The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki

4.05 AVERAGE

tastor's review

4.0
Really great book about books and other objects and how they fit into our lives. Kind of has a magic realism thing going where it uses the Zen concept of all things having voices and then runs with it, allowing the main character to hear the voices (which, because they come from everything end up severely messing with his life) and eventually hears the "voice" of his own book, the very one we are reading that is about him. This leads to all sorts of meta-territory, including the idea of stories that seem like they are going to go in these obvious satisfying narratives which instead take different "realistic" turns. I did think some of it dragged a bit and we could have gotten some more exploration of certain aspects but all in all it builds to a satisfying (if a little sad) conclusion.
ccarethe's profile picture

ccarethe's review

3.0
challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

lucydogmarks3's review

5.0
challenging emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

rpkgarcia62's review

3.0
challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

m00d_'s review

4.0
challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
Je moet er inkomen telkens als je het boek weer opend. Maar als je eenmaal bent begonnen is het moeilijk om het boek weg te leggen.
sawdustcharlie's profile picture

sawdustcharlie's review

4.5
hopeful sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
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friemesis's review against another edition

4.75
challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
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bloopinette's review

3.25
challenging emotional sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

dempsey_e's review

4.25
adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

tinkamasala's review against another edition

4.5
challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes