Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki

19 reviews

warning_about_sophie's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-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

Incredible and deeply moving. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Dementia, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Self harm, and Abandonment

Minor: Racism and Fatphobia

jonmayb's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

My opinions on we this book are conflicting. While it took some time for her voice to settle in, I really enjoyed Nao’s perspective of this book, even though it was sometimes difficult to get a feel for who she was and what her values were. 
For the most part, I disliked Ruth’s point-of-view. While I enjoyed the depth, and the layer of mystery that her perspective added to Nao’s story, I don’t think it was necessary for it to have been so fleshed-put. While the versions of them in the book are fictional, having to read through Ruth and Oliver’s strained conversations proved awkward. For the most part, it was boring, and it often felt uncomfortable to read.
Additionally, I didn’t like the shift towards magical realism that the book took so close to the end, and the manner in which it practically made Ruth the savior of Nao’s story. 
I was ultimately disappointed by all the questions the book leave unanswered as well. However, despite all of these qualms I had with it, I did, for the most part, genuinely enjoy reading this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Bullying, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts

izabruce's review against another edition

emotional funny 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

4.75

Fantastic book, funny and emotional all at once. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Grief, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Addiction, Self harm, Medical trauma, and Fatphobia

Minor: Mass/school shootings, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Gun violence, and Self harm

alicelalicon's review against another edition

emotional 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Grief, and Self harm

Moderate: Child abuse, Fatphobia, Bullying, Drug use, Alcohol, Medical content, Racism, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Body shaming, Sexual content, Ableism, and Cursing

Minor: Toxic relationship, Homophobia, Racial slurs, and Suicidal thoughts

clare26's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death, Self harm, and Car accident

Moderate: Body shaming and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Police brutality and Physical abuse

stwriter92's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective slow-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

“A book must start somewhere. One brave letter must volunteer to go first, laying itself on the line in an act of faith, from which a word takes heart and follows, drawing a sentence into its wake. From there, a paragraph amasses, and soon a page, and the book is on its way, finding a voice, calling itself into being.”

Thus starts The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki. Set against the backdrop of the turmoil of the 2020 presidential election and the BLM movement, the novel centers on the lives of twelve year old Benny Oh, who has just lost his musician father in a terrible accident. His life and the life of his mother, Annabel, immediately begin to unravel as each finds a way to deal with the trauma of loss. Annabel begins to hoard items, longing for connection and desperate to surround herself by things and items that will never leave her. Benny, on the other hand, begins to hear the voices of the objects around him and, after listening to a particularly violent pair of scissors, ends up admitted to a psychiatric ward where he meets all manner of people. Among them is the beautiful, artistic, self-named Aleph with whom Benny falls in love with almost immediately. She is an experimental artist who, while she is not in the ward, roams the streets of the unnamed, vaguely American city with a homeless philosopher and poet, Slavoj. In them, Benny finds a sense of belonging that he does not find anywhere else. He finds an ultimate sense of refuge in the Library, where he meets a book that narrates his life to him in a way that is so compassionate and honest that it's nearly painful. 

After reading A Tale For The Time Being in 2020, I knew that I needed to pick up more books by Ruth Ozeki. This book deals with major themes of death, grief, the transience of existence, and the universal longing to connect in a world that is both completely connected and disconnected at the same time. It urges us as the reader to approach it with a sense of compassion for its broken, beautiful, lonely characters. It holds a mirror up for us, asking us to truly look into what makes us human and real. As we grasp for connection, we find ourselves slowly distancing from one another like orphan planets drifting apart. There were many times I had to put this book down for a few days just to calm and gather my thoughts. This was an uncomfortable read, but an incredibly beautiful one. I would highly recommend anyone and everyone to read this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Grief, Drug use, Mental illness, and Medical content

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Suicide, Blood, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual content

Minor: Animal death, Police brutality, Pregnancy, and Vomit

motleybooksandtea's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Drug abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Toxic friendship and Police brutality

ye_li's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Bullying, Car accident, Death of parent, Grief, and Violence

Moderate: Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Ableism, Homophobia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Police brutality, and Self harm

Minor: Sexism, Child abuse, and Sexual content

196books's review

emotional 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: Mental illness

Moderate: Self harm and Suicidal thoughts

alomie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny slow-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

This book had a real slow start, in fact it got shelved for a few months before I went back to it.

I really had to concentrate with this book, and it wasn't am easy read to begin with, there is actually quite a lot packed into this book, and it's not really surprising that it's over 500 pages long. 

There is the main plot about Benny our main character who is struggling with mental health issues following the tragic and unexpected death of his father, Benny hears objects talk to him, and also hears voices. 

There is the chapters from the perspective of a book that is Benny's story, which speaks to Benny and helps him remember things he has forgot, these parts were honestly my favourite, and I highlighted so many bits, that it's impossible to share them all. 

There is the story of Annabell Benny's mother who is isolated, friendless, in a job that is being phased out, recently widowed and dealing with the mental health problems of herself and her teenage son. 

Also there is the stories of the bottleman (a homeless poet) and the Aleph, a older girl who Benny meets in the hospital when he is committed for hearing voice, a troubled girl with a drug addiction who is also a talented artist. 

And I've not even mentioned the part of the story about the Zen monk who writes a book about tidying (think Marie Kondo) and whole chapters of that book are in this one. This book eventually helps Annabelle, make changes. 

All of this only really scratches the surface, and I really enjoyed this book but, it did take me a while to get into it, but there is some definite magic in these pages, I've given it a 4.5 because of that, and some parts dragged a bit. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death of parent, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Cursing, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Panic attacks/disorders