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A review by rorikae
The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki
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.
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