The Book of Form and Emptiness

The author of A Tale for the Time Being, a nominee for the Booker Prize, returns with a dazzlingly imaginative new book about growing up, losing someone, and our relationship with objects.

Two years after his father, a beloved musician, passed away tragically, fourteen-year-old Benny Oh starts hearing voices. The objects in his home, such as a broken Christmas ornament, a piece of wilted lettuce, and sneakers, are the voices. Benny senses the emotional tone of these creatures even if he cannot understand what they are saying; some have a lovely, soothing hum or coo, while others are rude, angry, and hurting. The voices get louder when Annabelle, his mother, starts accumulating things.

Benny tries to ignore the voices at first, but they quickly follow him outside the house, onto the street, and to school. Eventually, he runs out of options and seeks solace in the quiet of a big public library, where well-mannered items are known to communicate in whispers. Benny finds himself in an unfamiliar place where "things happen." He falls in love with a captivating street performer who uses the library as her performance space and has a haughty pet ferret. He befriends a homeless poet and philosopher who inspires him to think critically and stand out from the crowd.

Additionally, he encounters his very own talking object, called Book, who tells Benny's life story and instructs him to pay attention to the things that really count.

Ruth Ozeki's classic The Book of Form and Emptiness is a blend of endearing characters, an engrossing plot, and a dynamic engagement with everything from jazz to climate change to our addiction to material stuff. It is brave, insightful, poignant, funny, humanistic, and devastating.