Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

94 reviews

chalkletters's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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? No

2.5

A Tale for the Time Being was a birthday or Christmas present many years, and at least one address, ago. It was chosen for me, not something I picked up myself, and so I had no expectations. The blurb gave very little away, but the book was shortlisted for the Man Book Prize, and I always try to read the books people give me (…eventually).

When I actually started reading, A Tale for the Time Being didn’t captivate me immediately. Nao’s schoolgirl philosophical ramblings weren’t particularly charming and it was hard to get a grip on where the story was going. It wasn’t until Ruth decided to try reading Nao’s diary ‘in real time’ (one of Nao’s entries for each of Ruth’s days) that I started to get interested, though the plot was still murky. 

The structure, going back and forth between Nao’s story and Ruth researching Nao’s story, worked surprisingly well, and I liked the conceit of Ruth’s footnotes explaining Nao’s specifically Japanese references. I did find the Appendices a bit troublesome, because I think I missed the instruction to go read some of them, but they also weren’t that engaging to read, even though the information was relevant. 

Like The Gallows Pole, A Tale for the Time Being ended up being much darker than I anticipated, though I found Ruth Ozeki’s descriptions more visceral and thus more disturbing. It wasn’t an easy read, and the uncertain line between reality and fiction added its own sense of confusion, which made the magical elements less delightful than they might have been. 

This is the second book I’ve reviewed to heavily feature meditation techniques; the sections of A Tale for the Time Being that Nao spent in her grandmother’s temple were what I most enjoyed reading. (And I did appreciate that Ruth also tried sitting zazen but kept falling asleep.) 

A Tale for the Time Being was an interesting book, and I think I’ll keep hold of it for at least a little while, but I don’t know if it’s a book I’d want to return to often.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Suicide attempt, and War

Minor: Death and Death of parent

saintmaud's review against another edition

emotional 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

4.5

Nao's attempt at writing about her nun great grandmother was what caught my attention first and made me add this to my tbr, but I loved Ruth's parts equally, if not more. I loved the natural science parts as well as her relationship with Oliver and life on the island and the magic realism towards the second half was done well too. Will be thinking about this one for some time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Bullying, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and War

Moderate: Physical abuse and Dementia

Minor: Cancer and Torture

e_z's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Physical abuse, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Sexual content, Torture, and Death of parent

waybeyondblue's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Body shaming, Bullying, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Racism, Violence, Grief, Suicide attempt, and War

Minor: Blood and Injury/Injury detail

miladimelow's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad

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

4.0

“𝘚𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘖𝘯𝘦 𝘈𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨.

 𝘚𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘔𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘓𝘪𝘧𝘦.

 𝘚𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘥.

 𝘚𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘛𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘍𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳.” -p92

I have to say I’m speechless. I mean this was just… this was just incredible!

A tale for the time being follows Ruth, a woman living on an island, as she comes across a lunch box filled with a person’s possession. Included in this is 16 year old Nao’s diary. As the story goes on, Ruth gets warped into the story of Nao’s life, causing an obsession of finding this teenager to emerge.

This was one of those books that just really tugs at your heart strings. Once I’d got the middle of the story, I was really struggling to continue on, as it was incredibly slow and very long. But the writing took as twist at around half way, as you see Nao’s seemingly simply childhood switch. And god that really pained me. This is a beautiful story centred around mainly the importance of family, as well talking about the impact of war, which was really impactful and where I found the writing to be it’s most lyrical. 

I adored so many thing in this book but I’ll just mention a few. Firstly I loved the subtle similarities between Ruth and Nao’s storylines, which really suited especially with the ending.  The lines between the two were completely blurred by the end, and this slow build up to it was incredibly fun to spot. I also LOVED Oliver and Pesto, I really need this duo for me. They really helped wrap up the story, and the little side story between cat and owner was such a sweet way to help the reader relax from the very difficult main storyline.

So really what I want to say is that you should definitely read this! A mix between the midnight library and after dark by Murakami, if you love magical realism you will adore this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Animal death, Body shaming, and Alcohol

Minor: Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, and Stalking

spicymango's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad tense 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: Bullying, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Moderate: Physical abuse

clemencepct's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

bugcollector's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, and War

ciaraw8787's review against another edition

dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Physical abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Pedophilia

Minor: Death

schlinkles's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

4.75

I'm definitely late to the party, finally reading this now. It's hard to think of what to say about this book that so seamlessly entangles fiction and nonfiction, philosophy and physics, life and death. This was a book so unlike anything I've read before. It was challenging and enchanting. I had to stop several times while reading it to just really sit with what I had read and try to wrap my head around it. I'm not sure I've encountered a book that has such beautiful moments set against such disturbing descriptions of bullying and suicide. I read this in anticipation of Ruth Ozeki's new book coming out and now I'm even more excited to pick it up. She is still very unique and talented author. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt