After finishing Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and reviewing it, it seems like the book largely works to illustrate the elaborate distractions made to avoid reflecting on the ways we fail to communicate internal human emotions, which, I think, kind of works as a trauma in itself. It made me think a lot about Heidegger's Being and Time, and how we are constantly dealing with idle chatter (things to distract/desensitize us from the idea that everyone will die one day), and living life inauthentically. Grandfather Thomas marries Oskar's grandmother to avoid dealing with the death of Anna and their unborn child, Oskar's grandmother spends a major portion of her life creating rules, and typing blank pages, and Oskar spends his time in his head, inventing and bruising himself. In the book, Oskar's grandmother says, "I regret that it takes a life to learn how to live, Oskar. Because if I were able to live my life again, I would do things differently. I would change my life." This is really a sad thought. If proper language existed to communicate our feelings, we wouldn't have to create so many harmful distractions.