Reviews tagging 'Grief'

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

44 reviews

daretoread's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship and Bullying

Moderate: Physical abuse, Rape, Torture, War, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Dementia, Mental illness, Suicide, Vomit, and Violence

Minor: Genocide

jackbifrost's review against another edition

dark reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Bullying, Torture, War, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Grief, and Child abuse

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Dementia, Death of parent, Sexual content, Trafficking, and Vomit

enoemo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad 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

4.75

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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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Blood, Dementia, Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Murder, and Rape

Minor: Sexual violence, Gun violence, Hate crime, Fatphobia, and Pedophilia

soleilnigro's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Sexual content, Death of parent, Grief, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Rape, Self harm, Death, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Bullying, War, and Sexual assault

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

anya_lasagna's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Grief and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Dementia, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Bullying, Body shaming, War, and Death

The rape mentioned does not actually happen but is something one of the characters imagines happening while she is pondering a certain course of action

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

bugtime's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Rape, Death, Bullying, Body shaming, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Sexual assault, Self harm, and Mental illness

Minor: Violence, Grief, War, and Adult/minor relationship

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