Name: A Tale for the Time Being
Rating: 4.195606694560669 (239 reviews)
ISBN: 9780670026630

Ruth Ozeki

A novelist on a remote island in the Pacific is linked to a bullied and depressed Tokyo teenager after discovering a Hello Kitty lunchbox that washed ashore in this new novel from the award-wining, best-selling author of My Year of Meats.

A Tale for the Time Being

In the wake of the 2011 tsunami, Ruth discovers a Hello Kitty lunchbox washed up on the shore of her beach home in British Columbia. Within it lies a diary that expresses the hopes, heartbreak and dreams of a young girl desperate for someone to understand her. Each turn of the page pulls Ruth deeper into the mystery of Nao’s life, and forever changes her in a way neither could foresee. Weaving across continents and decades, A Tale for the Time Being is an extraordinary novel about our shared humanity and the search for home.

TW for heavy HEAVY themes of suicide and sexual assault

This is the 2nd book of Ozeki’s that I’ve read (first one being ‘The Book of Form and Emptiness’) and even though the two stories are narratively very different there are a lot of similarities in theme (albeit this was much darker and sadder and more intense than ‘Form & Emptiness’):

A Tale for the Time Being in particular presents the relationship between reader and writer in a rly interesting way, esp with the notion that the agency over a narrative lies in the reader (shoutout Barthes). I also like that Ozeki tries to relate the Act of Reading to quantum physics - how the text changes when you read it like a particle that changes when it’s observed (or something of that nature…) 

Ozeki’s writing is generally easy to follow and quite simple, but not in a bad way for sure! I enjoy her style of writing a lot - some writers don’t have much to say but say it in the most long-winded way possible, but Ozeki is the exact opposite.

Plus points because she is very explicitly anti-imperialist and anti-fascist and her politics shine through very clearly in her writing.

Brilliant brilliant book, Ruth Ozeki you are a literary icon 

Taira Robles

TW for heavy HEAVY themes of suicide and sexual assault

This is the 2nd book of Ozeki’s that I’ve read (first one being ‘The Book of Form and Emptiness’) and even though the two stories are narratively very different there are a lot of similarities in theme (albeit this was much darker and sadder and more intense than ‘Form & Emptiness’):

- the climate crisis and the anthropocene

- metafictions and the acts of reading / interpretation and writing itself

- references to Buddhist / Eastern philosophies

A Tale for the Time Being in particular presents the relationship between reader and writer in a rly interesting way, esp with the notion that the agency over a narrative lies in the reader (shoutout Barthes). I also like that Ozeki tries to relate the Act of Reading to quantum physics - how the text changes when you read it like a particle that changes when it’s observed (or something of that nature…) 

Ozeki’s writing is generally easy to follow and quite simple, but not in a bad way for sure! I enjoy her style of writing a lot - some writers don’t have much to say but say it in the most long-winded way possible, but Ozeki is the exact opposite.

Plus points because she is very explicitly anti-imperialist and anti-fascist and her politics shine through very clearly in her writing.

Brilliant brilliant book, Ruth Ozeki you are a literary icon 

If there’s something I love in this world, it’s stories that F00CK WITH TIME!!!!!! BRAVO OH MY GODDDDDD WOW

Raya Barreiro

On a remote island in the Pacific Northwest, a Hello Kitty lunchbox washes up on the beach. Tucked inside is a collection of curious items, including the diary of a sixteenyear-old Japanese girl named Nao Yasutani. Ruth, who finds the lunchbox, suspects that it is debris from Japan's devastating 2011 tsunami. Once Ruth starts to read the diary, she quickly finds herself drawn into the mystery of the young girl's fate. In a manga cafE in Tokyo's Electric Town, Nao has decided there's only one escape from the loneliness and pain of her life, as she's uprooted from her U.S. home, bullied at school, and watching her parents spiral deeper into disaster. But before she ends it all, she wants to accomplish one thing: to recount the story of her great-grandmother, a 104-year-old Zen Buddhist nun, in the pages of her diary. The diary, Nao's only solace, is her cry for help to a reader she can only imagine. Full of Ozeki's signature humour and insight, "A Tale for the Time Being" is a brilliantly inventive, beguiling story of our shared humanity and the search for home.

oh this book was so lovely, it makes me feel more appreciative towards all the time beings on this earth ! i even teared up from time to time, what a blessing to be able to read and get inspired from books like these 🥲

micki

Gorgeous read; entertained in two worlds that are really just one

Laura 

Ryan Mateyk

POPSUGAR 2020: A book set in Japan

I really really liked this, but did find it a bit dense at times, though for the most part the writing was either beautiful and magical (Ruth) or completely in character of a teen girl, equally tortured and hopeful (Nao!!!! Love Nao!!!!!!)

i loved the dual narrative here; nao’s voice is so lively + dreamlike (even when dark), and the contrast with ruth’s modern life & problems is just so fascinating. loved, thanks 

julia

i loved the dual narrative here; nao’s voice is so lively + dreamlike (even when dark), and the contrast with ruth’s modern life & problems is just so fascinating. loved, thanks @foxface for putting me on

Read while traveling to Tokyo for the first time. Liked the beginning, loved the middle, liked the end. The meat of it revolves around a relationship between a young girl and her Buddhist feminist grandmother. The teachings, language and confrontations with Japanese heritage and culture all brought the my experiences in Japan to life. A story beautifully told.

Bri Cortez

I really liked Nao’s story but wasn't really captured by Ruth’s perspective.

amelo

Meg Ma. Guerrero 

One of my favorite reads this year! Though it took me some time to finish it (I've become a very slow reader), it never once lost my interest. It's intriguing, sometimes alarming, and it keeps you wanting to figure out what's happening alongside Ruth. Had a lot to think about once I was done with the book even though I wasn't all too sure what it was I was trying to think about, if that makes any sense.

I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy this book as much as I wanted to but I was very happy with my experience with it. (Not to mention, it's a very pretty book to look at.)

so glad i gave this book a chance. reminded me of how i used to obsessively write in a diary every day for more than 10 years of my life, like i wanted to remember everything.

this book got me out of a reading slump from how shit i was feeling IRL. reading this reminded me that tragedy will always exist but there is so much stupid hope, sometimes it is worth it to be alive. god damn. this book held my hands and told me to keep my head up for another day.

took me a bit of effort to get through the POV-switching at the start of the novel but holy shit, i was so invested in nao’s diary entries and the investigative work from ruth. this book SLAPS

Ianna Chia

so glad i gave this book a chance. reminded me of how i used to obsessively write in a diary every day for more than 10 years of my life, like i wanted to remember everything.

this book got me out of a reading slump from how shit i was feeling IRL. reading this reminded me that tragedy will always exist but there is so much stupid hope, sometimes it is worth it to be alive. god damn. this book held my hands and told me to keep my head up for another day.

took me a bit of effort to get through the POV-switching at the start of the novel but holy shit, i was so invested in nao’s diary entries and the investigative work from ruth. this book SLAPS

Ashley Denktas

I really enjoyed it - once you get sucked in you get sucked in (which took about till Nao's 2-3rd excerpt). It made me realize that tragedy doesn't always mean death or some elaborate unlucky circumstance. Sometimes it's just not knowing the whole picture, saying the wrong thing, or just simply irony. The story makes it feel like there is something beautiful to that.

jess

One word review : tempestuous.
This is another book, after Kafka On The Shore, that made me reflect and ponder aimlessly, onto existential crisis. With a tempestuous yet overzealous emotions governing me throughout this 432-page-novel that took the author 6 years to complete, I finished the book with an empty feeling and in huge desperation to learn Quantum Mechanics and stalk more into Ruth Ozeki.

Ruth Ozeki’s new Japanese literature novel fused with metaphysics and the blurred sense of reality and dream [a.k.a magical realism] dives into a tantalizing narration that brandishes mysteries to be solved and ideas to be explored. It tells us about an American novelist named Ruth has found Nao’s diary on the beach in a plastic-wrapped Hello Kitty lunchbox that also contains a batch of old letters, and the whole novel goes through each process of Nao’s life. Ruth was a novelist who was feeling dislocated and loss. Even if she loves Oliver, her husband who is an ecologist, it was undeniable that she missed the bustling life in New York City that she left to join him on the remote island. This led her unable to finish the book she’s been working on for years, so finding Nao’s diary is like the birdwatcher’s spatuletail. She immerses herself in Nao’s diary and searches obsessively online for clues about the girl’s family and their ultimate fate.

Ozeki masterfully develops the two parallel stories while erasing the line between reality and past. She creates a virtual dialogue between the blocked writer and the diarist, who confides, “I’m reaching forward through time to touch you.” Ruth’s and Nao’s struggles to find meaning in their lives draw on everything from mythology and Japanese history to quantum mechanics and European culture. There’s also plenty of Japanese pop culture, scathingly portrayed as exploitative of vulnerable young women and a tool in the enforcement of conformism. The novel ultimately conveys through the darkest points of bullying and also suicidal-Kokoro-feels of Jiko’s son, who was shimmering with the conviction that art and faith lead us to truths beyond the reach of reason alone. Ozeki knew that in the end, the most important truths are simple.

Reihan Maulana

Just Finished reading "A tale for the time being" by Ruth Ozeki. 

This book tells us about two stories but different timelines, where "Ruth" is the observer of Nao's Story. 

Nao's story has been pretty rough, with all the kinds of bullying and stuff, yet she managed to go through with the help of her grandmother, Jiko. As a person who likes historical events, this book gives some information about The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.

It makes me feel something like.. maybe a bit of humanity and humbleness?? It was a funny book, but also a bit touching. This book is great for engaging with interesting philosophical ideas without being heavy-handed about them. 

That being said, I would definitely read it again.

Andrew John Kinney

This was an interesting read with a twisty ending. I had no idea that 15,000 people died in the 2011 tsunami in Japan, and the depiction of the vicious nature of Japanese high school life caught me a bit off guard. The cycling of narratives between Nao, Ruth, and Haruki's letters to Jiko helped keep up the pace of the book, which otherwise would have bogged down a bit (for me) with only Nao's story. Nao's spiritual growth through the book from aimless schoolgirl to something approaching maturity was well done. Thanks to Lori for pointing me to this!

Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2013.'Hi! My name is Nao, and I am a time being. Do you know what a time being is? Well, if you give me a moment, I will tell you.'Ruth discovers a Hello Kitty lunchbox washed up on the shore of her beach home. Within it lies a diary that expresses the hopes and dreams of a young girl. She suspects it might have arrived on a drift of debris from the 2011 tsunami. With every turn of the page, she is sucked deeper into an enchanting mystery. In a small cafe in Tokyo, sixteen-year-old Nao Yasutani is navigating the challenges thrown up by modern life. In the face of cyberbullying, the mysteries of a 104-year-old Buddhist nun and great-grandmother, and the joy and heartbreak of family, Nao is trying to find her own place - and voice - through a diary she hopes will find a reader and friend who finally understands her. Weaving across continents and decades, and exploring the relationship between reader and writer, fact and fiction, A Tale for the Time Being is an extraordinary novel about our shared humanity and the search for home.

23/05/2016:

'A time being is someone who lives in time, and that means you, and me, and every one of us who is, or was, or ever will be.'
This book was so beautiful! It was funny and heartbreaking and extremely insightful all at the same time and the main character, Nao, was extremely loveable. I found myself more drawn to her story at first but slowly Ruth and Oliver and even little Pesto crawled their way into my heart. It was a beautiful story and the writing was just as good. The book is peppered with marvelous quotes and the following is one of my favourites: 
'Sometimes when she told stories about the past her eyes would get teary from all the memories she had, but they weren't tears. She wasn't crying. They were just the memories, leaking out.' 
Overall, this is one of my favourite reads of 2016 so far. I highly recommend it!

Jannis M

A brilliant, unforgettable novel from bestselling author Ruth Ozeki—shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award “A time being is someone who lives in time, and that means you, and me, and every one of us who is, or was, or ever will be.” In Tokyo, sixteen-year-old Nao has decided there’s only one escape from her aching loneliness and her classmates’ bullying. But before she ends it all, Nao first plans to document the life of her great grandmother, a Buddhist nun who’s lived more than a century. A diary is Nao’s only solace—and will touch lives in ways she can scarcely imagine. Across the Pacific, we meet Ruth, a novelist living on a remote island who discovers a collection of artifacts washed ashore in a Hello Kitty lunchbox—possibly debris from the devastating 2011 tsunami. As the mystery of its contents unfolds, Ruth is pulled into the past, into Nao’s drama and her unknown fate, and forward into her own future. Full of Ozeki’s signature humor and deeply engaged with the relationship between writer and reader, past and present, fact and fiction, quantum physics, history, and myth, A Tale for the Time Being is a brilliantly inventive, beguiling story of our shared humanity and the search for home.

A Novel

I've read and reread and listened and relistened to this book multiple times (it's phenomenal as an audiobook, narrated by Ozeki herself with proper intonation for the Buddhist chants). In my opinion, it is the most masterful of Ozeki's novels and expertly employs her version of magical realism in a way that makes the regular world seem all the more special. This book is very dear to me.

jam 🍯

My favorite book.

I've read and reread and listened and relistened to this book multiple times (it's phenomenal as an audiobook, narrated by Ozeki herself with proper intonation for the Buddhist chants). In my opinion, it is the most masterful of Ozeki's novels and expertly employs her version of magical realism in a way that makes the regular world seem all the more special. This book is very dear to me.

This book makes me want to live.

A Tale for the Time Being

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