Reviews tagging 'Death'

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

110 reviews

stormbringer52's review against another edition

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

siobhanward's review against another edition

emotional 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? No

5.0

I was absolutely surprised by how much I loved this book. I loved the dual timelines and wound up staying up just to finish the book so I could find out what happened to Nao and to Ruth. Nao's story was so heartbreaking, but so much of it felt so real. Following along with Ruth's journey as she tried to piece together what had happened was such an effective way of telling Nao's story and adding context to parts of it. I'm not even sure what else to say other than I'm so happy I picked this up, and I'm so excited to read more from Ozeki.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Mental illness, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Sexual harassment

Minor: Death

sestout's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Death

audreytallulah's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Death, Animal cruelty, War, Body shaming, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Xenophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Trafficking, Injury/Injury detail, and Gore

Minor: Suicide, Sexism, Miscarriage, Fatphobia, Dementia, Body horror, and Animal cruelty

roseblossom999's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, War, Sexual harassment, Terminal illness, Death, Body shaming, Body horror, Animal death, Suicide attempt, Rape, Mental illness, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Emotional abuse, Suicide, and Violence

lambclown's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, War, Bullying, Adult/minor relationship, Vomit, Violence, Toxic friendship, Body shaming, Death, and Mental illness

Moderate: Animal death and Rape

Minor: Cancer and Chronic illness

indydc's review against another edition

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

isareader's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child abuse, and Bullying

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, War, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Vomit

erinwolf1997's review against another edition

dark 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: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Rape, Bullying, Vomit, War, Physical abuse, Suicide, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Death, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, and Death of parent

Minor: Dementia and Toxic friendship