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A review by anfendy
The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This is my second book from Ozeki and dearly love the first one which was A Tale for the time being. Her book is known to be long, but her writing has always remained the same to me, it was smooth like a vanilla ice cream (that's just how I would describe it). Unlike the first novel, this was a bit more sadder and there's a bit more layer of humanity to it. Things I loved about the book:
1. I love how Annabelle and Benny are always connected through the writing, like when Anabelle says "murdered murder crows" and Benny says being "a patient patient". That was very witty and the author's hidden gem in saying that yes they are both in a spectrum or neurodivergent.
2. This unexplainable feeling of grief within people from the spectrum and having to have been placed in the role of caretaker, the telling of that story was incredibly poignant and I think a lot of thought has been put into this book.
But there of course some stuff that slightly bug me, for example, could it have been a shorter work? Yes, it could have but I think Ozeki had always intended to write these beautiful details surrounding the landscape and I think its really up to the reader's preference. One thing that really bug me was the ending, it feels hastened - you build really solid bones and really taken the time to draw this beautiful tension and imagery of humanity, only to end the way it did, was a bit underwhelming.
Overall a 4/5 for me on this one.
1. I love how Annabelle and Benny are always connected through the writing, like when Anabelle says "murdered murder crows" and Benny says being "a patient patient". That was very witty and the author's hidden gem in saying that yes they are both in a spectrum or neurodivergent.
2. This unexplainable feeling of grief within people from the spectrum and having to have been placed in the role of caretaker, the telling of that story was incredibly poignant and I think a lot of thought has been put into this book.
But there of course some stuff that slightly bug me, for example, could it have been a shorter work? Yes, it could have but I think Ozeki had always intended to write these beautiful details surrounding the landscape and I think its really up to the reader's preference. One thing that really bug me was the ending, it feels hastened - you build really solid bones and really taken the time to draw this beautiful tension and imagery of humanity, only to end the way it did, was a bit underwhelming.
Overall a 4/5 for me on this one.