Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki

44 reviews

candournat's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book is honestly unreal!! I can’t even begin to explain how clever Ruth Ozeki is. 

The Book of Form and Emptiness is beautifully written, philosophical, and absolutely full of clever metaphor.

I cannot recommend it enough, I’ve honestly never enjoyed the form and structure of a book as much as I have with this one. Using the Book ( / Benny’s voices) as a narrator and having Benny give his thoughts on the direction of the story between chapters is so clever and original. 

It has truly cured my big book fear! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

aemulatio's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Self harm and Sexual content

Minor: Addiction, Animal death, Bullying, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Mass/school shootings, and Pregnancy

the_literarylinguist's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Self harm

karenmariscalo's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-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

5.0

 A book about empathy for all things and people.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Violence, and Car accident

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Fatphobia, Mass/school shootings, and Alcohol

feebles640's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Child abuse

prettycloud's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

4.5

She had me with the intriguing premise, but this book delivers a nuanced look at mental illness, a thoughtful exploration of grief (both individual and the climate change/post-Trump Weltschmerz), and a celebration of love in all its forms. If I could distill this book into a single idea, it would be the forces that divide us and the ways we can connect in spite of them. This book has a lot of pain and disconnection in it, but it gave me hope that we can all somehow make it out of *gestures vaguely* all of this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Self harm, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Police brutality, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism, Gun violence, Antisemitism, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and Classism

This book has a lot of heavy content but it does not stay in its dark parts long and its overall tone is hopeful. It never lingers on lurid details, and the narrators tend to talk around what's happening/has happened. Both the mother and son are traumatized and both have traumatic interactions with institutions of the state, and she

was sexually assaulted by her stepfather

.

The police violence includes violence at a protest and one of the periods of institutionalization. The institutionalization includes the threat of separation of mother and son.

greenwillow77's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, and Violence

hollyd19's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

 On more than one occasion while reading this book, I just wanted to hold it to my chest in a tight hug. The Book of Form and Emptiness is creative & thoughtful, with kindhearted, messy characters and a sensitive look at mental illness. It explores seemingly incongruous themes from climate change to the purpose of art to the power of found family.

The protagonist, Benny Oh, starts hearing voices after the unexpected and upsetting death of his beloved father. He realizes that the voices are the objects of the world trying to get his attention. On the whole, he finds their pleas overwhelming and he retreats into himself in search of solace. Ultimately, he finds comfort at the public library where things are literally quiet and orderly, and he meets a delightful cast of characters from the social margins who help him see his worth and sanity. Benny’s mother, Annabelle, wracked with grief, experiences her own breakdown and begins hoarding. Benny’s new “ability” clashes dramatically with Annabelle’s penchant for collecting, and the two have to figure out how to hold their little family together amidst their individual struggles.

Ruth Ozeki is incredibly inventive and this book definitely played with structure and perspective in an original way. The supporting cast of characters were all treated as full people which added immensely to my enjoyment.

My only critique of the book is that I wished for even more insight into the world Ozeki built around objects. The Book (a character in itself!) explains to Benny that there is a bit of a rift between Made and Unmade items, and occasionally goes on rants about how various objects (specifically books) view humanity. I really enjoyed those parts and they came with less and less frequency as the book progressed which was a bit of a bummer. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Body shaming, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, and Car accident

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

erica_palmisano's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Fascinating and inventive. The audiobook was really well produced and acted (there was a good amount of voice work). I recently listened to an interview of the author on the Ezra Klein show that illuminated aspects of the story and the background for writing it, and I appreciated it even more after listening. Despite the heavy themes, the story is hopeful, on the whole, and well told. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Drug use, Self harm, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Bullying

orianaa's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Ableism and Fatphobia

Minor: Animal death, Cursing, Violence, and Police brutality