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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
"Live. For now. For the time being."
Confusing, bewildering, sad, and full of hope, this is beautifully written but extremely abstract. I loved Nao's spunk and humour and was dismayed by the hardship she endured. Another reminder of how much being a teenager sucks; how much being a human being sucks.
This is not your average, plot-driven story so be prepared to do quite a bit of mental gymnastics. Also, there are pretty triggering themes including bullying, depression, suicide and death, so be warned.
What the actual *BLEEP* was with that ending? Quantum physics and the multiverse?
I did enjoy many bits of the book, the parts at her grandmother's temple were lovely, and the insights into the brutality of the Japanese Army were heartbreaking. But the disappearing words and multiple universes at the end came out of the blue; for 14 hours I'd been listening to a young girl's story of victimization, exploitation and suicidal ideation, interwoven with her great uncle's story and filtered through the lens of another woman's perceptions and experiences when a sudden right turn threw it into anime terrritory. Honestly, go watch Shinkai Makoto's film "Your Name", it's a far superior handling of a very similar story.
The part talking about 9/11 was heartbreaking as was much of this book. Some was strange. I fell in love with the characters especially Nao and her great grandmother the Buddhist nun.
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
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