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

Reviews tagging 'Blood'

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

27 reviews

stormbringer52's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense

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

4.5

This book is a really tough read and took me a long time to finish. However, it was worth it. It made me incredibly uncomfortable in some parts, but that was the point. Ruth Ozeki did a wonderful job of representing unsettling topics in a way that felt real and disturbing. I found myself nervous to turn the page at times, worried what would happen next.

Brief spoiler for the end, but

it didn't make a lot of sense to me. I liked it, but it did feel a little out of nowhere. Granted, there were slight magical elements throughout, like how things that Ruth saw online suddenly disappeared, or Naoko conversing with her deceased great uncle. I suppose the end of the book meant to sort of explain why things were happening, but it kind of lost me honestly.

However, I still thing the book was beautifully written, so this does not impact my opinion much :]

Content Warnings

elyssam's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense 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

This was a very introspective read. Just like Ruth, I was super invested in Nao’s story, kept me motivated to keep reading/listening. So good!

Content Warnings

karmapen's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad fast-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

jackbifrost's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Content Warnings

enoemo's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad 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

4.75

this broke my heart and taught me so many things and made me laugh and made me feel so deeply for the characters... truly an amazing read in a way that i find difficult to put into words. the titular theme pops up in so many unexpected and smart ways and despite the magical realism that finds its way into parts of the book the plot feels natural. nao is an utterly believable character and i feel like so many aspects about girlhood that i found so difficult to explain as a teenager come through so well in her diary. i am not entirely sure how i feel about the ending yet, but in a way i suppose the book is built to make you feel that way so... i'll reflect some more and look forward to coming back to this, i'd love to read it again in my lifetime.

Content Warnings