celesteface's review against another edition
2.5
Yikes. I liked things about this book, truly, but yikes. The structure and prose that portray Benny’s psychiatrically non-normative reality is creative (if long-winded) but it felt like all the energy went into that effort. As a result, the other characters and the interwoven narrative as a whole suffered. There’s a LOT of tough stuff packed into this book, yet it isn’t all treated with the same sensitivity. Annabelle’s point of view feels designed to give the appearance of empathy for her state & circumstances, yet it reads more like an extended and unsympathetic pathology. I genuinely wanted to enjoy the journey with these characters — or at least find meaning in the experience — but as it dragged on, I began to realize that there was an inevitable plot solution that would appear in response to Annabelle’s hoarding and parental shortcomings…
Of course I cried reading this book. I’m not a monster. But I also felt manipulated: as if the author drew me in with promises of nuanced, non-judgmental portrayal of mental illness and trauma in families… then hit me over the head with a bunch of crappy, tired tropes.
The tidy-up nun plotline felt like an annoying distraction at best, and at worst… kind of a fan fiction Zen Mary Jane?!
Even setting aside my strong reaction to simplistic magic-wand plot devices, I feel like this book stretched my patience with the “magical realism” thing. I like it when authors test our assumptions and stretch our imaginations. But it was too jarring to follow a detailed pencil sketch of a protagonist interacting with crayon scribbles of a parent, an addicted young adult, a heavily-accented homeless poet… the outcome for me was a great deal of frustration.
Spoiler
Of COURSE a sprightly and generous crew (of low-paid library staff and unhoused people!!!!) would come sort through her house. Yes, they acknowledged moving too quickly and setting Annabelle off… once. Just the once, after a highly productive day, that’s all! And then don’t ya know, Annabelle learns that she has to Deal With Things! And Benny, whose mental state is now so severely impaired that he cannot walk or speak, experiences an instant breakthrough because (yes she went there) he realizes that he, A CHILD, needs to take care of his dysfunctional adult parent. What a fantastic lesson for a traumatized young person, right? So he zips home and the two of them just… fix the hoarding situation. Well, that was easy!Of course I cried reading this book. I’m not a monster. But I also felt manipulated: as if the author drew me in with promises of nuanced, non-judgmental portrayal of mental illness and trauma in families… then hit me over the head with a bunch of crappy, tired tropes.
Spoiler
I don’t know if it’s just me, but some of Benny’s behavior in the last quarter of the book seemed a bit like the author was trying to fit in a checklist of symptoms. The accelerated pace at this point made it feel like a decision to casually throw in some new self-harm, just shove a bit more shitty stuff in before the big finale… but the page count is already pretty high so let’s keep it brief…The tidy-up nun plotline felt like an annoying distraction at best, and at worst… kind of a fan fiction Zen Mary Jane?!
Even setting aside my strong reaction to simplistic magic-wand plot devices, I feel like this book stretched my patience with the “magical realism” thing. I like it when authors test our assumptions and stretch our imaginations. But it was too jarring to follow a detailed pencil sketch of a protagonist interacting with crayon scribbles of a parent, an addicted young adult, a heavily-accented homeless poet… the outcome for me was a great deal of frustration.
brittbaeten's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
muccamukk's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I always feel like I'm going to enjoy Ozeki more than I end up actually enjoying Ozeki, and on the whole A Tale for the Time Being worked better for me than this.
This is more or less the stories of a mother and son following the death of the boy's father, as told by a sentient book that's having a conversation with the son about what his life story should include. It leans hard on magical realism and, for reasons unknown, Marie Kondo RPF.
There's a lot of very uncomfortable topics: mental illness, hoarding, body image, not processing grief, late stage capitalism, climate change, being 100% a little shit as a teen, and I struggled to empathise with the boy (reminding me why I generally don't read books with teens). I felt like the book didn't quite edge into "the mental health system is mistreating people that really just have magic powers and don't need therapy" or "depressed = fat" but it came close enough times that I found it stressful to read in places. The book always pulled back, but I was definetely on the edge of putting it down a bunch of times.
I feel like the difficult topics would have been more worth it had the book stuck the landing, which for me it did not. We spent a lot of time playing with the nature of reality, and literature affecting reality in a a way that explicitly referenced Borges, and I was expecting it to go all in on that, and it never actually did. I think maybe it was a claw back from A Tale for the Time Being, which went hard on "quantum," but in the end I didn't get the point of the sentient book narrator if the narrative didn't actually do anything with the sentient book narrator? Maybe that there wasn't a narrative effect and that humans in the end had free will and therefore had to shift for themselves was the point, but it didn't really land that for me either.
And the Marie Kondo expy was a strange choice.
This is more or less the stories of a mother and son following the death of the boy's father, as told by a sentient book that's having a conversation with the son about what his life story should include. It leans hard on magical realism and, for reasons unknown, Marie Kondo RPF.
There's a lot of very uncomfortable topics: mental illness, hoarding, body image, not processing grief, late stage capitalism, climate change, being 100% a little shit as a teen, and I struggled to empathise with the boy (reminding me why I generally don't read books with teens). I felt like the book didn't quite edge into "the mental health system is mistreating people that really just have magic powers and don't need therapy" or "depressed = fat" but it came close enough times that I found it stressful to read in places. The book always pulled back, but I was definetely on the edge of putting it down a bunch of times.
I feel like the difficult topics would have been more worth it had the book stuck the landing, which for me it did not. We spent a lot of time playing with the nature of reality, and literature affecting reality in a a way that explicitly referenced Borges, and I was expecting it to go all in on that, and it never actually did. I think maybe it was a claw back from A Tale for the Time Being, which went hard on "quantum," but in the end I didn't get the point of the sentient book narrator if the narrative didn't actually do anything with the sentient book narrator? Maybe that there wasn't a narrative effect and that humans in the end had free will and therefore had to shift for themselves was the point, but it didn't really land that for me either.
And the Marie Kondo expy was a strange choice.
vseto's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
megane's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
meghuvadareads's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
shmamy's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
karinarattray95's review against another edition
3.0
The Book of Form and Emptiness follows 14 year old Benny who heard voices from inanimate objects. The novel proceeds his dad’s death and how Benny struggles with hearing the voices and coping with life. I liked how there is the Book’s perspective and how Benny and it speaks to one another. Felt quite unique. Fairly enjoyed this.
dartonamy's review against another edition
informative
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5