Reviews with content warning for Mental illness - A Tale for the Time Being

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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siriface's review against another edition

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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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leweylibrary's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative 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

5.0

This was such a good book to read during our trip to Japan! There were so many small elements about modern Japanese culture in this book that came up or I noticed in person during our trip, like the maid cafes, family marts, and vending machines.

The narrator was the author, and she did such an amazing job with these dual narrators in the story, especially considering one was a child/teenager.

The book was also great enough to me that I know need a physical copy so I can reread it in the future and make better notes of the parts that really hit me hard--and there's a lot of them. Nao and Ruth's characters are great, especially together even though they never technically meet (I love the ending by the way). Ozeki flawlessly weaved these stories together even though they never officially crossed paths. I also loved Nao's father and their relationship and his struggles. I know mental health isn't something that community talks about much at all, so I think it's amazing that this book does talk about it, even if it is painful to read. I love the way this book talks about time and life and what we choose to do with the two. Now I really want to read Nao's book about her grandmother!

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soleilnigro's review against another edition

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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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