Luke reviewed Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki
Review of 'Book of Form and Emptiness' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Wow. What a book.
hardcover, 512 pages
English language
Published Sept. 20, 2021 by Viking.
4 stars
(2 reviews)
After the tragic death of his beloved musician father, fourteen-year-old Benny Oh begins to hear voices. The voices belong to the things in his house--a sneaker, a broken Christmas ornament, a piece of wilted lettuce. Although Benny doesn't understand what these things are saying, he can sense their emotional tone; some are pleasant, a gentle hum or coo, but others are snide, angry and full of pain. When his mother, Annabelle, develops a hoarding problem, the voices grow more clamorous.
Julie R reviewed The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki
The ending made me mad (a danger of long books)
4 stars
The excruciatingly detailed build-up of these characters and their descents into mental illness felt careful and correct. But the turn toward healing did not work for me, as it was a deus ex machina. It was also, imo, an unhealthy and toxic framing for the teen. I loathed the "book" sections. They felt condescending and irritated tf out of me. I wanted this book to be about 200 pages less. It was hard to read that much pain and trauma for so long without any respite. My favorite part was the window (I cried) and the Coping Cards (but I was mad she sort of stopped talking about them as a healing mechanism later on when he needed them most).
(My reading notes full of spoilers and quotes are here: persephoneknits.dreamwidth.org/10493.html)
Subjects
- Fiction
- Magical Realism
- Fantasy
- Contemporary