Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki

40 reviews

iliveinletters's review against another edition

emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Grief

Moderate: Car accident, Death, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Self harm, Animal cruelty, Ableism, Alcoholism, and Grief

ye_li's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective slow-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: Forced institutionalization, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Bullying, Car accident, Death of parent, Grief, and Violence

Moderate: Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Ableism, Homophobia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Police brutality, and Self harm

Minor: Sexism, Child abuse, and Sexual content

walkintoes's review against another edition

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

Moderate: Addiction and Drug use

Minor: Bullying and Alcoholism

emmagreenwood's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious 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: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Cursing, Sexual assault, Grief, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Body shaming, Fatphobia, Death of parent, Racism, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Police brutality, Addiction, Blood, Bullying, Car accident, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, and Drug use

candournat's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

This book is honestly unreal!! I can’t even begin to explain how clever Ruth Ozeki is. 

The Book of Form and Emptiness is beautifully written, philosophical, and absolutely full of clever metaphor.

I cannot recommend it enough, I’ve honestly never enjoyed the form and structure of a book as much as I have with this one. Using the Book ( / Benny’s voices) as a narrator and having Benny give his thoughts on the direction of the story between chapters is so clever and original. 

It has truly cured my big book fear! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Animal death, Death, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Addiction, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Drug abuse, Drug use, Alcohol, Bullying, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

aemulatio'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

4.25

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Sexual content and Self harm

Minor: Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Violence, Addiction, Bullying, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Sexual violence, and Animal death

paperknotbooks's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective 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

I apologize to my socks whenever I start to roll them, thanks to Marie Kondo. Thanks for the reminder that I’ve always talked to inanimate objects. 

This is a book with an ending full of hope, despite the content. It may be a touch long, but worth the ride. I audiobook’d this, and had no problems with it. I know a lot of people find the audiobook a bit grating because Benny is over-the-top whinny and his mother sounds like an airhead. I enjoyed the listen, but it won’t be for everyone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Mental illness, Bullying, and Grief

Moderate: Drug abuse, Self harm, and Alcohol

Minor: Blood

storykath's review

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

karenmariscalo's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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

5.0

 A book about empathy for all things and people.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Death of parent, Medical content, and Mental illness

Moderate: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Car accident, and Violence

Minor: Alcoholism, Mass/school shootings, Addiction, Alcohol, Fatphobia, and Bullying

qqjj's review against another edition

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