On the surface, The Book of Form and Emptiness is the tale of Benny Oh, a thirteen-year-old boy who begins to hear voices after the death of his father and his mother who develops a hoarding problem as a result. But dig a little deeper and you’ll find it’s actually a thesis on creativity, the nature of books, the power of love, and the hold material possessions have on us.

Ozeki makes a compelling case: "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” She argues throughout that the most dysfunctional characters in the book are in fact simply tuned into a reality that Neuro-Typicals are too stifled to comprehend…