Reviews tagging 'Torture'

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

35 reviews

kamikakushi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Torture, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, War, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Grief, Dementia, Death of parent, and Vomit

Minor: Cancer, Drug use, and Alcohol

toffishay's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

This is a story of Ruth in Canada and Nao in Japan telling the story of their lives, their trials and the personal horrors that they face, and how they find a way through with the people around them. I really don't know how to feel, but I was really engaged by this reading experience. It was an interesting exploration of time and identity, who we are in the grand scheme of things. I really connected with Nao and her relationship with Jiko was so beautiful. I liked the deconstruction of a story. Like it's such a meta experience and what we bring to a story as readers. What we read and what we get out of a book says as much about the reader as it does about the writer as it does about the characters in the story themselves. We all make each other. This isn't coherent lol!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Torture, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Violence, War, Xenophobia, Classism, Grief, Abandonment, Misogyny, Death, Pedophilia, Trafficking, Rape, Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Vomit, Deportation, and Fatphobia

alisonannk's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Body shaming, Bullying, Physical abuse, and Torture

Minor: Rape

miciahsreads's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective slow-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

4.25

characters - 1
worldbuilding - .75
plot - .75
enjoyment - .75
writing - 1

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Death of parent, Grief, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Torture, Death, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Toxic friendship, War, Alcohol, Blood, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Violence, Bullying, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Gore

Minor: Animal death

danidamico's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.5

Ruth es una escritora estadounidense que vive con su marido en una isla remota en Canadá. Un día, caminando por la playa, encuentra una bolsa cubierta de algas y percebes. Lo más llamativo es lo que encuentra dentro de la bolsa: una caja de Hello Kitty, un diario íntimo, un reloj antiguo y cartas escritas en japonés. Sin saber cuál es el origen de estos objetos misteriosos, Ruth comienza a leer el diario, escrito por una adolescente japonesa, Nao. A lo largo del libro, vamos conociendo la historia de la chica y de su familia, y a su vez, se van tejiendo conexiones bastante particulares entre ella y Ruth. 

Me gusta mucho cuando las novelas alternan perspectivas de distintos personajes y van construyendo conexiones entre ellos a lo largo del relato. En A Tale for the Time Being la autora alterna entre las entradas de diario de Nao en primera persona y capítulos en tercera sobre Ruth. Es un formato que me resulta muy atractivo y ayuda a mantener el interés durante casi 500 páginas.

Leer A Tale for the Time Being fue una experiencia intensa que me llevó alrededor de una semana (bastante tiempo para mi ritmo de lectura promedio). Sí tengo algunas dudas sobre cómo aparece abordado uno de los grandes temas de la novela: el suicidio. Por un lado, pienso que está bueno escribir sobre el tema sin solemnidad, porque es algo que sucede a diario en todas partes del mundo, sobre todo en Japón. Pero es algo muy complejo, no sé si me termina de convencer cómo lo trata Ozeki, en especial hacia final cuando

Nao y su padre parecen dejar de querer morirse casi por arte de magia.

Hasta ahora mi abordaje favorito del tema es All My Puny Sorrows de la canadiense Miriam Toews. 

Más allá de eso, disfruté el hecho de que la novela me haya llevado a transitar tantas emociones, pasando por momentos en los que realmente consideré dejar de leer por lo duras que me resultaron algunas escenas. El punto es que me quedé y seguí leyendo. Más allá de las escenas difíciles o actitudes de los personajes que me parecían frustrantes, había algo que me hacía querer continuar, porque como dice uno de los personajes, "lo peor es no saber". Necesitaba saber qué ocurriría con Nao y también con Ruth, dos voces que se sienten reales, cercanas. Uno de los mayores logros de la novela, tal vez el mayor, es lograr que al lector le importe.

Me parece importante enfatizar que por momentos el contenido del texto es muy fuerte, algo que yo no sabía cuando comencé a leerlo. Hay descripciones gráficas de bullying severo, acoso físico que en dos escenas básicamente llega a convertirse en abuso sexual. Además, el personaje de Nao escribe constantemente acerca del suicidio, tanto en el caso de la depresión de su padre, como sobre sus propios pensamientos suicidas. Por último, también hay escenas vinculadas a la tortura en el ejército japonés durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Creo que es importante tener estas cosas en cuenta a la hora de leerlo, porque es un libro duro, en mi opinión. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, War, Suicide attempt, Bullying, Sexual assault, Torture, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts

ka_cam's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad fast-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

4.75

I came across this book as part of Multnomah County's Everybody Reads event and what a great choice! I often like books that involve a light dose of magical realism, historical fiction, existential angst, quantum entanglement, general moodyness, and people connecting across time and space soooo it was kind of up my alley. I felt like the end petered out a bit and sometimes things were a bit on the nose, but all in all really enjoyed!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Rape, Death, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, and Bullying

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, War, Torture, Violence, Suicide, Xenophobia, Grief, and Dementia

Minor: Cultural appropriation, Genocide, Cancer, Car accident, Colonisation, Deportation, Mass/school shootings, Chronic illness, and Classism

miisoosoup's review against another edition

emotional 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? Yes

4.75

This book touched on basically every topic I'm interested in, I feel like it was made for me. Quantum physics, Japanese language, Buddhist philosophy, Zen practices, time. I felt like every other page contained a quote that I wanted to store in my brain forever, I loved it. One of my favourite books so far. Some quite graphic descriptions of Nao's bullying, but I guess it pulls you into the harsh reality that she had to face.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Torture, Sexual assault, Violence, War, and Rape

Minor: Pedophilia and Grief

emsim's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, War, Torture, Bullying, Suicide attempt, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Pedophilia, Trafficking, Dementia, Alcohol, Mental illness, Misogyny, and Xenophobia

8bg's review against another edition

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, War, Rape, Suicide attempt, Torture, Trafficking, and Vomit

Men having sex with underage (sexually mature) escorts

schang's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, War, and Torture

Moderate: Violence, Suicide, and Sexual violence