
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?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.
Sort:
Comments
3
HeathersCorner
(Grade: A–) The voices of the characters were wonderfully developed and distinct, and the author's writing style was beautiful, with many thought-provoking quotes and ideas. I do not have particular interest in Japan or philosophy, yet I heartily enjoyed learning about both. However I didn't necessarily buy into some of the magical realism and quantum mechanics that tied up the conclusion. Overall this was still a very worthwhile and surprisingly moving book - I highly recommend it.

(Rated on Feb 24, 2015)
2
EmilyHillwriter (Grade: A) It's almost mandatory to re-read "A Tale from The Time Being" -- I originally read it for the author's take on quantum physics and spirituality; but there was SO much good material I'll read it again, this time with a marker-pen.
(Rated on Apr 14, 2014)
2
bennett_the_ceo
(Grade: A–) At first I worried this book might be too mystical. A strange diary washes up on shore like a message in a bottle and Ozeki drops hints of time traveling or alternate realities. Then by the middle of the novel, I was craving more supernatural substance to complement the literary and historical depth. The final section delivers a perfect blend – wrapping up the stories of family, war, and mind while preserving the paranormal feeling that connects the two main characters.

(Rated on Jul 30, 2017)
1
grlintrrptdrdng (Grade: A) I loved this book! A Tale for the Time Being is very well written and combines time together seamlessly. The plot alone is great, Ruth in Canada found a diary of a Japanese teenager, Nao, who is being bullied and has a suicidal father. Ruth and the readers while reading Nao’s diary feel there is a urgency to help her even though the diary is old and whatever preventable actions could of been taken to save Nao it was too late, but you forget that and want to still help her. While Nao is strugg
(Rated on Jun 28, 2015)
1
emberem
(Grade: A–) Crossing space and time, from Canada to Japan and from WWII to the 2010s, this novel skilfully manages to tie together many plotlines and themes: it is at once a bildungsroman, a family history, a crash course in Zen Buddhist philosophy, and a meditation on war and humanity. However, I didn't really buy the use of Reality Warping Quantum Physics (read: magical realism) to achieve the ending.

(Rated on Aug 31, 2017)
Show More