A Tale for the Time Being

By: Ruth Ozeki

Narrated by: Ruth Ozeki

Length: 14 hrs and 43 mins

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.

©2013 Ruth Ozeki (P)2013 Penguin Audio

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

A twist on quantum physics

This book was great with a good comparison of depression across time, gender, culture, and ages. The author also does a good job using quantum physics in fiction.

Voyage

This Audible story narrated by the author drew me into its event horizon when I got it the year published. I’m drawn to stories that involve time travel in some incarnation. As other reviewers have observed here it develops and interweaves lives and their stories that could almost stand on their own. Though separated chronologically I felt the narrative pulls them back and forth through a unique space time processor (like the back room closet door of S. King’s “11/22/63” or the old Manhattan Dakota Hotel room of Jack Finney’s “Time and Again”). In “Tale” it’s a time capsule that washes up following a far away disaster and there is no traveler per se. I attended a guest lecture at a major University by Ms Ozeki almost four years ago to this day. At the time the book was required reading in 50 classes there across diverse departments and schools. In her life the author was moving more deeply into Buddhism and she began the talk with a group meditation in which the 1500 attendees unplugged. It was an interesting way to defuse the electricity her appearance triggered and to set a lyrical tone. Several of the questions which later came to her during Q&A were from some fairly personal contexts and her responses were in kind. I wish I could remember them. I’ve decided to revisit the book and in particular this time to noodle the choice of book title and its preposition.

Magnificent & Magical

I can't fully articulate the range of pleasure derived from listening to Ruth Ozeki sharing this incredible story with me. I am filled with joy and gratitude for the beauty and connection this book fosters. You're in for a real treat with this one-of-a-kind tale for the time being. I'm definitely grabbing a hard copy from my local bookstore, too. It's a treasure!

Read by the author

Sometimes, authors narrate their own books, and it’s a real deal breaker. Not so in this case. It was so much fun to listen to how the author characterizes her... characters with emphasis, tone, and especially humor, which is hard to explain, but it’s all there.

Beautiful Writing

This book does a wonderful job explaining the differences between Western and Japanese culture-the good and bad of both. I really enjoyed listening. This is a story that will stay with me.

Fascinating exploration of minds

I was enthralled with the mystery and points of view in "A Tale for the Time Being". Listening to the author read the story added awhile other dimension that was quite enjoyable.

Haunting and beautiful a treasure for all time

I loved this book. ❤️❤️❤️ I couldn't put it down. It has a life of it's own, and almost brings you into it. Potent, cosmic, dark, and, whimsical. It's a book I will return to again and again.

Wonderful Narration, Deep Storytelling

I loved this story and didn’t want it to end, much like the character reading the diary within. The author’s narration gave the characters a depth and nuance that enchanted me, drew me in. I appreciated the deep life wisdom threaded throughout. Thank you. This is truly a life-changing story for me.

Quite incredible

“A Tale for the Time Being” is quite incredible. It is the best-read book I’ve ever listened to, with each character's personality coming alive as they speak. The book has an intriguing plot encompassing Zen philosophy, nature factoids, community, relationships, suicide, kindness and torture, fluidity of time and intention… and so much more. I'm tempted to listen all over again to catch some of the nuance that flew over my head this first time.

Childish then sexual then quantam physics

This is not about a girl writing the story of her grandmother's life, as the description says. It is a childish diary, and I thought at first might be good for youth- not mentioned in the review. The main character is then led into prostitution and there is some sexual content that I would not recommend for youth. Finally, in the last few pages, one ends up reading about quantum physics, and lightly addresses an undeveloped relationship. I can't recommend it for anyone. The author should write about the grandmother's life and her wisdom as promised.