Reviews with content warning for Adult/minor relationship - A Tale for the Time Being

Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

117 reviews

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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e_z's review against another edition

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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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miladimelow's review against another edition

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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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steviaplath's review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.75

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amymacca's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny 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

5.0

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kejia___'s review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny mysterious reflective sad

5.0

oh,,,,man,,, this wow,,,,, i am SO happy i bought a copy of this book and own it! i have so many thoughts and also no thoughts i almost want to read it all over again. for the first read, i didnt want to breeze through it even though i found myself so immersed and eager to keep reading which is notable bc i am in early stages of building a reading habit/hobby--to follow the approach of ruth in the story herself.

first on a literary/stylistic level i think this book is so cool for how its going bw ruth third person to nao first person and how the lines reallyyyyyyyy blur bw ruth in the book and ruth the author,,,idk anything about the author and i was intentional about not trying to find out what parts are true to her in real life, what author looks like, learn about her bio etc but i j love that concept so much esp as it relates to idea of multiple worlds now that im thinking about it :o ,,, i like that u sort of lose track of how time is moving, the whole footnoting thing rlyyy fks me up bc its like,,,,who is doing the footnoting ruth in the book or ruth the author or like am i j thinking about this entirely wrong and its not or but rather and ,,,,,, i also like of course the inclusion of letters/email , diff languages , illustration/playing w typography,,,i love how ruth in the book sort of stands in for us for both being readers of nao's diary. i feel like the book really is also getting you to think about writing as a practice and reading as a practice and stories and how we interact with personal narratives/fiction and the consumption of someone else's traumatic/experiences i also personally felt like it was encouraging me to even think about anthropology and the questionable dehumanizing tendancies of sciences???

on level of story, damn there is SO much going on, so many themes and concepts lol !!!!! like its SUCH a meaty book imo which also was why i didnt speed thru bc its super intense and difficult and emotional and philosophical and spiritual and i want to sit sit sit sit sit sittttt w it,,,,like already now i feel things slipping which i g speaks precisely to these ruminations on "now" in the book. i really love how the author is tying in all these diff topics like ecology/environmental studies and Zen Buddhism and western philosophy and suicide and war/imperialism/technology and quantum mechanics and diaspora/racism,,,this type of storytelling works so well w how my scattered mind operates,,,,there is so much that i want to carry w me forever and ya i am super eager to start reading about the author and press on this book and other ppl's reviews/analyses!

i think the one thing i'll say is that the ending feels sort of rushed/too neatly tied?/confusing/open ended (but also w closure) which i know is on purpose and i g maybe even a little bit unsatifsying on purpose? but i think rereads will offer a diff experience bc i know what happens and i think there is a lot of mystery that drives someone to want to reach the end. i teared up sooooo many times during this book; i think maybe bc i was reading this alone (not in public) that i unexpectedly shed tears when i read the last pg which i feel isnt a pg thats super explicitly sad in the ways other sections might b? but i think its bc of the genuine hopefulness and tone of care that it leaves u with

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shrimptales's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book made my heart ache and made me want to reach out to my best friend in the world. It satisfies the curiosity in the reader and the desire to watch someone's life through a glass window.

the ending felt influenced by magical realism, and I still don't understand what the reader is meant to believe. Blending real life components, including the name "Ruth", with a fantastical act of heroism is a truly unique feature of this book and something the reader does not expect

. I appreciate Ruth's narrative style. There is nothing like this book out there.

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