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A Tale for the Time Being
- Narrated by: Ruth Ozeki
- Length: 14 hrs and 43 mins
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Publisher's summary
Short-listed, Man Booker International Prize
A brilliant, unforgettable, and long-awaited novel from best-selling 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, 16-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 listener, 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.
Critic reviews
“An exquisite novel: funny, tragic, hard-edged and ethereal at once.”—David Ulin, Los Angeles Times
“As contemporary as a Japanese teenager’s slang but as ageless as a Zen koan, Ruth Ozeki’s new novel combines great storytelling with a probing investigation into the purpose of existence. . . . She plunges us into a tantalizing narration that brandishes mysteries to be solved and ideas to be explored. . . . Ozeki’s profound affection for her characters makes A Tale for the Time Being as emotionally engaging as it is intellectually provocative.”—The Washington Post
“A delightful yet sometimes harrowing novel . . . Many of the elements of Nao’s story—schoolgirl bullying, unemployed suicidal ‘salarymen,’ kamikaze pilots—are among a Western reader’s most familiar images of Japan, but in Nao’s telling, refracted through Ruth’s musings, they become fresh and immediate, occasionally searingly painful. Ozeki takes on big themes . . . all drawn into the stories of two ‘time beings,’ Ruth and Nao, whose own fates are inextricably bound.”—The New York Times Book Review
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A stunning debut novel on sex, loss, and redemption. It is 1975 and India is in turmoil. American Stanley Harrington arrives to study Sanskrit philosophy and escape his failing marriage. When he finds himself witness to a violent accident, he begins to question his grip on reality.
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Detail pictures of a very different time and place
- By K. C. H on 02-24-23
By: C. W. Huntington
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Kitchen
- By: Banana Yoshimoto
- Narrated by: Emily Zeller
- Length: 4 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Mikage is an orphan raised by her grandmother, who has passed away. Grieving, Mikage is taken in by her friend, Yoichi, and his mother (who is really his cross-dressing father), Eriko. As the three of them form an improvised family that soon weathers its own tragic losses, Yoshimoto spins a lovely, evocative tale with the kitchen and the comforts of home at its heart.
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First Time is the Charm
- By just asking for some common sense on 08-22-19
By: Banana Yoshimoto
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The Guest Cat
- By: Takashi Hiraide
- Narrated by: David Shih
- Length: 3 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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A couple in their 30s live in a small rented cottage in a quiet part of Tokyo; they work at home, freelance copy-editing; they no longer have very much to say to one another. But one day a cat invites itself into their small kitchen. It leaves, but the next day comes again, and then again and again. Soon they are buying treats for the cat and enjoying talks about the animal and all its little ways. Life suddenly seems to have more promise for the husband and wife - the days have more light and color.
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A Novel As Poetry
- By Sara on 06-29-17
By: Takashi Hiraide
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A Constellation of Vital Phenomena
- A Novel
- By: Anthony Marra
- Narrated by: Colette Whitaker
- Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Anthony Marra transports us to a snow-covered village in Chechnya, where eight-year-old Havaa watches from the woods as Russian soldiers abduct her father in the middle of the night, accusing him of aiding Chechen rebels. Across the road their lifelong neighbor and family friend Akhmed has also been watching, fearing the worst when the soldiers set fire to Havaa’s house. But when he finds her hiding in the forest with a strange blue suitcase, he makes a decision that will forever change their lives. He will seek refuge at the abandoned hospital where the sole remaining doctor, Sonja Rabina, treats the wounded.
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A Conflicted Response
- By Cariola on 09-24-13
By: Anthony Marra
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Strange Weather in Tokyo
- A Novel
- By: Hiromi Kawakami, Allison Markin Powell - translator
- Narrated by: Allison Hiroto
- Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Tsukiko, 38, works in an office and lives alone. One night, she happens to meet one of her former high school teachers, "Sensei", in a local bar. Tsukiko had only ever called him "Sensei" ("Teacher"). He is 30 years her senior, retired, and presumably a widower. Their relationship develops from a perfunctory acknowledgment of each other as they eat and drink alone at the bar, to a hesitant intimacy, which tilts awkwardly and poignantly into love.
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Cozy Love Story and Leisure Time in Japan
- By mz on 01-02-19
By: Hiromi Kawakami, and others
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Sweet Bean Paste
- By: Durian Sukegawa, Alison Watts - translator
- Narrated by: Cindy Kay
- Length: 5 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Sentaro has failed. He has a criminal record, drinks too much, and his dream of becoming a writer is just a distant memory. With only the blossoming of the cherry trees to mark the passing of time, he spends his days in a tiny confectionery shop selling dorayaki, a type of pancake filled with sweet bean paste. Into his life comes Tokue, an elderly woman with disfigured hands and a troubled past. Tokue makes the best sweet bean paste Sentaro has ever tasted. She begins to teach him her craft, but as their friendship flourishes, social pressures become impossible to escape.
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All the metaphors track
- By ilene on 04-30-24
By: Durian Sukegawa, and others
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Kokoro
- By: Natsume Soseki
- Narrated by: Matt Shea
- Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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The subject of Kokoro, which can be translated as 'the heart of things' or as 'feeling,' is the delicate matter of the contrast between the meanings the various parties of a relationship attach to it. In the course of this exploration, Soseki brilliantly describes different levels of friendship, family relationships, and the devices by which men attempt to escape from their fundamental loneliness. The novel sustains throughout its length something approaching poetry, and it is rich in understanding and insight.
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The Heart Of Things, Relationships & Feelings
- By Sara on 04-27-15
By: Natsume Soseki
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Free Food for Millionaires
- By: Min Jin Lee
- Narrated by: Jennifer Sun Bell
- Length: 25 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Meet Casey Han: a strong-willed, Queens-bred daughter of Korean immigrants immersed in a glamorous Manhattan lifestyle she can't afford. Casey is eager to make it on her own, away from the judgements of her parents' tight-knit community, but she soon finds that her Princeton economics degree isn't enough to rid her of ever-growing credit-card debt and a toxic boyfriend. When a chance encounter with an old friend lands her a new opportunity, she's determined to carve a space for herself in a glittering world of privilege, power, and wealth—but at what cost?
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Worst narration ever
- By Mary on 05-25-20
By: Min Jin Lee
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Transcendent Kingdom
- A novel (A Read with Jenna Pick)
- By: Yaa Gyasi
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Gifty is a sixth-year PhD candidate in neuroscience at the Stanford University School of Medicine studying reward-seeking behavior in mice and the neural circuits of depression and addiction. Her brother, Nana, was a gifted high school athlete who died of a heroin overdose after an ankle injury left him hooked on OxyContin. Her suicidal mother is living in her bed. Gifty is determined to discover the scientific basis for the suffering she sees all around her.
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Would have benefited from a different narrator
- By Richard Stewart on 09-11-20
By: Yaa Gyasi
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Midnight's Children
- By: Salman Rushdie
- Narrated by: Lyndam Gregory
- Length: 24 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Salman Rushdie holds the literary world in awe with a jaw-dropping catalog of critically acclaimed novels that have made him one of the world's most celebrated authors. Winner of the prestigious Booker of Bookers, Midnight's Children tells the story of Saleem Sinai, born on the stroke of India's independence.
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Outstanding book, superb narration
- By MarcS on 06-09-09
By: Salman Rushdie
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The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World
- A Novel
- By: Laura Imai Messina
- Narrated by: Traci Kato-Kiriyama
- Length: 5 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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When Yui loses both her mother and her daughter in the tsunami, she begins to mark the passage of time from that date onward: Everything is relative to March 11, 2011, the day the tsunami tore Japan apart and when grief took hold of her life. Yui struggles to continue on, alone with her pain. Then, one day she hears about a man who has an old disused telephone booth in his garden. There, those who have lost loved ones find the strength to speak to them and begin to come to terms with their grief. As news of the phone booth spreads, people travel to it from miles around.
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Heart and depth
- By Anonymous User on 12-18-22
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Girl, Woman, Other
- By: Bernardine Evaristo
- Narrated by: Anna-Maria Nabirye
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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From one of Britain's most celebrated writers of color, Girl, Woman, Other is a magnificent portrayal of the intersections of identity and a moving and hopeful story of an interconnected group of black British women. Winner of the 2019 Booker Prize and short-listed for the Gordon Burn Prize, Girl, Woman, Other paints a vivid portrait of the state of post-Brexit Britain, as well as looking back to the legacy of Britain's colonial history in Africa and the Caribbean.
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smart, compassionate, confronting and enjoyable
- By Kelly on 12-20-19
What listeners say about A Tale for the Time Being
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Amazon Customer
- 01-18-19
Beautiful
What a lovely, honey-smooth voice Ruth Ozeki has! I am so glad she chose to narrate this beautiful book. I absolutely loved the experience of listening to the long, immersive tale on my walks to work and back home.
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- Ellen
- 09-26-19
A creative blend of physics, culture & characters
This is a very creative, quirky tale that blends quantum physics, believable dialogue, interesting characters and different cultures with thoughts on the meaning of time, life and death. The author does a lovely narration.
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- Amazon Customer
- 06-05-14
An Amazing Story Beautifully Read by the Author
If you could sum up A Tale for the Time Being in three words, what would they be?
Unexpected stories juxtaposed.
What other book might you compare A Tale for the Time Being to and why?
This is quite a unique read.
Which character – as performed by Ruth Ozeki – was your favorite?
The two narrators, Nao and Ruth, are both exceptionally performed by Ozeki. In fact, the reading of this book by the author is so well done that some of the meaning would be lost if one simply read the book alone.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
The death of Jiko was quite moving and how it brings Nao closer to her father.
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- Michele Shapiro
- 08-28-16
Love to hear the author reading
I didn't want to stop listening. Every word was fascinating. Loved the story! I wanted it to keep going.
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- Mindfulness First
- 11-30-21
Absolutely wonderful!
Such great characters living in different worlds. Enjoyed the insight into World War 2 and also the life of Buddhist nuns, and life on a small Canadian island. So interesting and so many voices. I just loved this book.
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- El Mort
- 01-09-22
Worth the Time, all the Time.
The way this story unfolds is magical, the magic of everyday that we all know, yet somehow move past too often not noticing. Pause, most important of all are the pauses.
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- ABChwhite
- 05-08-15
I LOVED IT. My wife ... well, didn't.
This is an engrossing tale for those who are patient, who embrace ambiguity in art and life, and who know some mysteries are just that ... Mysteries.
But, if you like to read the end of a book first (as my favorite person does), don't do it. Just take the ride and see where this story takes you.
(Not a book for young teens.)
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- Diann
- 07-31-15
Disjointed
I had a hard time following the story and I could have done without some of the science and esoteric philosophy
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- tammy
- 05-17-17
Bound Together Book Club
Masterfully crafted with many layers ! Fabulous book. Truly a wonderful telling. I highly recommend and loved listening to Ruth's reading and bring the characters to life.
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- eileen
- 01-26-14
beach combing
Is there anything you would change about this book?
i think it went on too long and the author didn't know when to quit. i also felt the author exhausted every Japanese stereotype known to man which made the plot feel contrived.
If you’ve listened to books by Ruth Ozeki before, how does this one compare?
have not read any of her books before
Have you listened to any of Ruth Ozeki’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
have not heard any other performances.
If this book were a movie would you go see it?
i would love to see this book as a movie. i feel it would make a better movie than a book
Any additional comments?
i really liked the idea for this story, finding a special treasure on the beach from a faraway place.i live on the beach and have often found treasures and considered finding something very special and making a connection through my find.
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