Reviews with content warning for Adult/minor relationship - A Tale for the Time Being

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A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

111 reviews

stormbringer52's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book is a really tough read and took me a long time to finish. However, it was worth it. It made me incredibly uncomfortable in some parts, but that was the point. Ruth Ozeki did a wonderful job of representing unsettling topics in a way that felt real and disturbing. I found myself nervous to turn the page at times, worried what would happen next.

Brief spoiler for the end, but

it didn't make a lot of sense to me. I liked it, but it did feel a little out of nowhere. Granted, there were slight magical elements throughout, like how things that Ruth saw online suddenly disappeared, or Naoko conversing with her deceased great uncle. I suppose the end of the book meant to sort of explain why things were happening, but it kind of lost me honestly.

However, I still thing the book was beautifully written, so this does not impact my opinion much :]

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sestout's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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stw07's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

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hannaemilia's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny reflective sad

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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taylor1997's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

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thyprincess's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

"And yet, at night I lie on my bed, counting my beads, one for every thing on earth I love, on and on, in a circle without end."

A Tale for the Time Being is perhaps best regarded as a tale across time and space, with the voices of Nao, a young Japanese schoolgirl, and Ruth, a quiet islander (also writer). This magical realism novel explores themes of Zen Buddhism, Quantum Mechanics, and Conscience, though most times you'll have to think real hard about what it's trying to get at.

Nao's voice is witty and quick, whereas Ruth is a more slow and soft voice, which acts as a buffer for the horrible experiences Nao details in her diary. The build up is slow, but once the mysteries of Nao's family begin to unravel themselves, the pace picked up and it became an enjoyable read, though at times stilted given the amount of context you have to contemplate on to understand the feelings conveyed.

Still, I enjoyed the lesson it was sharing - one grounded on our individual and collective Time Beings, and it will leave me pondering on these fleeting moments in time.

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