Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

All Over Creation by Ruth Ozeki

11 reviews

antiffa's review

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gun violence, Child abuse, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Death, and Racism

Minor: Drug abuse

luise96's review

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

I really loved Ruth Ozeki‘s other books, but I couldn't really get into this one. The beginning was nice but the plot kind of stalls for long and it got a bit boring. As a scientist, i didn‘t really love the one sided explanations of GMOs, but whatever. I couldn‘t stand most of the characters, except Cass and I didn‘t feel like Yumi was a good protagonist for this story. I thought sometimes the male characters were written a bit weird. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Abortion

Minor: Police brutality

unboxedjack's review

emotional funny lighthearted reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

ariel_bloomer's review

emotional 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Infertility

lilly_anne's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Child abuse, Dementia, Drug use, Medical content, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Cancer, Bullying, Cultural appropriation, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual content

spcandybars's review against another edition

emotional slow-paced

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

2.0

This book is about 200 pages too long and 3 paces too slow. Most of the time I was reading, I was just wishing it could end. If you’re coming from other Ruth Ozeki works and you’re a big fan of those, one thing that may disappoint you about this book is the lack of whimsy. Ozeki handles very real situations and characters in a blunt way but cuts the banality by introducing a slight view of something fantastic regardless of being helpful or detrimental to the characters. She also does this in some of the most beautiful writing I can recall in recent years. This book, while also being written beautifully, lacks the charm of the fantastic and instead cuts the banality of cruel realities with the banality of a ridiculous reality that doesn’t seem to have a place despite being directly tied to the main plot. 


One source of irritation I had with this book came from a cast of characters that I either hated or just felt entirely neutral towards. Another was having a differing stance on GMO technology than the one pushed in the book. Another was overly convenient plotting that felt like it served no one and heavily distracted from the family dynamic we were focused on. It made elements of the book feel cheesy and unnecessary and the characters introduced to carry out these sections weren’t fleshed out enough or impactful on the primary character enough to justify their presence. The A and B plot just don’t suite each other and I felt like both would be stronger stories on their own. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Rape, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Abortion, Alcoholism, Fatphobia, Death of parent, Dementia, Infertility, and Miscarriage

jazzeeazz's review

emotional funny informative 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? Yes

5.0

I don’t know how to explain the beauty of Ozeki’s books. The plots follow a standard literary fiction path while adding in these historically complex topics. For All Over Creation, Yumi visits her parents 25 years after she ran away at the same time that a group of eco-anarchists arrive to protest against corporate interests in Idaho potato farming communities. 

I absolutely loved it. The themes that struck me the most were afterlife, fatherhood, and how trauma impacts identity. There are some lengthy descriptions of sexual abuse of a child so please keep that in mind. So much happens in this book, so I’m just going to put some of my favorite quotes.

“I didn’t realize there were so many shades of dying. So many different levels” (348). 

THE ENTIRE LAST CHAPTER BEFORE PART 7. THAT WAS ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THINGS IVE EVER READ. I WILL THINK ABOUT IT FOREVER.

“But maybe that was the trick—to accept the responsibility and forgo the control? To love without expectation? A paradox for sure, but such a relief” (410). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Child abuse, Dementia, Abortion, and Drug use

alisonburnis's review

emotional funny 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

Twenty-five years after she ran away, Yumi Fuller is called back to her hometown of Liberty Falls by her best friend Cass, to be with her dying parents. Accompanied by her three children and all of the baggage of estrangement, Yumi struggles with being back in the house, caring for her parents, caring for her children. 

Next door, Cass has been taking care of Yumi’s parents for years, and her husband Will has acquired their land. Cass, more than anything, wants a baby but after years of trying, a bout of cancer, and nothing but pain to show for it, it’s another layer of resentment between her and Yumi and their complex friendship. 

Enter the Seeds of Resistance. A group of environmental activists, they make their way to Liberty Falls to meet Yumi’s parents, who’ve been running a seed company, with values the Seeds believe align with their goals. A ragtag, unconventional story of family and friendship blossoms from their arrival: the challenges of loving people who make difficult decisions and hurt you, who you don’t always agree with, and the ways we build our communities. 

I really enjoyed this, though it wasn’t my absolute favourite Ozeki. It’s very challenging - the characters make a lot of frustrating decisions to the very end. But Ozeki is kind to them, and in turn invites us to be easy on everyone in the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Terminal illness, Abortion, Blood, Death of parent, Death, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Miscarriage, Murder, Pregnancy, Rape, and Racism

emzireads's review

challenging emotional informative

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Miscarriage, Infertility, and Death of parent

Minor: Abortion

clem's review

emotional funny informative sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Death, Dementia, Drug use, Grief, Infertility, Miscarriage, Medical content, Murder, Sexual content, and Terminal illness