Reviews tagging 'Death'

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

111 reviews

erinwolf1997's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Rape, Bullying, Vomit, War, Physical abuse, Suicide, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Death, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, and Death of parent

Minor: Dementia and Toxic friendship

jesssicawho's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, War, Physical abuse, and Bullying

Moderate: Death

sarasukovic's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

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

3.75

It was a promising book, loved the writing style, Nao is a compelling character, the premise was interesting. I hated the open ending, as usual.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Death

brainemptyjust's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

2.5

I got quite invested in the story of Naoko, but I feel that the amount of horrifying stuff, that was happening to the characters, was too much. Besides, it was poorly done, in my opinion. The descriptions of trauma felt quite flat.
There were some good moments tho.
I did finish the book, so it was not a complete disaster. I just felt it didn’t balance well the ratio of realism to magic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Bullying, Suicide attempt, and Death

enoemo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring 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

4.75

this broke my heart and taught me so many things and made me laugh and made me feel so deeply for the characters... truly an amazing read in a way that i find difficult to put into words. the titular theme pops up in so many unexpected and smart ways and despite the magical realism that finds its way into parts of the book the plot feels natural. nao is an utterly believable character and i feel like so many aspects about girlhood that i found so difficult to explain as a teenager come through so well in her diary. i am not entirely sure how i feel about the ending yet, but in a way i suppose the book is built to make you feel that way so... i'll reflect some more and look forward to coming back to this, i'd love to read it again in my lifetime. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Sexual assault, Death, and Bullying

Moderate: Blood, Dementia, Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Murder, and Rape

Minor: Sexual violence, Gun violence, Hate crime, Fatphobia, and Pedophilia

siriface's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Sexual assault, Suicide, Mental illness, Violence, and Death

soleilnigro's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

I thought the idea for this story was really interesting and i really liked all of the characters, but it just dragged out a lot for me. I think if you really like slow paced philosophy books then this was really great and well written, but as someone that usually can't get into slow books this was difficult to finish and I did have to skip a lot of pages. objectively I think this book was really good, but not for me personally. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Sexual content, Death of parent, Grief, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Rape, Self harm, Death, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Bullying, War, and Sexual assault

scarroll178's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

Many parts of this book are slow and hard to get through, but it’s worth it. If I could read it again I’d probably skip most of Ruth’s chapters 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, War, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

toffishay's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

This is a story of Ruth in Canada and Nao in Japan telling the story of their lives, their trials and the personal horrors that they face, and how they find a way through with the people around them. I really don't know how to feel, but I was really engaged by this reading experience. It was an interesting exploration of time and identity, who we are in the grand scheme of things. I really connected with Nao and her relationship with Jiko was so beautiful. I liked the deconstruction of a story. Like it's such a meta experience and what we bring to a story as readers. What we read and what we get out of a book says as much about the reader as it does about the writer as it does about the characters in the story themselves. We all make each other. This isn't coherent lol!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Torture, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Violence, War, Xenophobia, Classism, Grief, Abandonment, Misogyny, Death, Pedophilia, Trafficking, Rape, Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Vomit, Deportation, and Fatphobia

alisonannk's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Body shaming, Bullying, Physical abuse, and Torture

Minor: Rape