Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

12 reviews

aposthuma's review against another edition

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emotional reflective 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

3.5

This book left me with a LOT of thoughts. I think I'm rating it 3.5 stars. I didn't care much about Ruth's POV and thought it was pretty slow, but Nao's parts were incredibly thought-provoking, bringing up themes like time, mortality, and permanence. Fair warning, this book is DARK. Far darker than i went in expecting

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veronica0mcdougall's review against another edition

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dark inspiring mysterious reflective 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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horationelson's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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carol_mesq's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0


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isareader's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5


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jackbifrost's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75


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brite_girl's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.75


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dakotuhhh's review against another edition

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emotional reflective 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

4.0


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franklola's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad 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

4.0


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miladimelow's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

โ€œ๐˜š๐˜ถ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ช๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ง๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ด ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ ๐˜–๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ˆ๐˜ถ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ค ๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ.
 ๐˜š๐˜ถ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ช๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ง๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ ๐˜”๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜“๐˜ช๐˜ง๐˜ฆ.
 ๐˜š๐˜ถ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ช๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ง๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ด ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜“๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ต ๐˜ž๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฅ.
 ๐˜š๐˜ถ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ช๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ง๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ด ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฑ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜›๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ ๐˜๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ.โ€ -p92

I have to say Iโ€™m speechless. I mean this was justโ€ฆ this was just incredible!

A tale for the time being follows Ruth, a woman living on an island, as she comes across a lunch box filled with a personโ€™s possession. Included in this is 16 year old Naoโ€™s diary. As the story goes on, Ruth gets warped into the story of Naoโ€™s life, causing an obsession of finding this teenager to emerge.

This was one of those books that just really tugs at your heart strings. Once Iโ€™d got the middle of the story, I was really struggling to continue on, as it was incredibly slow and very long. But the writing took as twist at around half way, as you see Naoโ€™s seemingly simply childhood switch. And god that really pained me. This is a beautiful story centred around mainly the importance of family, as well talking about the impact of war, which was really impactful and where I found the writing to be itโ€™s most lyrical. 

I adored so many thing in this book but Iโ€™ll just mention a few. Firstly I loved the subtle similarities between Ruth and Naoโ€™s storylines, which really suited especially with the ending.  The lines between the two were completely blurred by the end, and this slow build up to it was incredibly fun to spot. I also LOVED Oliver and Pesto, I really need this duo for me. They really helped wrap up the story, and the little side story between cat and owner was such a sweet way to help the reader relax from the very difficult main storyline.

So really what I want to say is that you should definitely read this! A mix between the midnight library and after dark by Murakami, if you love magical realism you will adore this. 

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