Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

17 reviews

toffishay's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This is a story of Ruth in Canada and Nao in Japan telling the story of their lives, their trials and the personal horrors that they face, and how they find a way through with the people around them. I really don't know how to feel, but I was really engaged by this reading experience. It was an interesting exploration of time and identity, who we are in the grand scheme of things. I really connected with Nao and her relationship with Jiko was so beautiful. I liked the deconstruction of a story. Like it's such a meta experience and what we bring to a story as readers. What we read and what we get out of a book says as much about the reader as it does about the writer as it does about the characters in the story themselves. We all make each other. This isn't coherent lol!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Suicide attempt, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Death, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Grief, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Fatphobia, Vomit, and Deportation

ka_cam's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.75

I came across this book as part of Multnomah County's Everybody Reads event and what a great choice! I often like books that involve a light dose of magical realism, historical fiction, existential angst, quantum entanglement, general moodyness, and people connecting across time and space soooo it was kind of up my alley. I felt like the end petered out a bit and sometimes things were a bit on the nose, but all in all really enjoyed!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Dementia, Grief, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cancer, Chronic illness, Genocide, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, Classism, and Deportation

emsim's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Suicide attempt, and War

Moderate: Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Blood, Dementia, Trafficking, and Alcohol

margtherock's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Xenophobia, Vomit, and Suicide attempt

ye_li's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

A Tale For The Time Being feels like a fever dream but in the best way possible. It becomes morbid at several points throughout the story, and you can see how Nao spirals deeper and deeper. Ruth's P.O.V was a bit of a slog to get through—I only became captivated with her point of view later on in the book, when it became surrealistic and dreamlike. As time goes on, this book and its story are all I can think about—I can't help but recommend it to other people and I can't stop talking about it. A somewhat grotesque and introspective piece of literature, managing to be so real yet completely bizarre. A work of art.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Xenophobia and Toxic friendship

Minor: War

badspringbye's review against another edition

dark informative slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

it's hard for me to listen to audiobooks so I almost never do but the narrator of this book (the author herself) saved the whole thing. much entertaining than the story itself, gave life to the characters the way I couldn't read it the same way again after trying to read it with my own eyes. it's unfortunate since I liked the flow of Nao's side of story but it keeps on dragging because of Ruth's povs. could not care less about her and her husband and anything about her overall.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Xenophobia, Sexual harassment, and War

themysteriouserk's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense 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

5.0

A beautifully written book with an intriguing and endearing (if also flawed/complicated) cast of characters. It flawlessly balances a huge variety of perspectives and ideas, its plot covering both the quiet, thoughtful moments of ordinary lives and the dramatic, world-shaping events of the past and present.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Mental illness, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, and War