The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki

The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki

Heart-breaking and heart-healing--The Book of Form and Emptiness is a triumph. --Matt Haig, New York Times bestselling author of The Midnight Library

A brilliantly inventive novel about loss, growing up, and our relationship with things

One year after the death of his beloved musician father, thirteen-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.

At first, Benny tries to ignore them, but soon the voices follow him outside the house, onto the street and at school, driving him at last to seek refuge in the silence of a large public library, where objects are well-behaved and know to speak in whispers. There, Benny discovers a strange new world. He falls in love with a mesmerizing street artist with a smug pet ferret, who uses the library as her performance space. He meets a homeless philosopher-poet, who encourages him to ask important questions and find his own voice amongst the many.

And he meets his very own Book--a talking thing--who narrates Benny's life and teaches him to listen to the things that truly matter.

With its blend of sympathetic characters, riveting plot, and vibrant engagement with everything from jazz, to climate change, to our attachment to material possessions, The Book of Form and Emptiness is classic Ruth Ozeki--bold, wise, poignant, playful, humane and heartbreaking.

Ruth Ozeki is a novelist and filmmaker who has received numerous honors in both fields. Her first novel, My Year of Meats, won the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Award, the Imus/Barnes & Noble American Book Award, and the World Cookbook Awards' Special Jury Prize in Versailles. All Over Creation was a New York Times Notable Book, as well as the American Book Prize and the WILLA Literary Award for Contemporary Fiction in 2004. The Independent called her award-winning novels as witty, clever, and passionate, while the Chicago Tribune praised them for their sharp and lively humor, sensuous sexuality, and energetic pizzazz. She began her media career as a film art director, then moved on to directing television documentaries before launching her own production company, Body of Communication, which won the New Visions Award at the San Francisco Film Festival. She is a regular lecturer on college and university campuses and is a member of the Asian American Literary Review's advisory editorial board.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780399563645
ISBN 10	0399563644
Title	The Book of Form and Emptiness
Author	Ruth Ozeki
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Penguin Putnam Inc
Year published	2021-09-21
Number of pages	560
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.