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The Book of Form and Emptiness: A Novel par…
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The Book of Form and Emptiness: A Novel (original 2021; édition 2021)

par Ruth Ozeki (Auteur)

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9893520,903 (4.13)114
"A brilliantly inventive new novel about loss, growing up, and our relationship with things, by the Booker Prize-finalist author of A Tale for the Time Being After the tragic death 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. 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, where "things happen." 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"--… (plus d'informations)
Membre:dandydancing
Titre:The Book of Form and Emptiness: A Novel
Auteurs:Ruth Ozeki (Auteur)
Info:Viking (2021), 560 pages
Collections:Owen, Votre bibliothèque
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The Book of Form and Emptiness par Ruth Ozeki (2021)

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» Voir aussi les 114 mentions

Affichage de 1-5 de 35 (suivant | tout afficher)
Winner of The Women's Prize for Fiction 2022!

4.5⭐️

The Book of Form and Emptiness is an astonishingly beautiful novel written by Ruth Ozeki. At the heart of this novel are Benny Oh and his mother Annabelle who are reeling from the shock of Benny’s father’s untimely death in an accident. A young sensitive 12 year old boy , Benny starts hearing inanimate objects speaking to him with their voices cluttering his mind. His mother deals with her emotions by hoarding material possessions. Benny’s problems cause him to exhibit behavior that gets him into trouble at school and subsequently institutionalized more than once while Annabelle struggles with guilt, grief and loneliness while trying to hold her family together.

What sets this novel apart is the unique narrative shared by Benny and his Book (The Book) which is telling Benny’s story to help him recall details of his life and emerge from the shell he has wrapped himself in. As The Book tells Benny, “We have to be real, even if it hurts, and that’s your doing. That was your philosophical question, remember? What is real? Every book has a question at its heart, and that was yours. Once the question is asked, it’s our job to help you find the answer. So, yes, we’re your book, Benny, but this is your story. We can help you, but in the end, only you can live your life."

Themes of love, family, grief, substance abuse and mental health are touched upon with great compassion by the author. As the narrative progresses, the author paints a compelling portrait of how our interpersonal relationships are impacted by the importance we give to material belongings and the clutter we allow in our lives. Our inability to comprehend the “impermanence of form, and the empty nature of all things” often costs us our human connections.

The profound impact that books can have on our lives is a running theme in this novel and is eloquently expressed throughout the narrative.
“Every person is trapped in their own particular bubble of delusion, and it’s every person’s task in life to break free. Books can help. We can make the past into the present, take you back in time and help you remember. We can show you things, shift your realities and widen your world, but the work of waking up is up to you.”

Adding to the depth of this novel are elements of magical realism and an interesting mix of characters such as the Zen Buddhist monk whose book on decluttering finds its way into Annabelle’s proximity, the European 'hobo’ Slavoj who befriends Benny in the library (the only place the voices are quiet and Benny finds some respite) and shares his wisdom and insight with him and a young teenage girl who calls herself The Aleph- ‘a gleaner, a freegan, an artist who worked with garbage’ who Benny meets while institutionalized.

The Book of Form and Emptiness is a complex, layered and lengthy novel that inspires pause and reflection. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and definitely recommend it. ( )
  srms.reads | Sep 4, 2023 |
I can't figure out why Ozeki wrote this. I've read 3 of her other books and loved them, but I could never get a handle on this one. It won the Women's Prize for Fiction last year and is highly regarded, but it created whiplash in this reader. It took forever for me to get into the atmosphere of it, and each time I did, it would take a quick 180-degree turn to some fresh disaster. I guess there's a movement now saying schizophrenia isn't a psychiatric illness, so she's bought into that. There's a large dollop of Marie Kondo with an overlying sauce of zen Budhism. You can say the characters are well-rounded in that you can see multiple sides to their characters, but the sides are pretty intense, all except for the mother who is just pitiful. I think ultimately I would have been just fine if I'd followed my first instincts and stopped reading after the first 50 pages. ( )
  Citizenjoyce | May 9, 2023 |
A story about a fractured family, reality, sanity, hoarding, Zen and books. After the accidental, drug related, death of Kenji, Annabelle and 14 year old Benny are left on their own with no family or friends. Annabelle, working from home and having to keep old work, literally buries herself hoarding and Benji hears objects and sometimes knows how they feel. The instability in this occupies most of the book and isn't an easy ride. ( )
1 voter quondame | Mar 21, 2023 |
Een vrij eenvoudig verhaalstramien wordt meer dan de moeite waard door de flarden magisch realisme en door de bekoorlijke schrijfstijl - doorspekt met korte flashbacks die het verhaal stofferen en boeiend maken - 490 bladzijden waar je traag en intens kan van genieten. Geen pageturner. ( )
  Baukis | Feb 12, 2023 |
Ik weet het, 2 sterren is erg mager en misschien zelfs onverdiend. Want dit boek is echt wel goed geschreven, met een heel inventief spel van dialoog tussen de vertellende stem (blijkbaar het boek zelf) en hoofdfiguur Benny Oh, een onzekere puber die de ‘stemmen van dingen’ hoort. Ozeki heeft er een interessante cocktail van gemaakt, met aandacht voor relevante maatschappelijke aspecten zowel aan de kant van Benny als van zijn moeder (voor die laatste kan je alleen maar sympathie voelen). En het is ook lekker vlot geschreven. Maar het modieuze ‘Zen’-sausje, via het selfhelp-boek Tidy Magic, en de magisch-realistische aspecten deed me afknappen. Ik vrees dat ik niet tot het doelpubliek hoor. ( )
  bookomaniac | Feb 10, 2023 |
Affichage de 1-5 de 35 (suivant | tout afficher)
The title – taken from the Buddhist heart sutra – implies a more earnest book than is the case; The Book of Form and Emptiness is a big, polyphonic, often comic, magical-realist collage of a novel [...]
ajouté par Nevov | modifierThe Observer, Stephanie Merritt (Oct 10, 2021)
 
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(Pro captu lecoris) habent sua fata libelli.
(According to the capabilities of the reader) books have their own destinies.
-Walter Benjamin, "Unpacking My Library."
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whose voice still guides me.
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A book must start somewhere. One brave letter must volunteer to go first, laying itself on the line in act of faith, from which a word takes heart and follows, drawing a sentence into its wake.
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Things are needy. They take up space. They want attention, and they will drive you mad if you let them.
Music or madness. It’s totally up to you.
Stories never start at the beginning, Benny. They differ from life in that regard. Life is lived from birth to death, from the beginning into an unknowable future. But stories are told in hindsight. Stories are life lived backward.
That’s what books are for, after all, to tell your stories, to hold them and keep them safe between our covers for as long as we’re able. We do our best to bring you pleasure and sustain your belief in the gravity of being human. We care about your feelings and believe in you completely.
Fantasies, being something that we books excel at. The real stories—the ones that happen—belong to you.
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"A brilliantly inventive new novel about loss, growing up, and our relationship with things, by the Booker Prize-finalist author of A Tale for the Time Being After the tragic death 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. 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, where "things happen." 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"--

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