The Book of Form and Emptiness By Ruth Ozeki

 

The Book of Form and Emptiness

By Ruth Ozeki

After Kenji Oh dies in the alleyway below his apartment, his wife Annabelle and their son Benny have to navigate the grief of his loss. Each finds comfort in two very different and self-destructive ways.

Annabelle finds solace in hoarding objects, imbuing them with personalities and memories. Benny starts to hear the voices of objects, particularly that of a book narrating his life, telling his history both before his birth and through his coming to terms with his father's death.

Benny and Annabelle have a hard time communicating with each other; Annabelle has a smothering personality and Benny finds her to be an embarrassment and does anything to avoid contact with her. As their behaviors increase in chaos, Benny starts taking to the streets in search of The Aleph, a homeless girl he meets in a youth mental health facility, and the Bottle Man, a homeless philosopher who encourages Benny to find his own voice to drown out the others he is hearing. Annabelle, under the threat of eviction and the CPS, has to get her hoarding under control, clean up her apartment, and deal with the great loss of the man she loved so much. Both Benny and Annabelle must face their anger and their grief in order to heal their own relationship. 

For me, this whole book was about communication and how people communicate when words aren't available or adequate to express their pain and their grief. Whether it's through drugs, hearing voices, holding on to things in place of the person you've lost, communication comes through in behaviors when words fail. It's also about the idea that no matter what pain comes your way, you have to keep writing your story.

I liked the writing very much. The whole premise of the conversation between Benny and The Book was an original one that was delightful. Their were maybe some extraneous bits to the book, but I may have missed the importance of them. All in all, it is a 4-star book for me.