Select language, opens an overlay

Comments (94)

What did you think about this title?
1 to 25 of 94 items
Content warning. Some content has been marked as offensive or a spoiler.
Mar 07, 2024STPL_Kerry rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
This was the most achingly beautiful book I have read in a long time. It begins with a woman on a remote island in BC finding a ziploc bag on the beach that contains a journal, a watch and some letters. And so begins the parallel journey…
Jan 20, 2024BookLover4fun rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Unusual and interesting metaphysical story, but not advised for the faint of heart. Two streams, Ruth and Oliver in Whaletown, BC, and Nao and Jiko in Japan, blend, overlap and alter each other. A lot of very bad stuff comes down in Nao’s…
Jun 30, 2023impossibooks rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
You have to hold out for the ending of this book!
May 22, 2023
I don't remember what led me to this book. I almost gave up after a couple chapters, but continued.
Apr 22, 2023Kimberleygray rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
The book is essentially the story of Nao, a teenager living in Tokyo. We find out about Nao via Ruth. Ruth has found a ziplocked bag of Nao's diary along with some other letters and a watch washed up on the shore of her town. Ruth's…
Oct 23, 2022ekhdong rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Typically well crafted novel. Hints at the detritus flowing from the 2011 triple Tohoku disaster in Japan.
Sep 23, 2022pafrosa8 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Best book I've read this year! I love the style of this author's writing. I could easily read the book 24/7 and let the rest of my life go on hold. Ozeki is a consummate storyteller. Her characters are so real and relatable. What I…
Aug 28, 2022TheVioletAlchemist rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
A couple finds a Hello Kitty lunch box washed up on a beach. In it is the diary of a young Japanese girl living in Tokyo. We as the reader quickly find out that Nao has a cynical view of the world, that she brushes it off with humor, that…
Aug 08, 2022
from Margot
Apr 07, 2022
Not for me.
Mar 08, 2022IndyPL_GipsonS rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
A heartfelt novel about time, writing, Buddhism, and tragedy. This book contains a lot of hard topics (TW: suicide, bullying, war), but the main characters, Nao and Ruth, make it worth your while. If you're a fan of Japanese-style magical…
Mar 01, 2022kelin0 rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
I loved this book! Felt totally drawn into the stories of both narrators and had to pace myself to not listen all day. Interesting reflections on time and presence. Could feel a little didactic about Buddhism and quantum physics is my only…
Sep 23, 2021maipenrai rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
I enjoyed the idea of this book as a study on time or beings existing in time. When a woman living on an isolated island finds the diary of a Japanese teenager that has washed ashore. The question arises as to whether this is part of…
Sep 23, 2021maipenrai rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
I enjoyed the idea of this book as a study on time or beings existing in time. When a woman living on an isolated island finds the diary of a Japanese teenager that has washed ashore. The question arises as to whether this is part of…
Aug 30, 2021rrmobley rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
I don't often review books. This book is THAT good. This book encapsulates the human and the buddhist experience into one. This book contains deep agonizing tragedy; topics that we all hear about in the news but to actually read it, feel…
May 25, 2021ElisabethSh rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
An absolutely gorgeous novel about the value of life in each and every moment. The story leaves you thinking and cuts you deep. Metafiction commentary on the writer and the reader is interesting too.
May 08, 2021MikeEe rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Two narrators, one story. Nao writes a diary in one time, Ruth reads it in another. A rumination on now/Nao. Ozeki is a fabulous writer and an equally excellent narrator. Lots of clever writing/ideas, although sometimes it’s a little too…
Dec 04, 2020arctush rated this title 0.5 out of 5 stars
Terrible! should come with a warning.
comment flagged as spoiler
Nov 22, 2020Urbano rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
This content is flagged as a spoiler
Sep 23, 2020
A bullied teenager in Tokyo, her Buddhist monk grandmother, a suicidal father, the teenager's diary that washes up to shore in Vancouver, B.C. A writer is beach combing in Vancouver and and picks up the diary. She then gets pulled into…
Sep 12, 2020lilypad_1 rated this title 0.5 out of 5 stars
This book is so depressing I had to quit reading it. I got halfway through but after bullying, suicide attempts, kamikaze training, depression running through the family, I couldn't do it anymore. I was interested in the Buddhist story…
Apr 30, 2020SPL_Liz rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
This was a lovely book! It stayed with me for days after I put it down leaving me unable to start in on another novel. It delivered a complex story with uncomplicated language creating an immersive, character-driven story that included…
Dec 30, 2019SPL_Melanie rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
A beautiful read, tying together family dynamics, history, environmental concerns, natural disasters, and Buddhist philosophy. Sounds dense, but it's a complex and absorbing story with wonderful characters, which reads very quickly.
Dec 18, 2019
Humor and compassion, time-past, present and future, and a ninety-year old Buddhist priest are just a few of the elements in a story that begins with a worn red cover diary that washes up on the beach of British Colombia.
Nov 24, 2019
L. Hertzel