The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Ozeki, Ruth. The Book of Form and Emptiness. Penguin Random House LLC, 2021.

Ruth Ozeki’s novel The Book of Form and Emptiness employs the first, second, and third person points of view. The narrative also features the past and present tenses, and distorts traditional notions of novelistic form and structure. The following summary relies upon the present tense and a linear mode of explanation.

When Kenji, Annabelle’s husband and Benny’s father, dies in an accident, the mother and son struggle to confront their loss and sorrow. Benny starts to hear voices, unsure whether they are coming from inside or outside his head. The more he ignores them, the louder they become. When he tries talking back, the voices do not seem to respond.

Meanwhile, Annabelle fails to notice her son’s increasingly odd behavior because she is struggling with worries and woes of her own. She is concerned that her job will lay her off and that she will be incapable of supporting Benny by herself. Annabelle also proves reluctant to face her own grief. Though she thinks that her late husband’s ghost is communicating with her via refrigerator magnet poems and the local crows, she never explicitly vocalizes her sadness.

After Benny's repeated outbursts at school, Annabelle takes Benny to see a psychiatrist, Dr. Melanie. Dr. Melanie says that Benny is experiencing auditory hallucinations and suffering from a mood disorder. She prescribes him several medications and recommends in-patient psychiatric care.

While on the psychiatric ward at Children’s Hospital, Benny feels more at peace. The voices are quiet in this space and he likes his peers. He is especially intrigued by a girl who resembles a girl in his dream.

Shortly after his release, Benny secretly stops attending school and starts spending his days at the Library instead. While there, he runs into the girl from the ward. She introduces herself as the Aleph, her self-given artist name.

Benny and the Aleph soon become friends. The Aleph introduces Benny to a homeless man, the B-man. Both the Aleph and the B-man encourage Benny to regard the voices in his head as sources of creative power rather than dysfunctions.

Meanwhile, Annabelle’s mental health worsens. She not only continues to accumulate a slew of unnecessary objects, but refuses to throw anything away. She also tries to use work as a distraction, but her work offers her little fulfillment. At the same time, Annabelle remains confused as to how to care for her son. Benny has become increasingly agitated and volatile. Whenever he yells at her and storms out of the house, Annabelle becomes frenetic. No matter how hard she tries to reach Benny, she cannot seem to help him.

Benny gradually realizes that if he can channel the voices in his head into art, he might be able to gain control over them. Writing his own story grants him a sense of autonomy and peace of mind. However, after participating in a local protest, Benny experiences what appears to be a psychotic break. The police and his therapist have him readmitted to the psychiatric ward.

Dr. Melanie informs Annabelle that if she does not pass an upcoming Child Protective Services house inspection, Benny will be placed into foster care. Realizing Annabelle is in need, her librarian friend, Cory, helps her clean out her home.

Benny suddenly understands how much his mother needs him. Though he has not moved or spoken in some time, he confronts the ward nurse, informing her he needs to go home to be with Annabelle. Back home, Benny begins to take responsibility for his life and story. He and his mother move towards ultimate healing together.