Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki

51 reviews

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.

---

Content Warnings

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

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

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

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

---

Content Warnings

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

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

maviemerveilleuse's review against another edition

emotional mysterious 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? Yes

2.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, and Animal death

Minor: Child abuse and Sexual assault

teresareads'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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Car accident and Self harm

Minor: Alcohol, Drug use, Bullying, and Animal death

odyssia's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Car accident, Death of parent, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Police brutality, and Self harm

Minor: Mass/school shootings and Physical abuse

stellarya's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Addiction and Animal death

Minor: Sexual assault

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

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Ableism and Fatphobia

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

carabones's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Self harm

Moderate: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Fatphobia, Animal death, and Injury/Injury detail

rorikae's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

‘The Book of Form and Emptiness' by Ruth Ozeki is an investigation of grief through the life of a mother and son.
Life was going smoothly for Annabelle and Benny before an accident kills Kenji, Annabelle’s husband and Benny’s father. After Kenji’s death, their lives begin to unravel as they find their own unique ways to cope with their grief. Annabelle throws herself into her job and in the process begins to hoard more and more items as an archive. Benny begins to hear the voices of items talking to him. Their experiences and search for meaning within their grief begin to split mother and son apart at a time when they are in desperate need of each other’s support. 
Ozeki portrays an affecting if long winded look at grief. We follow along with Annabelle and Benny’s life and though I did come to care for the characters, I found myself ultimately frustrated by the length of this book. At 560 pages, this book is already on the longer side and the mediation on grief and the self-destructive behaviors each character undertakes as they deal with their loss made it feel all the longer. 
The character’s do go through arcs but it is relatively slow and feels like regression for 75% of the book. At about halfway through the story, I was quite bored and this continued for a good portion of the second half of the novel before a relatively quick resolution in the last 10% or so. 
I do appreciate how Ozeki discuses books and stories, especially as one of the characters in the story is the book being told. The interesting format, which stiches together normal narration with Benny’s perspective, snippets from a book that Annabelle is reading, and additional perspectives from characters as they come into the main characters' lives, did work and made my interest extend further than it would have otherwise. 
I think part of my frustration with this book is that I am not a literary fiction person. I enjoyed one of Ozeki’s previous books but that was in a book club setting where I was able to dissect more of the prose and delve into the themes. Read on its own, literary fiction, especially that about people dealing with grief or existential anguish almost always disappoints and frustrates me. If you are someone who enjoys reading these mediations on grief and existential woe, especially in a mostly contemporary setting than you may greatly enjoy ‘The Book of Form and Emptiness.’ I did come to care for the characters and their struggle though it felt like there was more book than we needed to get there. 

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Animal death

questingnotcoasting's review against another edition

challenging 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

4.0

I knew almost nothing about this but I've loved all Ozeki's previous books so wanted to pick this up as soon as it came out. It felt different from her other novels, I think because of its teenage boy protagonist, but I really enjoyed it. There was definitely some level of it which went over my head, as it's quite literary in the way it plays with form, but I really love her writing and characters. I was often frustrated by their actions but I also really empathised with them and was invested in their journeys.
It's nearly 600 pages and it covers so many themes, including grief, mental health, capitalism, art and books. I couldn't really see where it was heading and while there were parts I found more compelling than others, I was intrigued the whole way through. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Grief, Mental illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Animal death, Death, and Self harm

Minor: Sexual assault