A Tale for the Time Being: A Novel
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.
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.
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Community Reviews
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki is the kind of novel that sneaks up on you - part meditation on time, part coming-of-age story, and part philosophical inquiry wrapped in an engrossing mystery. The book follows two narratives: Nao, a teenage girl in Tokyo chronicling her life in a diary, and Ruth, a writer on a remote Canadian island who discovers that diary years later. What unfolds is an intricate, deeply human story that plays with the boundaries of reality, exploring the weight of memory, trauma, and interconnectedness across time and space. It’s a novel that invites you to question not just what happens to its characters, but how we exist in the flow of time itself.
Ozeki’s greatest strength lies in her ability to weave together seemingly disparate elements - Zen Buddhism, quantum physics, historical tragedy, and adolescent angst - into a narrative that feels both intimate and expansive. Nao’s voice is sharp, funny, and heartbreakingly raw, making her sections a joy to read even when they turn deeply melancholic. Meanwhile, Ruth’s sections function almost like a detective story, full of quiet tension as she tries to uncover what became of Nao. The interplay between these two voices creates a layered reading experience, where past and present collapse into one another, and where small moments hold profound significance.
This is a novel that rewards patience, lingering in the details while quietly posing big existential questions. Ozeki doesn’t just tell a story; she builds a universe where time bends, where lives ripple into one another in unseen ways, and where even a lost diary can shape the course of someone’s reality. If you like books that challenge your perception of time, identity, and storytelling itself - all while grounding you in the beauty of everyday life - then A Tale for the Time Being is a mesmerizing, unforgettable read. #bookreview #bookreviews
this was one of the most interesting books i've read in a long time, i can't pretend to fully understand it (the end especially) but nevertheless it left such a strong impression. nao's story was the soul of this book, her witty writing and way of seeing the world as well as her insights into japanese culture and mindsets was what kept me reading. ruth's story was a little slow at times but i appreciated her realism and empathy as well. i highly recommend the book but please check trigger warnings beforehand as it is definitely very graphic at times!
I'm on the fence between 2 and 3 stars for this one. I really did not enjoy it very much. Then it went mystical and totally lost me. I think I'll stick with 2, after all.
Finally done. This was hard to slog thru...alternating between perspectives, adapting Japanese culture with quantum physics and Zen Buddhism....I never felt really connected with the characters or story. The idea that Schrodinger's experiment might be how the world works is intriguing, but that's a short story .
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