Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - A Tale for the Time Being

Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

171 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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audreytallulah's review against another edition

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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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kbhenrickson's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

3.0

I found this book very frustrating. I loved some of it - the reflections on life, the parts with Nao’s great-grandmother, the initial pairing of the two stories, Nao’s diary and Ruth’s life in British Columbia when she finds the diary on the beach. I found Nao’s parts particularly compelling - some of Ruth’s parts felt like they were there mostly as a vehicle for inserting historical and scientific information.

On the other hand, there is a lot of

Spoiler

terrible abuse - horrific bullying and violence that is treated as normal, suicide and suicide attempts

that was hard to read. And then, though most of the book is a realistic story with a bit of spirituality, there is

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an insertion of sci-fi / fantasy at the end that feels like it’s just there as a way to conclude the story but doesn’t really fit. I wish the author had kept the story realistic with a touch of otherworldly the whole way through.

The audiobook is narrated by the author, who does a great job. At the end, she points out that there are footnotes in the printed text that were not included in the audiobook as well as some illustrations, though I don’t think I’ll seek those out at this point.

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alyssapusateri's review against another edition

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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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kelseyraerussell's review against another edition

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dark funny hopeful mysterious 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

5.0

This is one of the best books I've read. Every page is excellent. There are so many clever details. The prose is beautiful. The book somehow manages to be scientific, mythological, philosophical, otherworldly, funny, tragic, hopeful, sad, happy. It's just good.

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