Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

44 reviews

indydc's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-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

3.0

Content warning: This book discusses suicide and other sensitive topics at length. Readers take care. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Suicide, Bullying, Body shaming, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Death, Toxic friendship, and Trafficking

elyssam's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense 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

This was a very introspective read. Just like Ruth, I was super invested in Nao’s story, kept me motivated to keep reading/listening. So good!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Death, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Blood, and Vomit

Minor: Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Dementia, and War

maddythide's review against another edition

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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicide attempt, War, Trafficking, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Bullying, and Pedophilia

leweylibrary's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Racial slurs, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Suicide, Bullying, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Rape

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

seethinglloron's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful 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

4.75

 My partner read this for a class and recommended it to me, and she has very smart things to say about this novel like

how Ozeki uses quantum theory to challenge how we, as readers, understand novels as an art form of many worlds, how Ozeki recontextualizes folks who have Alzheimer's' and their experiences by putting us in Ruth's (the character's) shoes, how Ozeki connects Japanese generational ennui and Buddhist philosophy to WW2 patriotism and that suicide is a through-line in Japanese sociopolitical history,

but what I have to say about this novel is thus: 
Oh boy! I cried my eyes out in the last third, and the epilogue just about killed me. It's good. Nao's story hurts to read, and what stops me from making this a 5 is that Ruth and Oliver's story never grabbed me like Nao's. I found myself wanting to get through their story ASAP to get back to Nao. I didn't get attached to them, and their relationship and their stories... just didn't land for me. 
Great book! You should read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, War, and Suicide attempt

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

henrylee1202's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Overall, this book was very good. I really enjoyed reading it! I wish I can explain all I feel for this book in this review, but I can’t. In short words, I will say that it is a book that I will never forget. 

It’s interesting how the author decided to use her real name and her husband’s for the characters.

I definitely enjoyed Nao’s parts of the story more than Ruth’s but having both perspectives made the plot whole and complete. Nao,

the poor girl 😭 she really lived a rough live which was really a result from her parents. While I understand the father, I thought the his course of action was ridiculous and it ended up hurting Nao. The great grandmother was so great though. I’m glad she had a part on Nao. I cried so much during the funeral parts.

This might be because I didn’t read carefully but I was surprised by how   worried Oliver got about the cat. Maybe Ruth’s uncaring nature toward him(? I think Pest was a guy) got to me. Glad it was alive in the end 👍

Such a good way to explain Japan through the story. Was able to immerse myself into both of their worlds.

A book that reminded me how much I love books 😻 also another book with a great message: love prevails

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Bullying, Rape, Sexual harassment, and Violence

amethyst_sea's review against another edition

hopeful sad medium-paced

5.0

So well written. The narrative style is so different and I really liked it. this book is so sad and heavy yet, keeps you hopeful. It was really jarring sometimes how Nao would talk about really heavy/disturbing things in such a light manner. As if it's normal to her, but that just made me feel more for her. The dream element was really interesting and a little unexpected, but I didn't really mind it. Honestly, having some parts of it not be very realistic made things slightly less sad. Really liked this overall. It's heavy, sad, and uncomfortable at times, but reminds us that's what life is sometimes and there's still hope for things to turn out ok.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Pedophilia and Rape