The Book
Benny tells part of his story in the first-person. But most of the story is related third-person style by a character that Benny refers to as the Book. The Book is this book which is telling his story. Benny often addresses the Book and vice versa. Early on, imagery is used at a moment of epiphany for Benny when he realizes that not all books are equally well-informed about their subjects:
“I kind of assumed that books know everything, but maybe you’re a stupid book, or a lazy book, the kind that starts in the middle because you don’t know how a story begins and can’t be bothered to figure it out. Is that it? Is that the kind of book you are? Because if that’s the case, maybe you should just go and find some other kid’s story to tell, some nice normal kid with a busy social life, who can’t hear or doesn’t want to listen. There are plenty of kids like that, so please, feel free. The choice is yours.”
Baby Benny
Benny is described as being a small boy whose development did not run according to the norm. He is also described as having stopped growing entirely when he turned twelve which just also happens to be the year his father passes away. The development processes associated with Benny from before birth to twelve years later seems to be of particular concern to the Book as he relates the tale, thus proving he is certainly no lazy book:
“Even before he was born, floating in the warm, liquid, inner space of the bump, Benny could hear his parents’ voices. Dreamlike, they came from far away, filtering in from around the slushy edges of his mother’s beating heart…In the months after his birth, Annabelle and Kenji kept the TV and radio off. Sheltered in this quiet bubble, they would lie on their sides in bed with the infant Benny between them…His ears were like seashells, his skin the softest silk. They studied every inch of him, sniffing him with their noses, nuzzling him with their lips, marveling at the sights and smells of his infant perfection. He was their dream baby. There were no flaws at all.”
Libraries
As mentioned, the Book directly addresses Benny at times and often extends some advice or just simply a little direct knowledge of the way of the world which may be special interest to Benny. One of these occasions is a sort of analysis through imagery of the true, mostly misunderstood, power of libraries:
“Strange things happen in Libraries, Benny. The Public Library is a shrine of dreams, and people fall in love here all the time. Maybe you don’t believe this, but it’s true. Books are works of love, after all. Our bodies may not be made to enjoy the mysteries of corporeal conjugation, but even our driest tomes, the most unromantic among us, can make your dreams come true.”
The Aleph
Inevitably, most readers will likely wind up at a point where they ask whether the charismatic and idiosyncratic character who calls herself The Aleph is real or simply an invention of Benny’s obviously overactive mind. This question becomes almost unavoidable as a result of imagery that describes how they come to meet on an almost daily basis in the library:
“Benny never knew where or when the Aleph would appear, but it was always like magic. He’d be in the stacks, head tilted to one side, skimming the titles on the spines, when suddenly he’d see her eyes, peering at him through the shelving. Or, he’d be bending over the water fountain, drinking, and when he straightened, she’d be leaning against the wall, watching. She knew all the nooks and crannies in the Library. The corners with the most comfortable couches, where you could sit next to each other and talk. The soundproof listening rooms, where you could lie head to head on the floor and play whatever music you liked, though mostly he played jazz.”
