A review by m4rtt4
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-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

4.5

Not quite what I expected, yet somehow the book was deeper than I could ever imagine on every aspect. Magical realism has always been my favourite genre, and although I think the story didn't need it nor was its outcome my utmost favourite, one just can't say no to some good magical realism. Ozeki's way of writing was both confusing and mesmerizing, and as Naoko's story intertwined with the fictional Ruth and Oliver's, it only confused me more (in a good way) when I stumbled upon Ruth Ozeki's Wikipedia page and realised the fictional island with its inhabitants may not have been so fictional after all. Time is a human-made concept and messes up with several realities, of which we are only able to experience one at a time, and not even that properly enough. Nao, are you still there, ~now~, in the fleeting moment we like to call our present? The present is a present, and old Jiko may have made me a bit more grateful for it as well.
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