Benny Oh and his mother, Annabelle, deal with the loss of his father in very different ways. Their mourning is the fabric that the rest of the story is dyed on; it is inescapable and even overwhelming if you’re not prepared for it. Ruth Ozeki fills her story with the sort of subtle details that make characters and their relationships feel real, and the pain in loss here is very potent. If you pick this book up, come emotionally prepared.
The strength of the core characters and their relationships makes a wonderful foundation for Benny’s coming-of-age story, Annabelle’s moving-on, and the theme of community building that serves to connect these two humans with an otherwise alien and alienating world. The secondary cast is populated by well-rounded characters whose lives weave into those of the protagonists but whose existence is not bounded by narrative need. The world feels full, lived in, and vibrant.
As for the speculative elements, they are informed by Zen Buddhism. As ignorant as I am of this belief system, I’m unable to untangle which aspects are “fantasy elements” and which are rooted in genuinely-held spiritual beliefs. Benny Oh hears the voices of inanimate objects, some of which can be hostile or overwhelming. This puts Benny at odds with Annabelle’s hoarding, which creates a rift between them. The story presents the possibility that Benny is simply suffering auditory hallucinations, so it is ambiguous from the start whether or not the voices are real or imagined. However you choose to interpret them, these potentially-fantastic elements always serve character and plot.
Great characters in a small-scale, high-stakes narrative told expertly within a fully lived-in world; if it’s not yet obvious, this is a truly spectacular novel and an easy recommendation.
Content warning: death, substance abuse, mourning, sexual content, some violence
Plot: 8
Characters: 10
Themes: 10
Prose: 8
Overall score: a singular nexus where all of existence converges
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