Reviews tagging 'Racism'

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

11 reviews

lulaabees's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

3.75

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Misogyny, Racism, and War

Minor: Animal death and Sexual assault

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

audreyolejasz's review against another edition

3.25

The ending felt like a cop out 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and War

aus10england's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.5

A beautiful story. Very impressive writing. I got kind of lost towards the end though, maybe could have cut down about fifty pages. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Rape, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and War

fractalonyx's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

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

jessica234's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny inspiring 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

Ozeki has a way of crafting stories as if they are perfectly true, and in a way they always are. In this case, there are two intertwining stories. That of a 16 year old girl writing in her diary, and that of Ruth herself, in a sort of meta-psuedo-biographical sort of way. A layered, companionable, devastating coming of age story and a spiritual journey and a science lesson and a historical account, all rolled in to one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexual assault, Suicide, and War

kaneebli's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Death, Racism, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Rape, Cultural appropriation, and War

jameslyons's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Dementia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Gore, Blood, Death of parent, and Colonisation

waybeyondblue's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Racism, Violence, Grief, Suicide attempt, and War

Minor: Blood and Injury/Injury detail

themysteriouserk's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense 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

A beautifully written book with an intriguing and endearing (if also flawed/complicated) cast of characters. It flawlessly balances a huge variety of perspectives and ideas, its plot covering both the quiet, thoughtful moments of ordinary lives and the dramatic, world-shaping events of the past and present.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Mental illness, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, and War