Review: A Tale For The Time Being By Ruth Ozeki

Hardcover: 432 pages
Publisher: Viking Adult; First Edition edition
Release Date: March 12, 2013
ISBN-10: 0670026638
Genre: Contemporary Fiction

About The Book:
 “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.

My Thoughts:
I was first introduced to Ozeki's writing as an undergrad and was immediately captivated by her novel, My Year Of Meats.  When the opportunity arose to review A Tale For The Time Being, I knew I wouldn't be disappointed.  Ozeki has an incredible gift for weaving together fact with fiction so well that often it becomes difficult to distinguish one from the other which results in a very enlightening and meaningful reading experience.  I often found myself surfing the internet to learn more (much like the character Ruth in the novel as she tries to decipher Nao's diary).  I was unaware of the intensity of "bullying" among Japanese students and the high rate of suicide among teens as well as middle-aged Japanese business men.  Ozeki brings to light the environmental aftermath that will continue to develop following the recent Tsunami that devastated portions of Japan.  She reminds us that we are not a singular entity divided by national boundaries but rather a truly global community.  I found myself quickly immersed in this novel and yet I felt the need to pace myself; slow down, take my time, and make this last as long as possible.  Ozeki's approach to the concept of the passing of time itself throughout the novel is certainly worth contemplation and one that left me more aware of my own time.  Each character is brought to life with their own unique and endearing qualities that will capture your attention and tug at your heart!  Ozeki is the embodiment of literary brilliance and this book is destined to become a contemporary classic.  I would highly recommend this as a "must read" for any reading group....the discussions would be endless!  FIVE stars.