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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I think this book has a similar tone to Johnathan Saffran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close in which both the characters are grieving the loss of their fathers through a tragic event. The coping mechanism kicks in differently for the two of them. The story here also focuses on the mother’s grief of losing a husband while also trying to keep it together for Benny’s sake. I like that we can see that she’s clearly struggling to cope and to get better.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Drug abuse
I loved a Tale for the Time Being, so I eagerly picked this up along with much positive reinforcement from everyone who works at the local bookstore. This is a book lover's book.
I loved the writing and creative approach to character development -- similar in approach to her prior book. There are wonderful characters here and I wanted to uncover so much more about them when the book ended. There is a way in which this book is about mental illness. But it's more about the human condition, how our environment impacts us, how we connect and communicate with one another, and how we function in societal constructs. It's a very touching book and one that I have continued to think about and process weeks after reading the final page.
I loved the writing and creative approach to character development -- similar in approach to her prior book. There are wonderful characters here and I wanted to uncover so much more about them when the book ended. There is a way in which this book is about mental illness. But it's more about the human condition, how our environment impacts us, how we connect and communicate with one another, and how we function in societal constructs. It's a very touching book and one that I have continued to think about and process weeks after reading the final page.
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
sad
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
Next stop on the Women’s Prize shortlist, this Ruth Ozeki. A sad, affecting story of mental health and the difficult home life of a young boy, Benny. I was emotionally invested in parts of this, but mostly felt it was too long, there were too many themes stitched together.
The voices Benny starts hearing soon after the death of his father form the crux of the novel. From scissors to windows to teapots he hears the voices of inanimate objects everywhere. At times the voices chide him, others they tell him their story, with little consistency (but I suppose this showed the nonlinear nature of mental health disorders).
When the voice of ‘the book’ begins speaking to Benny as if writing the book you are reading the whole thing got a little messy for me. I can see why prize judges loved this—a profound, meta element that left you with the question “does an author find a book or does a book find the author?” But the personified novel got a little far-fetched and I found the conversations between the book and Benny pretty repetitive.
The other characters were fascinating in their uniqueness. They built a world of poverty, discomfort, abandonment; the people shunned from society without the tools for help. Benny’s mother, Annabell, struggles to let go, turning her home into a hoarder’s junkyard, visited by crows that she feeds in a weird, unsettling side-story.
When The Aleph and Bottleman became Benny’s friends the story got even weirder. I liked that Ozeki cast characters on the outskirts of society, but Bottleman’s smelly homeless bags full of old bottles, his alcoholism, the pet ferret—it was all just a bit gross for me. I wasn’t even sure if they were real, or figments of Benny’s imagination? That may have been the point…?
I have a pet peeve for writers who spell out how characters are feeling, and the emails between Annabelle and the Marie Kondo-esq tidying expert felt like a lazy way of expressing her learnings. I'm also not sure she nailed the voice of a teen boy, so I wasn’t totally sold on the prose.
A mixed book of books within books within stories about stories. Confusing or genius, I’m not sure.
The voices Benny starts hearing soon after the death of his father form the crux of the novel. From scissors to windows to teapots he hears the voices of inanimate objects everywhere. At times the voices chide him, others they tell him their story, with little consistency (but I suppose this showed the nonlinear nature of mental health disorders).
When the voice of ‘the book’ begins speaking to Benny as if writing the book you are reading the whole thing got a little messy for me. I can see why prize judges loved this—a profound, meta element that left you with the question “does an author find a book or does a book find the author?” But the personified novel got a little far-fetched and I found the conversations between the book and Benny pretty repetitive.
The other characters were fascinating in their uniqueness. They built a world of poverty, discomfort, abandonment; the people shunned from society without the tools for help. Benny’s mother, Annabell, struggles to let go, turning her home into a hoarder’s junkyard, visited by crows that she feeds in a weird, unsettling side-story.
When The Aleph and Bottleman became Benny’s friends the story got even weirder. I liked that Ozeki cast characters on the outskirts of society, but Bottleman’s smelly homeless bags full of old bottles, his alcoholism, the pet ferret—it was all just a bit gross for me. I wasn’t even sure if they were real, or figments of Benny’s imagination? That may have been the point…?
I have a pet peeve for writers who spell out how characters are feeling, and the emails between Annabelle and the Marie Kondo-esq tidying expert felt like a lazy way of expressing her learnings. I'm also not sure she nailed the voice of a teen boy, so I wasn’t totally sold on the prose.
A mixed book of books within books within stories about stories. Confusing or genius, I’m not sure.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
this book was a slog even though i really wanted to like it, which isn't to say that the writing isn't good or interesting. just caused more anxiety in me than it did desire to read
the ending did feel much too even, though. i think it would have felt stronger if the eviction issue had been more difficult to resolve, or hadn't been tied up at the same time as everything else, or maybe even wasnteven written?
the ending did feel much too even, though.
This was a very original and clever read. Ozeki made characters out of people and things (the Book itself was a primary voice throughout) and even insects - a literal fly on the wall was featured at a few points. Cacophony was the name of the game here but somehow all these different voices were never “too much.” I loved the theme of maximalism (I found a lot of resemblance between this book and the movie Everything Everywhere All At Once, not to mention the examination of the filial relationship at the core of both) and the Zen teachings woven throughout. Ozeki integrated her motifs so beautifully in this book and although it doesn’t make my favorites list, I give it a solid 4 stars for keeping my attention for 546 pages, something that’s pretty rare for me.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
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:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
2 | DNF, stopped at page 253.
The book had a few good parts but it was SO horrendously bad at literally every other part. The book talks, the main character is also reading and reacting the book while it's talking to him (and is reading and talking about his mum's sex life?? in detail??), and it's criticism on capitalism is quite literally shown by a character saying "It's a disaster, capitalism". Another literal quote from the book: "[...] with other members of the transcultural, pansexual, postgender radical youth she called her posse." The whole "posse" is shown like a weird charicature of activists and radicals.
Could've been a great book but it was so painfully badly written that I had to put it down. Sorry.
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes