The Book of Form and Emptiness

Benny is drawn in by Aikon’s discussion of impermanence and the connection between the tsunami and Alice’s snow globe. Benny admits that it is good to remember his story, despite it being painful, and he is glad the Book continued without him.

The Book agrees that it is good to remember, but that the ending of a book is collaborative, and it needs Benny’s participation. The Book returns to using third person limited to narrate Benny’s story.

When the police take Benny from the Bindery, they notice the thumbtack marks on his arm and assume they are from using drugs. Benny is taken to the hospital, where a blood test will be performed to test Benny for drugs. Annabelle meets Benny at the hospital, then goes to meet Dr. Melanie. They discuss their concern for Benny, and Dr. Melanie suggests that his friends, such as Alice and Slavoj, might be hallucinations. Annabelle is sure that Alice is real, having once called her phone. Dr. Melanie switches to considering whether Annabelle might be hallucinating Alice as well. She makes a note to contact CPS.

The next week, a social worker from CPS visits Annabelle to assess her living conditions and mental health. With the stress of recent events, Annabelle’s hoarding has resumed its normal pace; the social worker suggests that Annabelle seeks counseling. She warns that if the house is not cleaned out by the time Benny is ready to be discharged from the hospital, then CPS will have no choice but to legally remove Benny from the home.

The next morning, Annabelle receives a call from her supervisor. Her job has been officially phased out and she has lost her health benefits. Workers come later that day to remove her home office. 

Aikon travels throughout the United States on a book tour for Tidy Magic. She is scheduled to appear in a television series that centers around her helping hoarders to reclaim their lives. She is instructed not to speak about certain topics on television, such as debt, consumerism, and materialism. As she hasn’t received an email from Annabelle in a while, she decides that it is the right time to respond and try to help.

Benny has been admitted to the psychiatric ward following his removal from the Bindery. He displays selective mutism and dissociation, exacerbated by the new medications Dr. Melanie prescribes him. He struggles to walk and now uses a wheelchair. Annabelle visits him every afternoon. She talks about cleaning up and possibly moving to a new place for a fresh start. Benny never responds.

Annabelle signs up for COBRA to help cover Benny’s medical expenses. Though she knows she must clean the house if she wants Benny to return home, her depression and sense of helplessness are too difficult to overcome.

Annabelle is awoken when Cory calls to check on her. Annabelle explains that Benny has been in the hospital, but when Cory expresses her sympathy and desire to help, Annabelle hangs up on her. Later, Cory shows up at Annabelle’s home after looking up her address in the library database. She brings the library’s copy of Jorge Luis Borges’ short stories. Cory notices the overwhelming clutter and encourages Annabelle to confide in her. Annabelle does, finishing her story with her guilt about failing to live up to the instructions in Tidy Magic. Annabelle lends Cory Tidy Magic, and Cory leaves. Afterwards, Annabelle reassesses the things in her home, unable to decide whether an object might be useful at some point: “This was the problem of getting rid of things. You never know when you might need them” (484). She cannot bear to clean until she knows the relevance of each item around her.

Aikon visits St. Louis on the book tour. She ponders why she agreed to be on the television show and whether such an action coincides with Zen teachings. After interacting with the book’s fans during signings, Aikon wonders if Tidy Magic is promoting a kind of impossible perfectionism. She labels this a delusion of false standards that motivates the women she meets to become “so focused on self-improvement they [forget] about their inherent perfection” (487).

Following comments that Aikon has made on decluttering books, Aikon has received criticism online that she is a “book Nazi. Like Goebbels, telling people to burn books” (487). Aikon’s point was to keep books that have the greatest emotional impact for an individual, not to get rid of books indiscriminately.

Cory eats lunch in the Library Square while reading Tidy Magic. She notices Slavoj and Alice at a nearby table, recognizing them as frequent patrons of the library and from public art performances. Cory notes that Alice has several bruises on her face and body and that she looks strung out. Cory appreciates that Tidy Magic argues against the socioeconomic conditions created by a capitalistic society and how it drives people towards materialism and clutter.

The Book appreciates Cory’s reading of Tidy Magic, which is different than Annabelle’s, and observes that the nature of books is to hold many interpretations. The Book believes that authors are necessary, but that “agency is a matter of perspective” (491). Perhaps, books come to authors, rather than the other way around: When readers then engage with those books, the interpretations of the text multiply.

Cory reads Chapter 4 of Tidy Magic, which continues the discussion of books as collaborative entities. Aikon writes that such interdependence is a form of emptiness. She reflects how, following the tsunami, she watched as rescue workers and members of the community banded together to help those in need. This form of interconnectedness emphasizes that no single person exists outside their community. 

Cory brings Slavoj, Jevaun, and other support staff from the library to Annabelle’s house to help her clean. Annabelle’s hoarding has gotten worse in the meantime. Cory suggests that Annabelle’s real issue is “a problem of distribution” (496) and that they need to redistribute the objects that Annabelle has collected to others who are in need. Annabelle tentatively agrees to let them clear out her house but insists that the items must be respected: “[M]y stuff isn’t junk. It’s an archive” (498).

The Book offers its opinion on the internet debate surrounding Aikon’s position on decluttering books. She encourages taking care of books and not collecting too many so that they fall into disuse and neglect. The recent election results have lowered sales of Tidy Magic, but Aikon’s book signings are still successful. The initial shoot for the television show has been postponed, and the producers begin looking for a new family on the West Coast to accommodate Aikon’s travel plans. Though Aikon proposes Annabelle’s family, the producers say no, as they need “a happier, more relatable family” (501) if the show is to be successful.

Cory, Slavoj, Jevaun, and the others clear out Annabelle’s house. Annabelle is happy to rid the house of the news archives and offers the group whatever they’d like to take. She stops them from throwing out the broken teapot she threw at Kenji the night he died, her crafting supplies, and Benny’s childhood Halloween costume. When the group nearly takes Kenji’s shirts that Annabelle still wants to make into a memory quilt, her emotions are triggered, and she begins to panic. She makes everyone leave immediately, and though they do, Cory and the others remain committed to helping Annabelle.

Alone, Annabelle holds Kenji’s shirts close to herself. She remembers Halloweens with her family, how Benny wanted to be a scarecrow and she helped to make him a costume. She herself dressed as a pumpkin and Kenji was a ghost.

At Pedipsy, the caretakers avoid showing patients the news as it is full of distressing images of civil unrest. However, before the staff stopped showing the news, many of the patients saw Benny fighting the police during at one of the protests. They expect Benny to be violent, but he barely interacts with anyone. The Book explains that “The medication he was on jammed our access to his thoughts” (509). Furthermore, it hampers Benny ability to perceive voices and think clearly.

After Cory and the library group leave, Annabelle moves through the house testing her emotional attachment to the various objects by asking them if they love her. She imagines them saying no. She cries herself to sleep, and when she wakes up, she feels more collected. She admits that the house looks much better from the help she received. She decides to continue cleaning by herself. When taking things to the dumpster, she finds Alice sleeping inside it; Alice is clearly going through withdrawal symptoms.

Annabelle brings Alice inside and has her sleep off most of the withdrawal episode in Benny’s bed. When Alice wakes up again, Annabelle asks her to come to Pedipsy with her when she visits Benny that afternoon. She wants to prove to Dr. Melanie that Alice is real and not a hallucination.

Annabelle and Alice arrive at Pedipsy and catch Dr. Melanie as she is leaving for the day. After Annabelle introduces Alice to Dr. Melanie, she and Dr. Melanie go to Dr. Melanie’s office to talk further while Alice visits Benny in the ward.

Benny is excited at Alice’s presence but still finds it difficult to speak. Alice gives him a new snow globe that features a miniature version of Benny sitting in his study carrel at the library. Alice announces that she’ll be going into rehab in order to get better but promises to find him again. Before security escorts her out, Alice kisses him.

Annabelle confronts Dr. Melanie about the mistakes she has made in Benny’s treatment. Dr. Melanie acknowledges that she mistakenly assumed Benny’s friends must be hallucinations based on his history. She asks Annabelle how the cleaning is going, reminding her that CPS take custody of Benny away if she does not bring her home up to acceptable standards.

Benny stops the narrative to criticize the Book for portraying Annabelle’s suffering and need of help without intervening in some way: “She’s my Mom! She needs help!” (526). Benny is convinced that the Book can influence the plot of his story, regardless of the Book’s insistence otherwise.

The Book reassures Benny that it did help through Tidy Magic and reminds Benny of books’ collective identity. It claims that “trauma is a powerful thing” (527) and that Benny, rather than the Book, must be the one to help his mother.