num_pages: 548
description:  A brilliantly inventive new novel about loss growing up and our relationship with things by the Booker Prize-finalist author of A Tale for the Time BeingAfter the tragic death of his beloved musician father fourteen-year-old Benny Oh begins to hear voices. The voices belong to the things in his house--a sneaker a broken Christmas ornament a piece of wilted lettuce. Although Benny doesn't understand what these things are saying he can sense their emotional tone; some are pleasant a gentle hum or coo but others are snide angry and full of pain. When his mother Annabelle develops a hoarding problem the voices grow more clamorous.At first Benny tries to ignore them but soon the voices follow him outside the house onto the street and at school driving him at last to seek refuge in the silence of a large public library where objects are well-behaved and know to speak in whispers. There Benny discovers a strange new world where things happen. He falls in love with a mesmerizing street artist with a smug pet ferret who uses the library as her performance space. He meets a homeless philosopher-poet who encourages him to ask important questions and find his own voice amongst the many.And he meets his very own Book--a talking thing--who narrates Benny's life and teaches him to listen to the things that truly matter.With its blend of sympathetic characters riveting plot and vibrant engagement with everything from jazz to climate change to our attachment to material possessions The Book of Form and Emptiness is classic Ruth Ozeki--bold wise poignant playful humane and heartbreaking.
language: English
title: The Book of Form and Emptiness
publisher: Viking