Reviews tagging 'Death'

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

107 reviews

michaela_chen's review against another edition

dark funny hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Bullying, Suicide, Death, Sexual assault, Rape, and Self harm

kygpub's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

i often struggle to appreciate objectively good writing, because 'good' writing often means opaque writing, and bridging the gap between words and meaning often feels like wading through mud. beautiful mud. but still mud.

this book is not like that. this is the kind of book that makes you wonder how people can even write like this. the style is really the peak of magical realism, both unbelievably creative and easily digestible prose. a lot of effort clearly went into researching and crafting it, and yet the end result feels effortlessly readable*. the characters are so well-articulated and real, which makes the magical, fairytale moments feel perfectly natural. everything feels so tangible and alive**, even in the midst of death.

*this book discusses philosophy, buddhism and QUANTUM PHYSICS. it switches between THREE LANGUAGES. so much shit happens in this book and yet i have a better memory of what happens than some of the <200 page books i've read recently.
**well, at least two of the characters are literally alive, i suppose

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Rape and Death

veronica0mcdougall's review against another edition

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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Alcohol, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Death, Fatphobia, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

audreyolejasz's review against another edition

3.25

The ending felt like a cop out 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, Rape, Sexual content, Racism, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Suicide, and War

rainbowesque's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective 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

4.75

It didn't reach 5 star for me only because the ending eluded me. I couldn't fully understand exactly where the author wanted to go. I was kind of feeling more- more of what? I don't know. Otherwise, the book made me feel a lot of feelings. Althoug  it took me one month to read, I never felt bored or on the days when I didn't touch the book, I hadn't felt like I forgot the story. It was rare for me. There is indeed some kind of 'urgency' (in Ruth's words) in the book that makes a reader keep wanting to read. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Grief, Rape, Physical abuse, Bullying, and Death

valjeanval's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring mysterious 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

One of the best books I've read in a long time. Theres's not one moment (or fingersnap of 65 moments) that hasn't been carefully thought through to create this beautiful exploration of time, entanglement, and a life (or a death) with meaning. The research that went into this book must have been incredible. Everything from the daily life of a Japanese high school student in Tokyo to neighborly mechanisms that keep a British Columbian island functionings to the realities of life as a WWII kamikaze pilot and the magical realism that is quantum mechanics. I care deeply for the characters. I feel like I've lived in the setting, and I savored the prose. I don't know what else you could ask for in a novel. It's my first Ruth Ozeki book, but definitely not my last.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, War, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Suicide

Moderate: Death of parent, Chronic illness, Grief, Terminal illness, Sexual content, and Death

jaydeecepticon's review

dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Bullying, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Sexual assault and War

stormbringer52's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense

• 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

4.5

This book is a really tough read and took me a long time to finish. However, it was worth it. It made me incredibly uncomfortable in some parts, but that was the point. Ruth Ozeki did a wonderful job of representing unsettling topics in a way that felt real and disturbing. I found myself nervous to turn the page at times, worried what would happen next.

Brief spoiler for the end, but

it didn't make a lot of sense to me. I liked it, but it did feel a little out of nowhere. Granted, there were slight magical elements throughout, like how things that Ruth saw online suddenly disappeared, or Naoko conversing with her deceased great uncle. I suppose the end of the book meant to sort of explain why things were happening, but it kind of lost me honestly.

However, I still thing the book was beautifully written, so this does not impact my opinion much :]

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Death, War, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, and Vomit

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Dementia, Cancer, Blood, and Grief

siobhanward's review against another edition

emotional 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? No

5.0

I was absolutely surprised by how much I loved this book. I loved the dual timelines and wound up staying up just to finish the book so I could find out what happened to Nao and to Ruth. Nao's story was so heartbreaking, but so much of it felt so real. Following along with Ruth's journey as she tried to piece together what had happened was such an effective way of telling Nao's story and adding context to parts of it. I'm not even sure what else to say other than I'm so happy I picked this up, and I'm so excited to read more from Ozeki.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Mental illness, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Sexual harassment

Minor: Death

sestout's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Death