A Tale for the Time Being in Pick-a-Shelf

Dec 17, 2022 Kristina rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, eo-disturbing, fiction-contemporary, fiction-family-ties, z-foreign-lands, eo-asia, fiction-literary, read-in-2022, fiction-asian-lit, fiction-meta

“It’s not impossible. It’s an anomaly, is all.”

When I began reading I had no clue really what to expect from this book. From the cover and the title, I imagined a light whimsical tale. I’m halfway through, and this book is way heavier than imagined. It delves deep. It takes a while to read because it’s the kind of book that you can only read so much at a time before you have to put it down and process it. Nao sure doesn’t shy away from telling it like it is.

When I wasn’t reading I was thinking ...more

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Apr 02, 2014 Sunflower rated it it was amazing

Shelves: e-books, favorites, fiction-read-2014

I really liked this book- the narration from the character of Nao is funny and horrifying by turns- the way she accepts whatever happens sometimes caused me to double-take: did she really just say that? The other main characters are an unlikely bunch- her great-grandmother the buddhist monk, her father - bent on suicide for most of the book, and the kamikaze pilot great-uncle, plus the American author whose place in the story takes in a little magical realism. I was going to complain about the s ...more

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Jul 10, 2019 Suzanne rated it liked it

3.5 stars

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Sep 12, 2013 Deedee rated it did not like it

Shelves: literary-fiction, booker-prize-nominees, world-asia-japan, sunburst-canadian-fantasy-nom, did-not-finish, kitschies-red-nominee, kitschies-red-winner, national-book-critic-circle-award, asian-literature, natural-disasters-fiction

I gave this 1 star ("did not like") because the story was very difficult to follow and I wound up tossing the novel on page 30. Maybe it is a "post-modern" novel? Whatever. I only know it is not for me. ...more

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