicate. In this letter he tells his unborn son how me met his mother, and then the chapter ends. The letter was not signed, so I don't know who wrote the letter. This left me quite confused, but really interested to learn how it will tie into Oskar's story.
Oskar greatly admired his father, and the two were very close. Oskar's father would take him on adventures and tell fantastic bedtime stories. It is clear that Oskar is grieving the loss of his father, and he talks a lot about having "heavy boots". Certain things, like homeless people and his moms friend, Ron, give him "heavy boots". But other things like, touching his father's clothes and inventing things in his head, make his boots feel lighter. This is an interesting way to describe what I believe is the grief and sorrow that weighs him down. Foer was smart to describe it this way because it helps the reader better understand Oskar. Oskar is young, only nine years old, so his heavy boots are his way of expressing the grief that he is battling. This really helps me empathize with him, and to better feel the weight of this burden he constantly feels.
 Foer does a terrific job of creating Oskar's character for the reader. Oskar is a very interesting character, and there is a lot to know about him. I know he often has heavy boots, he bruises himself when he thinks too much about his father, he is seeing a therapist, he only wears white clothes (I'm interested to figure out why that is), he is very intelligent ( he takes French classes for fun), he is extremely curious and has a thirst for knowledge,and he can be very animated, chatty, and out going (he wrote letters to Stephen Hawking and Ringo Starr). Oskar is an interesting character, and I can't wait to see where his journey takes him.