This book is told primarily from the point of view of 8-year old Oskar Schell, whose father was killed in the world trade center towers on 9/11 and who, a year or so later, is still dealing with the loss and grief. He appears to be a very intelligent kid but probably somewhere on the autism spectrum (based both on his behaviour in the book, and the fact his therapist Dr. Fein suggests to his mother that he might be put in some kind of special care facility). Oskar finds a key in his father's closet and makes it his mission to find the lock it fits; the only clue he has is the name "Black" written on the envelope it was in, so he begins an epic journey to speak to every person named Black in New York city.

Interspersed with Oskar's key mission are back stories from his grandparents: his grandmother, who lives across the street now and helps care for Oskar, and his grandfather, who vanished before Oskar's father was born but whose story is told through a series of unsent letters he wrote to his son. Oskar's grandparents survived the fire bombing of Dresden and their stories unwind in parallel to Oskar's search for the lock that his key will open - which he's become convinced will somehow bring him closer to his father.

There were some moments of charm in the book and I was curious to find out what the key would eventually unlock, but there were also a lot of very annoying characters and unbelievable circumstances, not to mention a generous helping of trite melancholy. It seemed to me as if the author was trying to imitate something like "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time", where Precocious Autistic Spectrum Child Observes World, Solves Mysteries, only not as well. The plot and prose often felt rather forced, and Oskar's awkwardness - while probably supposed to illustrate his childish innocence and/or autism - was often simply silly or offputting. The complete inability of anyone in his family to communicate anything to each other was stretched past the point of believably. And the idea that his mother would seriously allow an 8 year old child to wander around New York city talking to strangers for months or sneaking out past midnight for no reason known to her is just preposterous.

Overall the book just asked me to stretch my credulity way further than I can do and still enjoy the story.