Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki

32 reviews

dasha_musa's review

emotional hopeful 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

3.5

This book was okay. I liked the creativity behind the narrator being a book and I liked the commentary on books, stories, and reading. Those parts felt reflective and mmmmm .... empathetic? I also think that a 12-14yo preteen boy was represented well and I liked following along with his interjections.

I considered DNFing this book at around 30% but I decided to push through; I don't regret continuing on and I think the last 25% of the book redeemed itself a little bit. Glacial pace to start, for sure. At times, especially closer to the beginning, this book felt like it was trying too hard; everything was obvious and spelled out with no room for interpretation and critical thinking from the reader. I would go so far as to say that sometimes it felt preachy and transparent (no problem with there being a bias or a message, but I would like to be led to reaching such conclusions myself, rather than just being told what they are -- where's the fun in that!). In terms of themes, I also think this book was trying to tackle too much for it all to gain significant hold. I see the attempts to make the characters' grief and struggles relatable, but at times it felt too methodically calculated for the sake of literature to be realistic, so it just felt frustrating to read about (looking at you, Annabelle). 

As far as the ending goes, there wasn't any big "hurrah, happy ever after" moment; the resolution actually felt pretty realistic and I think that's a good thing. I have not experienced in life what these characters have experienced, so I liked having the opportunity to read their stories, but I just didn't love the process of reading this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, and Mental illness

Moderate: Drug use and Self harm

Minor: Sexual assault, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Fatphobia

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

jeremy_bearimy's review

challenging emotional 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? It's complicated

3.0

Favorite line: “If you lose your belief in your story, you will lose yourself.”

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Addiction

Minor: Sexual assault, Violence, and Suicide attempt

qqjj's review

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Fatphobia, Cannibalism, Rape, Grief, Bullying, Mental illness, Self harm, Death of parent, and Sexual assault

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.

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

dantegreenslade's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gore

Minor: Sexual assault

stellarya's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Addiction and Animal death

Minor: Sexual assault

carabones's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Self harm

Moderate: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Fatphobia, Animal death, and Injury/Injury detail

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