Reviews with content warning for Death - A Tale for the Time Being

This is a beautiful book. My rating is mostly due to the jump to quantum physics and explaining schrodinger's cat so explicitly to the reader. It took away from the very real and heartbreaking themes that were faced in a very unique way throughout the book. On that note, I felt maybe there were too many themes for one book, but I did feel they were all addressed sensitively. I would want to re-read this when I can go through each part in one sitting (and not on the tube!)

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solarflair's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad

5.0

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nattybreads's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny reflective medium-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

5.0

hands down the best book i’ve read in 2022. it had me crying on the metronorth and laughing in the airport, and that’s on duality.

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cowboyariel's review against another edition

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informative mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.5

absolutely loved this book, i took my time reading it cause it’s a lot to mentally absorb especially considering it covers very serious topics that are hard to handle but it was worth it. i can see how it’s not for everyone since it gets pretty philosophical and is kinda slow paced, but it’s a beautiful story about contemplating human existence from various angles and coming of age as a teen/young adult. i’d also say it depicts issues in japanese society pretty realistically and by that i mean the ugly parts that people tend to not know about or gloss over lol

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lanid's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad

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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lilacwhisker's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Loved this book so much!! It being told from the perspective of the reader and writer of the diary was so fun and interesting to read. I also really liked the appendices and cliff notes added. Nao was an amazing character and I loved reading about her while also learning about Buddhism. I thought the way that Ruth and Nao’s characters contrasted made for an exciting story and I also liked how they shared similarities in their lives and it felt like their two separate stories blended more and more the further I got into the book.

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mangomilk's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful 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? Yes

4.5

loved this a lot more than "all over creation," which was the extent of my previous exposure to ruth ozeki's work, and now i'm open to reading more. i found it somewhat difficult to get into part 1, but after h#1's history was introduced, the pages flew by. nao really grew on me as a narrator, and i found her reflections on temporality, hope, and legacy unexpectedly moving. i'll think about this book for a while, probably.

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