Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki

18 reviews

icedcoffee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Self harm

Minor: Child abuse, Alcohol, Sexual assault, and Drug use

storykath's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective tense slow-paced

• 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

3.75

Whew, finally made it! I read this book in fits and starts over the last two weeks, and a lot of the time it felt unending, but in the end it was a worthwhile story that will probably stay on my mind for a while.

This book tackles a lot; there's commentary on mental health, addiction, the nature of stories, politics, and society as a whole. It was an effort to continually wade through them all, but the switches in POVs were effective for keeping things balanced.

There's also a lot of nuance and ambiguity in this book, and I think it was handled incredibly well. We hear the subjective thoughts and feelings of characters with mental illnesses and addictions, and we can see how easy it is for them to fall into deluded or dangerous ways of thinking. At times I was totally immersed in each character's perspective, and at other times I could approach it more objectively and see the truths that they were missing. To handle this type of writing so sensitively and faithfully is really a feat.

I don't think I would read this book again, as a lot of the philosophy was too nebulous for my tastes, but I would recommend it to anyone looking for an absurd yet bracingly real story of struggle and survival.

Definitely check content warnings before diving in.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Alcohol, Death of parent, Mental illness, Self harm, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Drug abuse, Blood, Car accident, Death, Drug use, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Medical content, and Bullying

Minor: Sexual assault, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Homophobia, and Violence

feebles640's review against another edition

emotional 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Death of parent, Body horror, Self harm, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, and Blood

Minor: Child abuse, Addiction, and Alcoholism

prettycloud's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious 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

4.5

She had me with the intriguing premise, but this book delivers a nuanced look at mental illness, a thoughtful exploration of grief (both individual and the climate change/post-Trump Weltschmerz), and a celebration of love in all its forms. If I could distill this book into a single idea, it would be the forces that divide us and the ways we can connect in spite of them. This book has a lot of pain and disconnection in it, but it gave me hope that we can all somehow make it out of *gestures vaguely* all of this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Body shaming, Violence, Blood, Grief, Bullying, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Mental illness, Cursing, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Sexual content, Addiction, Animal death, Child abuse, Drug use, Police brutality, Racism, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, and Sexual violence

Minor: Ableism, Mass/school shootings, Pregnancy, Classism, Gun violence, Antisemitism, and Suicide attempt

This book has a lot of heavy content but it does not stay in its dark parts long and its overall tone is hopeful. It never lingers on lurid details, and the narrators tend to talk around what's happening/has happened. Both the mother and son are traumatized and both have traumatic interactions with institutions of the state, and she

was sexually assaulted by her stepfather

.

The police violence includes violence at a protest and one of the periods of institutionalization. The institutionalization includes the threat of separation of mother and son.

booknug's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Grief and Confinement

Minor: Child abuse

maviemerveilleuse's review

emotional mysterious 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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, and Animal death

Minor: Child abuse and Sexual assault

georgiawye's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Grief, and Mental illness

Moderate: Child abuse and Drug abuse

mikeebeth's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

5.0

I read A Tale for the Time Being a few years ago and loved it so I was so excited to see a new book by Ruth Ozeki. I have to say I love this book just as much, maybe even more. Ozeki's compassionate approach to mental health is refreshing and special, and I loved the way she turned the trope of hearing voices around on its head. 

Towards the end, Benny's psychologist tells Annabelle that some of the characters that we have spent time with are figments of Benny's imagination, and when Annabelle insists that at least one of them is real, the psychologist doesn't believe her. I loved the choice that Ozeki makes to have that moment and have the psychologist be incorrect.

I was also delighted with the tribute to Marie Kondo in this book, since I read A Tale for the Time Being and The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up around the same time. A Tale for the Time Being provided context with the Zen practice of thanking objects when you use them which made me appreciate Kondo's gratitude ritual more. In this book I really appreciated Ozeki's contribution with Zen philosophy to contextualize the magic of tidying up even further, and how she uses the in-universe Tidy Magic to further the theme of interconnectedness and the power of books.

I think this is going to be a book that will stick with me for a long time after I've read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Panic attacks/disorders, and Grief

Moderate: Drug use

Minor: Child abuse and Sexual assault