When a book and a reader are meant for each other, both of them know it ...
After the tragic death of his father, fourteen-year-old Benny Oh begins to hear voices. The voices belong to the things in his house and sound variously pleasant, angry or sad. Then his mother develops a hoarding problem, and the voices grow more clamorous. So Benny seeks refuge in the silence of a large public library. There he meets a mesmerising street artist with a smug pet ferret; a homeless philosopher-poet; and his very own Book, who narrates Benny's life and teaches him to listen to the things that truly matter.
Blending unforgettable characters with jazz, climate change and our attachment to material possessions, this is classic Ruth Ozeki - bold, humane and heart-breaking.
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A Book must start somewhere. IN THE BEGINNING
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(@canongatebooks, 21 September 2021, 560 pages, borrowed from @GlasgowLib via @OverDriveInc)
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I've read and enjoyed other books by the author so was looking forward to The Book of Form and Emptiness. This is similar to her other books in that some very strange things happen. In this case, Benny hears voices but unusually these are voices from nature and objects around him rather than internal voices. The book is quite sad at times as Benny is diagnosed with a mental illness when his gift becomes common knowledge. My heart goes out to him and his mother who's struggling to keep it together and stop Child Protective Services from taking her son, her world from her. This is heart-breaking at times. I'd recommend it.