Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki

43 reviews

madeleinebay's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Alcohol, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Fatphobia, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, and Self harm

Moderate: Drug use, Alcoholism, Animal death, and Drug abuse

Minor: Police brutality

siriface's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Medical content, Death of parent, and Self harm

frankieclc's review against another edition

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Death of parent, and Death

Moderate: Homophobia, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Drug use, and Abandonment

Minor: Police brutality

librarianlayla's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

If you're looking for a book that has a lot of emotional range, but not overly littered with joy or hope - then this is for you.

Whilst beautifully written, raw and real - there wasn't a lot of light within this book. It holds a lot of pain, confusion and loss.

This book is designed to make you feel and to think on a broader spectrum. Less about enjoyment and more about emotional expansion within the realm of sorrow.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Abandonment, Addiction, Car accident, Drug use, Dysphoria, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Alcoholism, Blood, Body shaming, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Death, Animal death, Cursing, Grief, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, and Hate crime

sarahkmcl's review

emotional reflective 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Self harm, Death of parent, Death, and Drug abuse

clare26's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death, Self harm, and Car accident

Moderate: Body shaming and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Police brutality and Physical abuse

chaya_v's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

I had a hard time getting into this book. I had to accustom myself to the writing style and the characters. But then all of the sudden I was hooked and couldn’t put this down. Benny, his mom, the Aleph they all felt so real and raw. This book was really emotional and makes you think so much. This was really beautiful. This is a strong 5 stars read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Drug abuse, Death, Self harm, Death of parent, and Violence

Minor: Suicide

danaaliyalevinson's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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 kept going back and forth on my rating for this one between a 4 and a 5. And to be honest, if I was rating only on the quality of the writing, both prose and structure, it probably deserves a 4. Still a very good book,  but there were parts that definitely didn't work or felt narratively clumsy, but truthfully, forest for the trees I found it deeply emotional, moving, and what did work was breathtaking and deeply deeply affecting for me. So this is sort of a “you know what, f**ck it, despite its flaws I loved it” 5 stars. A teenager and his mother both battle mental illness in the aftermath of the sudden death of their father/husband. The teenager, Benny, hears voices. And inanimate objects speak to him. And one of those is an omniscient voice called "The Book". And the narrative toggles back and forth between Benny's perspective and the perspective of the eponymous anthropomorphic book. And this device was used brilliantly to drive home the book's larger themes about the meaning that we give objects in our lives, especially when dealing with grief.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Death of parent, Bullying, Death, Grief, Mental illness, Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, Medical trauma, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcoholism

rei_reads's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Death of parent

megangrace's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Animal death, Death, and Self harm

Moderate: Blood