Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer (Bookmarked: A Monthly Book Club)

Phil and Marisa Serafini (@serafinitv) unpack Foer’s ambitious 2005 novel about nine-year-old Oskar Schell, a mysterious key, and a city learning to live with grief after 9/11. We dig into Foer’s background and why he felt compelled to write about 9/11), the book’s inventive form (child narrator, epistolary letters, visual experiments, and that unforgettable flip-book ending), and the way a simple quest opens doors to connection across New York—Mr. Black, Abby, and the grandparents’ parallel love story. We explore big themes—loss, unanswered questions, and the search for closure. Up next in our Bookmarked series:-Brida - Paulo Coelho (October 2025)-Exile and the Kingdom - Albert Camus (November 2025)-Violet Thistlewaite Is Not a Villain Anymore - Emily Krempholtz (December 2025)-Marisa pick TBD (Jan 2026)-Marisa pick TBD (Feb 2026)-The Lost Bookshop - Evie Woods (March 2026)-Marisa pick TBD (April 2026)-How to Solve Your Own Murder - Kristen Perrin (May 2026)