Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”

This is my book reccomendation for the day: “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” by Jonathan Safran Foer. Summary: A young boy named Oscar sets out to solve a mystery; a mystery of his “own making.” His father was killed in the WTC on 9-11, and Oscar later finds a single key in an envelope that reads, “Black” in his father’s personal effects. Oscar is a strange kid, by today’s standards. He doesn’t watch TV, has a business card(even tthough he’s only 9), has heros like Stephen Hawking and Jane Goodall and takes French lessons. Not in school, but French for the fun of it. He misses his father greatly and the journey/mystery of the key becomes his mission. I’ll not give the story away, but once he solves the mystery(sorta), he feels alone. His father is still dead and solving the mystery didn’t bring him back.
Intellectually, we all know that when we’re on a mission like Oscar’s, that if we finish said mission, the work is done. But, like Oscar found out, the enjoyment of the mission WAS the mission, not the finale.
Not sure about you, but I have several people in my life who just love, LOVE drama. They’d never claim to, but once things settle down, they find a way to have a “new mission” which stirs up more drama. This is not my idea of fun-but it is, apparently, to these people. Once things get settled(what they probably -say- they want), they realize they’re bored. Is there anything wrong with this? Uh, I’ll let you judge that for yourself. The main point that “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” made for me was that sometimes the journey is more important than the destination.