Reviews tagging 'Stalking'

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

2 reviews

recorderkfk's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Stretch book/ growth edge book for me - but a different mode of storytelling - 2 narratives 1) first person Japanese teenager who grew up in California. 2) third person limited omnipresent narrator of Ruth an author who lives with her husband on an island off of Washington. 

The book grows on you the more you read of it!

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miladimelow's review against another edition

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

4.0

โ€œ๐˜š๐˜ถ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ช๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ง๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ด ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ ๐˜–๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ˆ๐˜ถ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ค ๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ.
 ๐˜š๐˜ถ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ช๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ง๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ ๐˜”๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜“๐˜ช๐˜ง๐˜ฆ.
 ๐˜š๐˜ถ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ช๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ง๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ด ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜“๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ต ๐˜ž๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฅ.
 ๐˜š๐˜ถ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ช๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ง๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ด ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฑ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜›๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ ๐˜๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ.โ€ -p92

I have to say Iโ€™m speechless. I mean this was justโ€ฆ this was just incredible!

A tale for the time being follows Ruth, a woman living on an island, as she comes across a lunch box filled with a personโ€™s possession. Included in this is 16 year old Naoโ€™s diary. As the story goes on, Ruth gets warped into the story of Naoโ€™s life, causing an obsession of finding this teenager to emerge.

This was one of those books that just really tugs at your heart strings. Once Iโ€™d got the middle of the story, I was really struggling to continue on, as it was incredibly slow and very long. But the writing took as twist at around half way, as you see Naoโ€™s seemingly simply childhood switch. And god that really pained me. This is a beautiful story centred around mainly the importance of family, as well talking about the impact of war, which was really impactful and where I found the writing to be itโ€™s most lyrical. 

I adored so many thing in this book but Iโ€™ll just mention a few. Firstly I loved the subtle similarities between Ruth and Naoโ€™s storylines, which really suited especially with the ending.  The lines between the two were completely blurred by the end, and this slow build up to it was incredibly fun to spot. I also LOVED Oliver and Pesto, I really need this duo for me. They really helped wrap up the story, and the little side story between cat and owner was such a sweet way to help the reader relax from the very difficult main storyline.

So really what I want to say is that you should definitely read this! A mix between the midnight library and after dark by Murakami, if you love magical realism you will adore this. 

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