The Book of Form and Emptiness

It too a while to start to understand this book. A very clever idea of a book talking about a character’s life. I love the different takes on Benny hearing voices, especially towards the end of the book. The Dr believing Benny was imagining his friends… labelling him with so many‘conditions’, only to be proved wrong (then not taking responsibility for her mistake), the link to Zen Buddhists being able to hear objects speaking (inherited from Benny’s father), the affect of trauma on a family and the depiction of Annabelle, struggling to cope with her life and being a single parent. I loved the Tidy Magic book and it’s determination to be read! I’ve not read a book quite like this before and I read a lot. Brilliant and thought provoking.

This is a touching tale of a mother-and-son pair trying to find their way through life after their husband and father meets a grisly and untimely end.What makes Ozeki’s novel stand apart from other such stories is the way the book (yes, the metaphysical object itself) becomes an integral part of the novel. It is as much a character in the book even as it narrates the boy Benny Oh’s story as his mind unravels from the trauma and grief of losing his father.Ozeki’s conceit is not entirely new, in that it pays tribute to critical theory, gesturing to the alternative sites of meaning creation, where the text, reader and the writer are co-creators, though it is a little more complex than that, because she also examines the “thingness” (or nothingness) of things. And no wonder, as the multi-hyphenate author is also a Zen priest.The grieving widow Annabelle’s inability to control her hoarding habits and becoming overwhelmed by objects and possessions is a textbook case of someone who literally needs Tidy Magic written by none other than a Zen nun to help her sort out her life.It is less certain if the voices of things that the son Benny Oh hears and influences his actions, causing him to be isolated from the people around him, are signs of mental illness. Because the central construct of Ozeki’s novel is that the Book does speak to him, and what the reader engages with are essentially conversations and tussles between Benny and the Book and what they say of each other, and that explains why it is written in the first, second and third person.At times beguiling, as Ozeki engages with the relativity of reality, referencing the fantastic fiction of Borges, and at others, bewildering, as Ozeki inserts herself (presumably) as an unnamed character who observes Benny and types ceaselessly in a carrel of the Library that becomes a sort of refuge for the troubled boy. Or she could be the Japanese nun who writes Tidy Magic that is a book within a book.The pieces don’t all come together in the end, and maybe that is not what Ozeki sets out to do anyway, but as an experimental piece of writing that deploys metafiction to turn fiction on its head, the novel does deliver what David Mitchell promises the reader in a byline of the book, that “If you’ve lost your way with fiction… The Book of Form and Emptiness [will] light your way home.”

This book did fascinate me. It deals with Schizophrenia, hoarding, friendship, loss and basically ‘things’. Here ‘things’ are given voices, value and discourse on their place in the world. Really makes you think, and tells the story from a range of viewpoints. It is almost 5 stars but not quite! If you like books that are very different to the norm, you will like this.

I had read A Tale for the Time Being a couple of years ago and loved it so was very pleased that this novel(Ruth Ozeki's latest) had been chosen by my book club.It's a brick of a book at 592 pages. It appears to have 92 chapters but they are not structured in a conventional way. This books is about a boy and a book with a narrative that weaves between the two.The premise of the novel is fantastic - it has distinct elements and they fit together seamlessly from the start, often referencing each other and even talking between themselves.Mental health problems and grief are at the central core of the story. We explore how Benny and his Mum struggle with their lives after his father dies.I had hoped the book would sweep me in but I found that it never did and reading became a chore which was a major disappointment.I've never read a book quite like this one and would recommend it for it's curiosity value. I wanted it to flow more though and began to find the staccato style disruptive - I imagined that the reader was being encouraged to think like Benny but it didn't work for me.Benny and Annabelle were engaging and I wanted more of them. I think that the book's own narrative was unnecessary and made the novel far too long and rambling.I stuck with the book to the end as I loved the author's last book but vaguely resented the time that it took away from other books. The end (when I finally got there) was interesting but it won't be the conclusion of story that stays with me, it'll be the struggle to get there.Many elements which are interesting but they didn't work for me when they were put together.

A great book, with great stories. Full of life and compassion. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I looked forward to it every day.

I loved a Tale For ThenTime Being by Ruth Ozeki. So purchased this book with great expectations. It is beautifully written but needs a certain amount of commitment to read through to the end. However, the story of a mother and young boy’s loss when they lose the husband and father and the effect this has on their mental health is disturbing but thought provoking. As a Buddhist priest the author drops light strategies to manage life in general as she did with a Tale For The Time Being but this book is a harder journey and for me no where as enjoyable as her former book. I gave it 4 stars as it is a quality read and deserves it for sheer inventiveness.