Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

116 reviews

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

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

Minor: Dementia and Toxic friendship

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

Minor: Genocide

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

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

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

sprucewillow's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and War

Moderate: Animal death and Sexual content

Minor: Homophobia, Vomit, Death of parent, 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, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Suicide attempt, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Death, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Grief, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Fatphobia, Vomit, and Deportation

alicianoel126's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Suicidal thoughts

aus10england's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious 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

4.5

A beautiful story. Very impressive writing. I got kind of lost towards the end though, maybe could have cut down about fifty pages. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Rape, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and War

hflh's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.75

A Tale for the Time Being follows Ruth on Vancouver Island as she is reading the old diary of a young girl in Japan. In the present, Ruth struggles to write her next novel while exploring Nao's world. In the diary, Nao writes about her experiences at home and at school, with a focus on a growing relationship with her amazing grandmother. 

Readers switch between Ruth's perspective and Nao's first-person diary, but the diary chapters are full of footnotes with Ruth's comments. It creates a really unique and intimate reading experience where, when reading the diary, you not only feel like you are in the shoes of Nao, but also that you are in the shoes of Ruth as she is reading.

I loved this book. It is immersive and the format, characters, and the element of magical realism mystery are all incredibly compelling. However, this is a hard and painful book with detailed descriptions and reflections on TW

war, natural disasters, bullying, sexual violence and exploitation, poverty, and suicide

. But, without minimizing these topics, Ozeki brings in reflective moments informed by her Buddhism and genuine moments of connection that balance these hard topics with hope.  

The book is definitely slow, but I enjoyed the pacing aside from finding it too slow in one or two places. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Sexual violence

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, and War

jejjewjkwk's review against another edition

5.0

i’m so glad i pushed through (but also glad i took my time cus if i’d read this a couple months ago i would have spiraled), the concept and story was really interesting but tbf i did prefer nao’s perspective a lot more. was reallyy nice to hear about other perspectives of time and death, very complex but the language doesn’t get too complicated. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Death, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Dementia and War

farrahsoa's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

5.0

Best novel I’ve read in years. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Bullying