Reviews with content warning for Physical abuse - A Tale for the Time Being

Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

82 reviews

thyprincess's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.25

"And yet, at night I lie on my bed, counting my beads, one for every thing on earth I love, on and on, in a circle without end."

A Tale for the Time Being is perhaps best regarded as a tale across time and space, with the voices of Nao, a young Japanese schoolgirl, and Ruth, a quiet islander (also writer). This magical realism novel explores themes of Zen Buddhism, Quantum Mechanics, and Conscience, though most times you'll have to think real hard about what it's trying to get at.

Nao's voice is witty and quick, whereas Ruth is a more slow and soft voice, which acts as a buffer for the horrible experiences Nao details in her diary. The build up is slow, but once the mysteries of Nao's family begin to unravel themselves, the pace picked up and it became an enjoyable read, though at times stilted given the amount of context you have to contemplate on to understand the feelings conveyed.

Still, I enjoyed the lesson it was sharing - one grounded on our individual and collective Time Beings, and it will leave me pondering on these fleeting moments in time.

Content Warnings

nie_fertig's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I feel like this is one of those books that everyone needs to read, unless any of the content warnings below are too much for the reader (particularly suicide, as two characters contemplate it throughout the book) - I will admit, there were a few times I had to stop reading because the abuse and bullying that one of the main characters, Nao, goes through is very graphic, intense, and extremely heartbreaking.
But I adore how the story goes back and forth from the reader / the present with the author herself, Ruth, to the writer / the past, Nao, and how both stories influence one another. As a writer myself, it really made me think of my relationship with my audience, or whoever is reading my works in the potential future.
And another theme is about the now and how important and incredible now is within time. I'm definitely going to think about this book for quite a while...

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audreytallulah's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious 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

4.5

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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

Content Warnings

kbhenrickson's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

I found this book very frustrating. I loved some of it - the reflections on life, the parts with Nao’s great-grandmother, the initial pairing of the two stories, Nao’s diary and Ruth’s life in British Columbia when she finds the diary on the beach. I found Nao’s parts particularly compelling - some of Ruth’s parts felt like they were there mostly as a vehicle for inserting historical and scientific information.

On the other hand, there is a lot of

terrible abuse - horrific bullying and violence that is treated as normal, suicide and suicide attempts

that was hard to read. And then, though most of the book is a realistic story with a bit of spirituality, there is

an insertion of sci-fi / fantasy at the end that feels like it’s just there as a way to conclude the story but doesn’t really fit. I wish the author had kept the story realistic with a touch of otherworldly the whole way through.

The audiobook is narrated by the author, who does a great job. At the end, she points out that there are footnotes in the printed text that were not included in the audiobook as well as some illustrations, though I don’t think I’ll seek those out at this point.

Content Warnings