Research Catalog

The book of form and emptiness

Title: The book of form and emptiness / Ruth Ozeki.
Author: Ozeki, Ruth, 1956-
Publication: [New York, New York] : Viking, [2021]

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Item details
Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request for On-site Use Request Scan Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schwarzman Building to submit a request in person.	Text	Use in library	JFE 21-8056	Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315

Details

Description

548 pages; 24 cm

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"--

Subject

Genre/Form

Fiction.
Magic realist fiction.

Call Number

JFE 21-8056

ISBN

9780399563645
0399563644

LCCN

2021008787
40030743680

OCLC

1240264435

Author

Ozeki, Ruth, 1956- author.

Title

The book of form and emptiness / Ruth Ozeki.

Publisher

[New York, New York] : Viking, [2021]

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Other Form:

Online version: Ozeki, Ruth, The book of form and emptiness New York City : Penguin Books, 2021. 9780399563652 (DLC) 2021008788

Other Standard Identifier

40030743680

Research Call Number

JFE 21-8056

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