Reviews

i have really mixed feelings. this book has a lot of beautiful, carefully crafted moments about existence and time and persistence in doing the right thing in harrowing circumstances. i do think some of the paragraphs in this book will stay with me from how luminous and achingly human they were. but something about the writing was a little grating to me (i could not tell you why. personal feeling, but it did keep me from connecting with any of the characters)... i also have to point out that the author does drop slurs in this book, and while i can't comment on the j slur being there because it is reclaimed by the author (though at some point... a white man... uses it?), there is also the e slur casually being dropped and mentions of "political correctedness" (abbreviated to "PC") which feels a tad... condescending? but that's it.

Content Warnings

yaych0's review against another edition

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5.0

literally changed my life

beaormgyu's review against another edition

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emotional informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

xtinaji's review against another edition

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4.0

I had planned to give this book 3 stars based on what it is on the surface level, which is an interesting story but with jarring tone shifts and increasingly unbelievable/confusing circumstances. However, I ultimately chose to give A Tale for the Time Being 4 stars in that the experience of reading it was undeniably thought provoking and life changing for me. This book came at the right time for where I am in my life, and it made me feel as if I were learning about life as Nao/Ruth was. It was a personally gratifying experience every time I picked the book up. The book was enigmatic in its entirety; Nao's parts were compelling and tragic while Ruth's were a necessary quiet & monotonous break in contrast. I would recommend this book to people who like Murakami's magical realism or to people that simply want to become privy to a different perspective (Nao's exposure to both Western ideologies & that of Japan's makes for some interesting observations on their contrasting perspectives to life & death).

Who knows, maybe further rumination over the book will make me knock the rating down, but for now, I give this book 5 stars because I thoroughly enjoyed reading this tale for the time being ;)

Edit (1/18/24): yeah i knocked it down to 4 stars LOL

bwluvs2read's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

tinysaturn's review against another edition

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4.0

Mam problem czy dać tej książce 4 czy też 5 gwiazdek, więc zatrzymam się na 4.5
Historia Nao jest naprawdę cudowna, jej problemy, ale w sumie nie tylko jej, bo także jej ojca czy dalszych przodków, są przedstawione w sposób, w jaki sama Nao je rozumie, dzięki czemu trochę łatwiej jest to zrobić też czytelnikowi. Ruth jest ogromnie zainteresowana dziewczynką i bardzo podobały mi się wszelkie momenty, gdzie próbuje doszukać się informacji o Nao i jej rodzinie. Nie będę tu wrzucać spoilerów, ale ogólnie rzecz biorąc, ten rok zapowiada się naprawdę dobrze jeśli chodzi o jakość książek, które jak na razie przeczytałam. Jedyne, co średnio mi się podobało, to późniejsze sny Ruth, bo o ile ich filozoficzne tematy były bardzo ciekawe, to sam motyw "zniknięcia" pewnej rzeczy był już dla mnie trochę zbyt dziwny. Mimo to, książka jest świetna!

tealdavis's review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

The same questionable magic of other works by Ruth Ozeki. Loved the perspective of our WWII kamikaze pilot. Loved the weird rules of the book. Didn’t feel as connected to the characters as the book of form and emptiness. Solid read

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