The novel follows the perspective of a young boy called Benny. Benny’s father recently died, and his mother is suffering from depression. Soon after his father’s death, something peculiar starts happening to Benny. He begins to hear the voices of the objects surrounding him. A shoe, a vegetable suddenly make their presence felt and heard by Benny.
Some objects express happiness, some are in distress while others go as far as expressing anger. Benny’s mother grows more and more depressed, and the clutter in the house becomes unbearable. As the hoarding is progressing to an extreme level, the objects’ voices become more and more frantic and aggressive. Benny becomes extremely stressed as a result of that and tries to get away from the voices, but they follow him wherever he goes.
The only refugee from the voices turns out to be a large library, where the voice’s of the objects are not so extreme. Benny starts spending a lot of time in that library, and there he meets a girl with a pet ferret and starts falling in love. He also meets a poor poet who gives him important life advice, like finding his own voice in the world.
There is also a positive turn in the Benny’s ability to hear objects. He discovers a book that he calls his own. The Book uses its voice to teach Benny the important lessons of life and narrate his story.
