Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

45 reviews

maidinnah's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

A Tale for the Time Being is an ode to the superpowers of literature — the power to connect souls across time and space, to create worlds of possibilities, and to instill comfort in moments of unknowing. The alternating perspectives of the troubled Nao and the contemplative Ruth (who may or may not be the author herself) created a novel that was equally zen as it is charming, meta as it is human. I’ll be thinking about this book for a long while. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Suicide and Suicide attempt

Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual content

thyprincess's review

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.25

"And yet, at night I lie on my bed, counting my beads, one for every thing on earth I love, on and on, in a circle without end."

A Tale for the Time Being is perhaps best regarded as a tale across time and space, with the voices of Nao, a young Japanese schoolgirl, and Ruth, a quiet islander (also writer). This magical realism novel explores themes of Zen Buddhism, Quantum Mechanics, and Conscience, though most times you'll have to think real hard about what it's trying to get at. 

Nao's voice is witty and quick, whereas Ruth is a more slow and soft voice, which acts as a buffer for the horrible experiences Nao details in her diary. The build up is slow, but once the mysteries of Nao's family begin to unravel themselves, the pace picked up and it became an enjoyable read, though at times stilted given the amount of context you have to contemplate on to understand the feelings conveyed. 

Still, I enjoyed the lesson it was sharing - one grounded on our individual and collective Time Beings, and it will leave me pondering on these fleeting moments in time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Physical abuse and Sexual content

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

audreytallulah's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Death, Animal cruelty, War, Body shaming, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Xenophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Trafficking, Injury/Injury detail, and Gore

Minor: Suicide, Sexism, Miscarriage, Fatphobia, Dementia, Body horror, and Animal cruelty

alyssapusateri's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Trafficking, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Bullying, Cursing, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, and Suicide

indydc's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

3.0

Content warning: This book discusses suicide and other sensitive topics at length. Readers take care. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Suicide, Bullying, Body shaming, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Death, Toxic friendship, and Trafficking

norademi's review

dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.0

I really liked the writing style and the fact that it’s mostly character-driven. It was easy to get into and easy to keep picking up the book. I loved reading about how Nao was coping with living in Tokyo after having to grow up in California. Her family moved back to Tokyo after her father lost his job in Silicon Valley. 

However, the story switches back and forth between Nao’s perspective to Ruth’s perspective. It was hard for me to get through Ruth’s parts and had to force myself, too. The book also had some supernatural elements which I wasn’t too eager about but I thought it meshed well with the Japanese culture. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

jackbifrost's review against another edition

dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Bullying, Torture, War, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Grief, and Child abuse

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Dementia, Death of parent, Sexual content, Trafficking, and Vomit

rkmccool's review

dark funny hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

soleilnigro's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

I thought the idea for this story was really interesting and i really liked all of the characters, but it just dragged out a lot for me. I think if you really like slow paced philosophy books then this was really great and well written, but as someone that usually can't get into slow books this was difficult to finish and I did have to skip a lot of pages. objectively I think this book was really good, but not for me personally. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Sexual content, Death of parent, Grief, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Rape, Self harm, Death, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Bullying, War, and Sexual assault

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

Moderate: Sexual content and Animal death

Minor: Vomit, Homophobia, Death of parent, and Alcohol