There is a point (a small one) in the book wherein Benny Oh, the teenaged protagonist, eats an apple slice while surrounded by books in a carrell, and the edge of the apple skin scrapes his throat. It was at this moment in the story that it occurred to me what Ozeki’s superpower is – she makes writing seem so easy. 
How effortlessly she introduced Benny and his mother Annabelle. How easily she established their coping skills (Benny’s becomes books; Annabelle’s, snow globes). Before I knew it, I was thinking of the Ohs as my own family. I cried when they hurt and laughed when they rejoiced.

 There are not enough stars in the sky for what I would give this book.