Reviews with content warning for War - A Tale for the Time Being

Reviews tagging 'War'

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

159 reviews

grape_jelly's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative 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

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my_a's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

4.9⭐️ really beautiful writing & insightful. -.1 star as the ending felt quite bit rushed and like a scientific rational explanation that didn't fit with the ethereal and mystical vibe / magical realism of the writing and story otherwise.

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gabriellerza's review against another edition

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challenging dark hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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stevienielson's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny informative mysterious 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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kygpub's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

i often struggle to appreciate objectively good writing, because 'good' writing often means opaque writing, and bridging the gap between words and meaning often feels like wading through mud. beautiful mud. but still mud.

this book is not like that. this is the kind of book that makes you wonder how people can even write like this. the style is really the peak of magical realism, both unbelievably creative and easily digestible prose. a lot of effort clearly went into researching and crafting it, and yet the end result feels effortlessly readable*. the characters are so well-articulated and real, which makes the magical, fairytale moments feel perfectly natural. everything feels so tangible and alive**, even in the midst of death.

*this book discusses philosophy, buddhism and QUANTUM PHYSICS. it switches between THREE LANGUAGES. so much shit happens in this book and yet i have a better memory of what happens than some of the <200 page books i've read recently.
**well, at least two of the characters are literally alive, i suppose

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