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.

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.

Manu

I explained this to Jiko, and she agreed it wasn't such a good idea, but that it was okay just to feel grateful sometimes, even if you don't say anything, Feeling is the important part. You don't have to make a big deal about it.

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

Jamie Neely

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.

Ian Mason

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.

Gaby

Rae Chuck

Ivy X

Received this from a goodreads giveaway. 

It took me a while to get through this book but it was a great read (minus 1 star because of how slow it got at some points). I loved the trippy perspectives relating to concepts of time, multiple universes/outcomes, life/death, etc -- reading them from Nao's perspective was so refreshing! 

While Nao's sections spoke to me more than Ruth's, I think Ruth's sections provided the necessary perspective of a present reader. 

Also, spoiler -- but the two most heartbreaking moments in this book were: 
1. when Nao found out her father tried to win the online auction for her sake. The sadness and shame she probably faced when she realized what he was trying to do and how much he knew about the bullying she was experiencing :( & the anger she must've felt when she thought "oh this is another thing my father can't do right."

2. Reading Haruki #1's secret French Diary and finding out that he decided to crash into the waves -- "Better to do battle with the waves, who may yet forgive me." -- this truth is so heartbreaking as it highlights a bitter reality for kamikaze pilots during the world war. Haruki #1's struggle with his moral compass/conscience also puts Nao's father's experience of being fired for not wanting to work on military technology into perspective and you understand his grief/depression more.

Trish

❝ Life is full of stories. Or maybe life is only stories. ❞

——

❝ But memories are time beings, too, like cherry blossoms or ginkgo leaves; for a while they are beautiful, and then they fade and die. ❞

——

❝ Where do words come from? They come from the dead. We inherit them. Borrow them. Use them for a time to bring the dead to life. ❞

——

Marcus Tullius Cicero said, “To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child. For what is the worth of human life, unless it is woven into the life of our ancestors by the records of history?”

A Tale for the Time being is a multifaceted, metaphysical novel orbiting around the elusive concept of time. There are dual perspectives, two timelines, discussions of Buddhism, Zen practices, school bullying, depression, suicide, quantum physics, elements of magical realism, commentaries on politics, war, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, dementia, writing and reading. That’s the big-picture summary. 

But if someone asked me what this book was about and why they should read it, I’d say this:

A Tale for the Time Being is a coming-of-age story that says “you’re never too old to grow up.” 

——

❝ Hey Jiko, how old do you have to be before you’re really grown up? Not just your body, but your mind?

<105 years>

Thats what she just texted me. That’s how old she says you have to be before your mind really grows up, but since she’s a hundred and four, I’m pretty sure she’s joking. ❞

——

No matter how difficult and unbearable life may seem at a moment, keep living. Change is the one thing we can rely on, so keep learning, keep growing, keep living— the world, circumstances, people, and atmosphere around you will change too, then one day you’ll wake up with a new zeal for life. 

And for those moments you feel your life is stuck or stagnant, look to the past—history and literature—and learn from it, know what happened before you, expand your mind, your perspective, your horizons. Never stop growing up. 

——

Thank you so much @penguinbooks and @vikingbooks for the gifted book.

eliz

it's hard for me to listen to audiobooks so I almost never do but the narrator of this book (the author herself) saved the whole thing. much entertaining than the story itself, gave life to the characters the way I couldn't read it the same way again after trying to read it with my own eyes. it's unfortunate since I liked the flow of Nao's side of story but it keeps on dragging because of Ruth's povs. could not care less about her and her husband and anything about her overall.

edit: from 2-3 stars
while browsing through my notes I realized that the story is actually quite memorable. guess I read it on the wrong time.

excerpts:
p. 21 "A time being is someone who lives in time, and that means you, and me, and everyone of us who is, or was, or will ever be."
p. 126 "I don't think it was helping him find the meaning of life, but at least it gave him a concrete goal, which counts for something. I believe it doesn't matter what it is, as long as you can find something concrete to keep you busy while you are living your meaningless life."
p. 137 "...by cutting into illusions. By cutting intro pixels and finding blood. By entering the cave of mind and walking into fire. By making shadows bleed. You can feel life completely by taking it away."

A brilliant, unforgettable, and long-awaited novel from bestselling author Ruth Ozeki "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 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 a 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 humour 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.

Jonathan Crowe

My review is now online at AE: The Canadian Science Fiction Review.

Sara

Stephanie Ridiculous

Be warned that sexual assault, child prostitution, and bullying are major plot lines. Probably not suitable for younger readers, and adults should proceed with caution. 

This book starts promising but totally fails to deliver. Ruth is boring, one dimensional, and static. She is treated like an idiot by everyone in her life and usually just takes it. Her husband is just as flat and literally only serves to communicate information either pointless, or that the author thinks you're too stupid to figure out yourself. 

Nao is supposed to be a 16 year old girl, but her narrative doesn't fall in line with that at all. 

The majority of the book references a goal that is never achieved, the authors attempts to be edgy with "quantum time" hi-jinks is dull and predictable. 

The first 30 pages or so are intriguing, but it falls apart quickly after that.

Katie Chua

alright, i changed it to 5 stars. re-reading this was such a meta/weird experience for me. for a book so centered on time and temporal realities, it was so weird to be transported to all the initial feelings i had when i first read this book. it was weird to think about who i was (freshly graduated from high school), where i was (on my back porch in colorado), when it was (in the beginning of the summer, when i would come back from my morning shift at starbucks with an iced tea and read for the next hour or two outside) all around five years ago. 

i remember not loving the ending or perhaps, not really "buying" it, but i'm here to say i was YOUNG and IMMATURE and now i probably am still all those things but i have a little more knowledge, context, and life experiences to appreciate this book and its craft by ozeki.

idk man — this is a book that touches on personal agency, the relationship between reader and writer, disaster (ecological and human), zen buddhism, isolation (islands yo), grief, war, imperialism, capitalism, technology, and so much more. i hadn't forgotten it when i first read it and i still won't now. if anything, it's cemented itself in my brain now.

Emma Friedheim

As good as people say. Fascinating, well-written, and utterly unique. And so moving! Highly recommend.

Melanie Richards

If any back-cover blurb undersells a book, it would be the one on "A Tale for the Time Being". Then again, I have no idea how you'd do justice to such a smart and layered novel. Just read it.

bhargavi

This book definitely made me think; it’s main appeal lays in the strength of its narrative voices. Nao sounds like a teenage girl, and the author does an excellent job of making her relatable without making her perfect. The theme of the book is complex at first, but gets easier to understand the more you read on. I thought the message got a little heavy-handed and too apparent for my tastes towards the end, but the resolution was satisfying for me and I enjoyed all of the ideas it explored. The addition of letters and emails into the medium was also a nice touch and the writing style was simultaneously clear while being poignant and thoughtful; overall an engaging read that feels incredibly timeless and present all at once. 

Cindy Lieberman

Time, choices, motivations, family... Quantum physics ... Depression... Bullying and prostitution ... Displacement and belonging....Many interesting topics covered in an interesting way that switches back and forth between the present and more than a decade ago. Encompassing 9/11 as well as the nuclear power plant shutdown in Japan.

Josefina

jiaqi kang

i feel like i was too dumb to really get this... but it was nice... it was very magical and beautiful!!! and it doesnt NEED to be "gotten"

Nadine 

what an awesome book - haven't read something so interesting and yet repulsive and compelling in a long time.

Steffi

3.5!! Loved Nao's point of view and thought Ruth's storyline was kind of pointless. I get it, but still would have read an entire book from just Nao.

Jamie

This book is absolutely delightful. I wasn't sure what to expect initially because the structure seemed to mirror My Year of Meats, which has a completely different purpose and story, and I felt like the dual narrator structure was unbalanced, heavily favoring Nao's story. However, I enjoyed the writing, so I soldiered through with a 4/5 star rating in mind based on Nao's parts alone. However, by the last fifth of the book, Ozeki's writing transcended all of my structural concerns and actually used it to elevate the story into something wholly new. The word "smeared" fits perfectly here, because it's a messy ending that invites the reader to make their own conclusions and theories to complete the reading.

Lamia Hajani

I thought about this book for a long time after I read it. Just fascinating stuff. A bit odd towards the end and not a choice I would have made as the author, but still... wow.

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.

Kaitlyn Wendler

Enjoyed the connection of the fictional story to historic events, as well as the way the author annotated Japanese words/ sayings throughout. Found the plot line a bit twisted and hard to follow at times. Overall entertaining 

Ian P

This book just didn't do it for me. It came recommended from an acquaintance, and I was pretty excited by the solid 4 rating here on Goodreads. While Nao's storyline was interesting, I have to agree with many others on here and say that every time Ruth's chapters popped up I had to suppress a groan. I understand she was needed to fill out the duality concept latent throughout the book, but Nao's story was the only reason I stuck through this and actually finished it. 3 stars because Nao and Jiko's character arks were interesting enough to make me finish it, but I'm rather baffled at the glowing reviews on here. I guess some books just aren't fit for everyone /shrug

Nao lives in Tokyo. She is sixteen, and has decided to write a diary before she kills herself. She has plenty of material–school bullies, depressed parents–but she particularly wants to chronicle the life of her great-grandmother, Jiko, a Buddhist nun. And eventually, Nao thinks, her diary will find its reader. Ruth lives with her husband on the Pacific coast of Canada. A few months after the 2010 tsunami she finds a Hello Kitty lunchbox washed up on the shore. It contains a diary… ‘This is the simple story of a girl, her great-grandmother and the novelist who becomes enthralled with their tale. But this simple story draws from the deep currents of our times, from quantum physics, Japanese ghost tales, suicide trends, first-person accounts of kamikaze fighters during World War II, thirteenth-century Buddhist texts and recent pop culture. It is a meditation on impermanence, and the intimate relationship between past and present, fact and fiction, and time and text.’ Ruth Ozeki

Elena Garcia Navarro

Loved learning more about the Japanese culture and the traditions and customs of such a unique country. 

It lost me a bit towards the end, when it introduced the quantum physics law and the parallel universes theory possibility but still highly recommend it

Jade Flynn

“Print is predictable and impersonal, conveying information in a mechanical transaction with the reader’s eye. Handwriting, by contrast, resists the eye, reveals its meaning slowly, and is as intimate as skin.”

Cheryl Hedlund

Just finished reading this novel, now I am writing my review for you to find in cyberspace. I wonder where and when you are. Is there a cat in your lap as you read the screen? Do you have a cup of tea? I feel like you do have a cat. Not so sure about the tea. But I will make tea after I finish writing to you. I think someday I will catch up with myself and my own narrative. Did reading this book help me understand what now really feels like? Yes and no. I did feel very many things while reading. I was also knitting my shawl, my own form of sitting zazen. While reading I traveled to many places and times. Met many interesting people. I also felt how even when you really love someone, it is hard to show them and hard to connect with them. Some feelings are like violent waves that carry us away or crash us against the rocks. No matter how we might try to punch and kick the waves, we cannot win against them. But if we can ride the wave, maybe we can get through it to the other side. And maybe if we try, we can reach out and tell someone we love them.

Ruby Huber

Ruth does it again! A strange and winding tale that hurt me and also delighted me and surprised me. I love this, but NOTHING takes me out of the narrative faster than someone writing a diary or an email that reads like a book. And that is most of this book. so I’m pissed about that but I did still love it. DARK THEMES tho be warned like darker than you would think from the description. Dm me for detailed trigger warnings.

A Tale for the Time Being

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