Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

50 reviews

miladimelow's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad

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

4.0

“𝘚𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘖𝘯𝘦 𝘈𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨.

 𝘚𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘔𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘓𝘪𝘧𝘦.

 𝘚𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘥.

 𝘚𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘛𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘍𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳.” -p92

I have to say I’m speechless. I mean this was just… this was just incredible!

A tale for the time being follows Ruth, a woman living on an island, as she comes across a lunch box filled with a person’s possession. Included in this is 16 year old Nao’s diary. As the story goes on, Ruth gets warped into the story of Nao’s life, causing an obsession of finding this teenager to emerge.

This was one of those books that just really tugs at your heart strings. Once I’d got the middle of the story, I was really struggling to continue on, as it was incredibly slow and very long. But the writing took as twist at around half way, as you see Nao’s seemingly simply childhood switch. And god that really pained me. This is a beautiful story centred around mainly the importance of family, as well talking about the impact of war, which was really impactful and where I found the writing to be it’s most lyrical. 

I adored so many thing in this book but I’ll just mention a few. Firstly I loved the subtle similarities between Ruth and Nao’s storylines, which really suited especially with the ending.  The lines between the two were completely blurred by the end, and this slow build up to it was incredibly fun to spot. I also LOVED Oliver and Pesto, I really need this duo for me. They really helped wrap up the story, and the little side story between cat and owner was such a sweet way to help the reader relax from the very difficult main storyline.

So really what I want to say is that you should definitely read this! A mix between the midnight library and after dark by Murakami, if you love magical realism you will adore this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Death, Adult/minor relationship, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Animal death, Body shaming, and Alcohol

Minor: Mass/school shootings, Kidnapping, and Stalking

marialuna's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

i love Nao and Ruth is annoying

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, and Bullying

annreadsabook's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

I had heard really good things about this book for years and am so glad I was finally able to get around to it! Let me just say that this book is not at all what I expected, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The main gist is that the current-day protagonist, an author living in Vancouver, BC, named Ruth happens upon set of personal effects that are washed up on the beach, including a diary and a set of old letters. Given that the diary is written by a teenaged girl named Nao from Japan, she is unsure how the items wound up in Canada, but suspects it may be debris from the recent Tōhoku tsunami. Ruth is quickly consumed by her intrigue (obsession?) with finding out more about Nao’s life and what happened to her, all while struggling to write a novel.

This book is a very heavy read, and examines questions of family, grief, depression, and isolation, and I wonder if my current headspace was part of the reason why I really clicked with this book. Nao as a narrator isn’t interested in sparing her readers from her own raw emotions, and I actually really appreciated that. While I have to say I was a bit more invested in Nao’s storyline (she felt a bit more interesting and fleshed-out as a character), I was interested in what Ozeki seems to be considering about what it means to be an author and engage with a character.

If you’re someone who likes a bit of surrealism and doesn’t mind a plot that meanders a bit, I’d suggest you take a look into A Tale for the Time Being! I would also suggest looking at other spoiler-free reviews to get a better sense of whether this might be your cup of tea, because I definitely can see why this is a bit of a polarizing writing style.

Please also be sure to check content warnings for this book, as it deals with some heavy subjects.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Death, and Rape

babelfish98's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Bullying

Minor: Pedophilia

bugcollector's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Violence, and War

espeon's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Pedophilia

Minor: War

ciaraw8787's review against another edition

dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Child abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Pedophilia

Minor: Death

scruffycat's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying

Moderate: Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

thesunriseinside's review against another edition

reflective sad slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

 I don’t know what happened here & also I have a huge headache now.
I enjoyed the first 150ish pages immensely, then absolutely nothing happened for 120 pages, then it all took a super dark turn, but in a way that made me want to not finish the book. & then the ending.. yeah. No. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Vomit

pigeonsjones's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Mental illness, Violence, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Genocide, Torture, Rape, Physical abuse, and Pedophilia

Minor: Blood, Grief, and Animal death