75 pages 2 hours read

Ruth Ozeki

The Book of Form and Emptiness

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021

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Part 2, Chapters 38-45Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 2: “The Library”

Part 2, Chapter 38 Summary: “The Book”

In a staff bathroom of the library after closing, Alice and Slavoj tend to Benny’s head wound. Benny only has a vague memory of running to the library, hiding on the ninth floor until after closing, and being found by Alice. She and Slavoj snuck into the library to get Slavoj paper for his poetry project; he planned on writing while Alice attends a peer support meeting for young adults diagnosed with mental health illnesses. Alice warns Benny against going to the park as most of the people there, such as the one that attacked Benny, are drug dealers. She tells Benny to rest, then leaves for her meeting.

Part 2, Chapter 39 Summary: “The Book”

Annabelle waits in the alley for Benny to come home. She decides to search for him herself and begins walking down the alley. Mackson and Alice, on their way to the peer support group, are also in the alley. Annabelle recognizes Mackson as Benny’s roommate in Pedipsy and Alice as the girl that gave her the rubber duck. They, in turn, realize that Annabelle is Benny’s mother. Mackson and Alice walk her back home, whereupon she asks them to tell Benny to return home if they see him.