Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

207 reviews

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

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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

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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

brennrul's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Sexual assault

audreyolejasz's review against another edition

3.25

The ending felt like a cop out 

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Content Warnings

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

comfyqueer's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

emlev1995's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Bullying

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and War

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Bullying, and Emotional abuse

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

Minor: Sexual assault and War

pamscafati's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

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 :]

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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

noiraet's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny inspiring 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? No

5.0

this book made me grow

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Suicide attempt