The Book of Form and Emptiness - Ruth Ozeki

 It is little wonder that a book as philosophically ambitious and substantial as this should be short listed for a major award. Sprinkled with Zen spirituality and the very essence of books themselves, The Book of Form and Emptiness will tear at your heart and soul as you accompany Benny and Annabelle through their journey of grief.

‘After the tragic death of his father, thirteen-year-old Benny Oh begins to hear voices. The voices belong to the things in his house and sound variously pleasant, angry or sad. The 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 ourattachment to material possessions, this is classic Ruth Ozeki - bold, humane and heartbreaking.’

Functioning on several levels the book could be seen as a coming of age story, an exploration of grief, an examination of mental health perceptions, an indictment of contemporary materialism and a celebration of the beauty, solace and wisdom of books. Cementing all of these together is the pure philosophy of the Book - the form and emptiness -  of all things.

There is a subtle and nuanced beauty in the writing in spite of the troubled circumstances and problems bombarding the characters. There are times when there seems to be a sense of despair for both Benny and Annabelle but we go beyond that veneer to understand the dignity of being different, being yourself, being true to yourself when all around people would prefer to bend you into a compartment of conformity. 

There is an interesting passage where a Zen monk talks about earthquakes in Japan and the tsunami in Indonesia and I saw a parallel with the seismic waves of human life and how we are all struggling to survive our own personal storms. 

And the narrative itself was like a piece of improvised jazz where all players knew when to play their part, accentuating their own virtuosity but knowing that, ultimately, everything is part of one big whole. 

The idea of books having a voice is a paradox since we believe that by the very words we read we are ‘hearing’ them. Ruth Ozeki takes that further by allowing the books to speak and offer their opinions so much so that the Book is as much a character as The Bottleman and the Aleph. But the concept that all things have a voice is somehow extremely attractive to me. And it’s made me sit and wonder what these artefacts I have surrounding me might have to say were I like Benny and could hear them.

It’s a masterful achievement, a book that is unusual yet universal in the truths it has to offer us. 

My thanks to Canongate Books for a copy and a chance to join in the readalong. 

Ruth Ozeki is a novelist, filmmaker and Zen Buddhist priest. She is the award winning author of four novels: My Year of Meats, All Over Creation, A Tale for the Time Being -which was shortlisted for the 2013 Man Booker Prize and translated into 28 languages - and The Book of Form and Emptiness, which was longlisted for the Women’s Prize. She has also written a short memoir, Timecode of a Face. She is affiliated with the Everyday Zen Foundation and lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, where she teaches creative writing at Smith College and is the Grace Jarcho Ross 1933 Professor of Humanities