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The book of form and emptiness a novel

"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 Being After the tragic death his beloved musician father, fourteen-year-old Benny Oh begins to hear voices. The voices belong to the things in...

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Main Author: Ozeki, Ruth, 1956- (Author)
Format: Books Print Book
Language: English
Published: New York City : Penguin Books, [2021]
Subjects:
Liggett, DJ tribute.
Teenage boys > Fiction.
Fathers > Death > Fiction.
Books > Fiction.
Public libraries > Fiction.
Compulsive hoarding > Fiction.
Asian Americans > Fiction.
Coming of age > Fiction.
Magic realist fiction.
Summary: "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 Being After the tragic death 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"--
Physical Description: 548 pages ; 24 cm
ISBN: 9780399563645
0399563644
Author Notes: Ruth Ozeki received degrees in English literature and Asian studies from Smith College. She is a novelist, filmmaker, and Zen Buddhist priest. Her first novel, My Year of Meats, was published in 1998. Her other novels include All Over Creation and A Tale for the Time-Being, which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. Her documentary and dramatic independent films, including Body of Correspondence and Halving the Bones, have been shown on PBS and at the Sundance Film Festival.

(Bowker Author Biography)

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