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agiali 's review for:
The Book of Form and Emptiness
by Ruth Ozeki
The Book of Form and Emptiness is the most unique book made for book lovers I have ever read.
As a lover of Ruth Ozeki, this was my third book from her, my first two being A Tale for the Time Being and My Year of Meats. However, this was the first book from the author that I had heard of and wanted to read. Although intimidating in size, this story will captivate you unlike any other.
The Book of Form and Emptiness surrounds the story of Benny Oh, who a year after his father's death begins to hear voices from inanimate objects. Although he originally tries to ignore it, the voices lead him down multiple paths; all of which lead him to the mysterious library. Centered around grief and the mother-son relationship that changes afterward, the uniqueness of this story comes from its format—told from two points of view across five different parts, "The Book" and "Benny". The POV of "The Book" tells Benny's story in such a meta way. Meaning, you get Benny's story, but the book itself critiques not only Benny, but readers, and fills you in on how books feel. Benny's POV comes across sparsely, but when it is there, it is mostly him jumping in on the story and adding in his own two cents.
I genuinely believe this is going to be my favorite book of Ozeki's, even though I have one fiction title and one memoir left to read, but I just don't see how anything else could top this. Although I wish she had more books, I am happy that Ozeki savors and lets her books sit with her genius mind and doesn't pump them out every year or two. This book is so genius and I would recommend it to fans of Anthony Doerr's Cloud Cuckoo Land and Erin Morgenstern's The Starless Sea if you don't mind a mundane setting.
I wish I had more words to speak about how much this book made me FEEL, but by the end, it just left me speechless.
Oh, to find my soul book!
As a lover of Ruth Ozeki, this was my third book from her, my first two being A Tale for the Time Being and My Year of Meats. However, this was the first book from the author that I had heard of and wanted to read. Although intimidating in size, this story will captivate you unlike any other.
The Book of Form and Emptiness surrounds the story of Benny Oh, who a year after his father's death begins to hear voices from inanimate objects. Although he originally tries to ignore it, the voices lead him down multiple paths; all of which lead him to the mysterious library. Centered around grief and the mother-son relationship that changes afterward, the uniqueness of this story comes from its format—told from two points of view across five different parts, "The Book" and "Benny". The POV of "The Book" tells Benny's story in such a meta way. Meaning, you get Benny's story, but the book itself critiques not only Benny, but readers, and fills you in on how books feel. Benny's POV comes across sparsely, but when it is there, it is mostly him jumping in on the story and adding in his own two cents.
I genuinely believe this is going to be my favorite book of Ozeki's, even though I have one fiction title and one memoir left to read, but I just don't see how anything else could top this. Although I wish she had more books, I am happy that Ozeki savors and lets her books sit with her genius mind and doesn't pump them out every year or two. This book is so genius and I would recommend it to fans of Anthony Doerr's Cloud Cuckoo Land and Erin Morgenstern's The Starless Sea if you don't mind a mundane setting.
I wish I had more words to speak about how much this book made me FEEL, but by the end, it just left me speechless.
Oh, to find my soul book!