What are the motifs in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer?

A recurring idea in the story is love. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close deals with love in a number of ways, but all are tempered and conditioned by loss. Thomas Schell is a loving husband and father, who runs the jewelry business he hates because he loves the father he has never seen. When Thomas dies in the collapse of the World Trade Center, 11 Sep. 2001, his widow and his mother are drawn closer together and become more protective of nine-year-old Oskar. Riding to the empty-coffin funeral, Oskar is convinced Mom does not love him and wishes it were he being buried.