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 novel about time, loneliness, writer’s block, and being human.

First... the author reading this increased my enjoyment of the book immensely. I felt it added an extra level to my understanding the characters.

Adolescence is already such a painful time, without repatriating to a country you do not remember and suffering extreme bullying. Nao is a richly developed character seen from across time by Ruth. Every moment in this tale is significant and rich with symbolism and the beauty of Buddhism. The decompensating effect of solitude, how loneliness can lead to despair is so elegantly woven through this tale. The characters, even those that never meet need each other in a sublime way. A Tale for the Time Being is poetry in prose. There is so much to think about here, I will be revisiting this and recommending it often.

By turns brilliant and frustrating.

I loved the overall story, the characters were complex and heartbreaking. The idea of time travel came together finally. I guess I just wish the author had tried less hard to be provocative like fixating on mentioning a$$holes every chance she could in every circumstance. It didn’t honor the story. The narrator in the beginning of the book is brash and off putting for no good reason but stick with it as it gets better.

You must read this book.

You will not believe how much this book covers. It's profound. Best I've read since catch-22. Believe you me, that's really saying something. Trust me or don't, but you will miss out on truth if you don't.

Beautiful, compassionate - a real joy!

Fabulously rich and layered story. An exceptional piece of writing, contemplation and also an act of kindness. Highly recommended!

Awesome performance

This is a very thoughtful work with many themes including existentialism, bullying, revisionist history, suicide, philosophy, living life in the present, memory loss, and life beyond death through the medium of books.

Beautiful, Fresh, I love the characters

A friend recommended this novel to me and I am so happy she discovered it!
It is a good thing the author read this--she has a beautiful voice--but especially because she is fluent in English AND Japanese--not that you need to know the Japanese words, but there are a few and many characters and the words are beautiful in her mouth.
The characters include a Japanese American writer living on the west coast of Canada, a young woman raised in California who moves with her family to Tokyo as a teenager--a very difficult time, her great grandmother who is a 90 something Buddhist nun, mother to a WWII kamikaze pilot.
Enjoy, enjoy.

Wonderful to hear it reads by the author!

A story to get your brain thinking and the author's reading helps with the emphasis

True to Modern Japan

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, well-written and well-read. I lived in Tokyo for 13 years and the descriptions and insight into the city and culture were spot-on perfect. To the reviewer who commented on the graphic nature of the bullying described - THIS HAPPENS. Bullying is a horrific part of an otherwise safe culture. It was not overstated or dishonest.

What was one of the most memorable moments of A Tale for the Time Being?

The magical aspect of the story was unexpected and at first left me questioning the choice of the book. But it is reality subtle and the ending solidly brings it all together

What does Ruth Ozeki bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Welll read and truthful.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Everything about Tokyo was so exactly described, I couldn't believe how accurate it was.

Wow

I really loved this book. talk about feeling connected. I laughe, I cried...I hoped. I was so invested in the characters who were beautifully described.
this is now one of my favorite books. :)

Beautiful!

An interesting story told beautifully. Two worlds are intertwined and you’re transported to the worlds of both characters. Ruth reads her story so nicely. One of the best books I’ve listened to in a long time!