Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

41 reviews

thecatmouse's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

3.75

uuuuuffffff this book was a lot…
you get swept off with the first two parts, the back and forth of the narration (even though why is Ruth so detestable? really hope the author wasn’t depicting herself fr cause girl that character was boring and flat as hell), the mystery is a page turner 
and then 
it gets so grim… for basically no reason
the topics were heavy but for the first two parts it made sense, after that well suicide, bullying, WWII, a tsunami were enough, rape and prostitution? a bit much if i may 
although the introduction to zen theories and practices was so informative, yeah the ending about quantum physics bored me so much I almost didn’t finish the book 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, and War

spec_tacles's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I know that I’ll be thinking about this book for a long time. The themes explored here are ones that I’m personally invested in, and it feels like the quintessential story about time. I do feel there could have been very slight improvements to Ruth’s sections and to the end to enhance my investment in her character, but they would be minor changes. Overall, I think this book is really something special. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Grief, Suicide attempt, War, and Injury/Injury detail

ghilimei's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Vomit, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, and War

smdey's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense 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

4.25

read all the trigger warnings before reading, but this book is beautiful and complex. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent

kaatelin's review against another edition

3.5

i liked how the book explored some aspects of time and the impact on the reader on the story, but i felt like it dove too deep too few times so it didn’t feel like a really consistent motif

My favourite section of this book easily was Nao’s time with her great grandmother, it was atmospheric, and considering Nao and her great grandma are the only character who felt really flushed out to me, it felt like such a well developed part of the story. I also just love all her prayers and the relationship built between the two of them. It was the one clear and believable moment of hope in the novel

Ruth is really there to represent us as the reader, but I also felt a bit mislead by this idea of Ruth as a sort of detective trying to figure out Nao’s story. I think there was little more I got out of the story by having her as this sort of facilitator of discovery. In some ways I wish I was first hand experiencing it, with Nao talking to me, or even it could be an interesting opportunity to use a second person voice to pull the reader in even more beyond Nao’s direct calls to the reader/Ruth. 
—> after checking out the print version it does some interesting things with footnotes! Most are just translations but a few are Ruth questioning Nao’s narrative, which does a good job as positioning Ruth as an investigative force in the story! The appendixes did nothing for me though

I am glad Ruth’s husband called her out for her bullshit about being worried about Nao as an “urgent issue” but also reading the journal so slowly!! And naming that the timing was so unclear, how did she not thing earlier that the journal was many years old!!

I also just did not care for Ruth’s side of the story!! See narrative development reasons above, but also everyone in that story was either boring or part of this rotating cast on the island who each got one moment of importance

Certain points of this book just got too much for me, Nao’s bathroom attack in particular as well as her “dates”. They really soured the story for me and the redemption only happened when she went to be by her great grandmother.

take all the content warnings at face value, because Nao does not sugar coat or glance over anything.  She’s got a clear narrative voice and it’s a blunt one. 

I don’t love how we had to spell out some things, like having Ruth and her husband state clearly Haruki One and Haruki Two’s motivations for their actions and directly drawing a parallel. I kind of want the author to trust the reader a bit more. It also felt like everything had to be justified - I’m not sure it added more to the story to me to learn that Nao’s dad had this other motive behind his firing and his suicidality

I seem to have a lot of thoughts on this book!! I’ll edit and add more if I think of anything else, but overall despite the more mediocre rating, it did really catch my attention and I got through it fairly quickly!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Sexual violence

jesus_wept's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Dementia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Ableism, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Medical content, Sexual harassment, and Classism

elaivi's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful informative sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, and Suicide attempt

bookscatcoffee's review against another edition

challenging dark informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

I acknowledge this was likely the wrong time for me to read this book.  It is nuanced and connected with footnotes; it bends and twists with beautiful language that takes time to decipher.  There should be a warning on the cover - for time beings with time to think this through:).  That being said, I did enjoy the journey.  The characters feel real and complicated.  Worth reading with the above caveat.  4 stars

Speculative fiction with Japanese and Japanese-American characters

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: War

vegotter's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Murder

michaela_chen's review against another edition

dark funny hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicide