A Tale For The Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

This review will contain spoilers

Nao is a 16 year old girl living in Tokyo who is having a difficult time at school. She cannot turn to her parents because her mother is dealing with her father’s severe depression.

Nao decides to start a diary about the life of her great grandmother, a Buddhist nun, as a way to find courage. Years later Ruth, a novelist living in Desolation Sound, British Columbia finds a locked box containing Nao’s diary, a packet of letters and a composition notebook. Nao’s diary will change the lives of both women in a profound way.

A Tale For The Time Being (2013) by Ruth Ozeki has been on my radar for a few years now. I love books about diaries and the message in a bottle premise really appealed to me. But I struggled to get through parts of this book.

The problem wasn’t the writing. Ruth Ozeki is very talented. And A Tale For The Time Being tackles topics such as bullying, climate change, suicide, American wars, the Fukushima disaster, Zen Buddhism, consumerism, the weight of past generations. These are weighty subjects but I am not sure they all belong in the same novel.

We also learn about Nao and Ruth’s lives in alternating chapters. Ruth is grieving the death of her mother and facing writer’s block. Nao is bullied by her classmates and the magnitude of bullying is extreme. I had trouble imagining that any school would allow bullying at this level.

But there is one character in A Tale For The Time Being who has a true to life storyline. Nao’s great uncle, Haruki, who was a young soldier in the Japanese army during World War II. Haruki was trained as were other young men in his unit to go on kamikaze missions. You couldn’t refuse. It would mean terrible disgrace to one’s family. Nao includes Haruki’s diary with her own in the box that makes its way to Ruth and it makes for powerful reading.

A Tale For The Time Being covers many subjects but learning about Zen Buddhism and Haruki’s experiences as a soldier stood out for me. Haruki wanted to live. And it will be through his diary that Nao, her father and Ruth learn about the value of life and how to embrace the future.

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9 responses to “A Tale For The Time Being by Ruth Ozeki”

  1. Lark@LarkWrites Avatar
    Lark@LarkWrites

    I thought this one was a bit quirky and unexpected, but fun. I remember liking it. Though I read it way back in 2013 so I don’t remember a lot of details about it now. ;D

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    1. kathyvullis1 Avatar
      kathyvullis1

      It’s possible that I wasn’t in the right mood for this novel. Lately I find that my reading tastes have changed. I will continue to read classics and serious contemporary literature but not so much. I want lighter more fun reads: mysteries, thrillers etc

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  2. Susan Avatar
    Susan

    I agree with you about this novel — it has a lot going on in it. Much of which was powerful and interesting but other parts didn’t need to be in there like the quantum physics. I liked how the letters connected them from across the ocean. It had a good premise and strong themes. I wrote my review of it here: https://www.thecuecard.com/movies/grown-tale-time/

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    1. kathyvullis1 Avatar
      kathyvullis1

      Hi Susan, read your very fine review of A Tale For The Time Being. It was a well written novel. I just didn’t connect with the characters with the exception of Haruki the young Japanese soldier.

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  3. janegs1 Avatar
    janegs1

    This does sound like a challenging book, although the format and premise appeal to me, but I think I would find it too heavy for my psyche right now.

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  4. kathyvullis1 Avatar
    kathyvullis1

    Hi Jane, It is a bit too heavy for right now. That’s what I felt too. But it was the premise, a diary washes up on shore that grabbed me as well. I was expecting a different kind of story though

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  5. tracybham Avatar
    tracybham

    I only read the last paragraph because I don’t want to read spoilers. Since you liked learning about Zen Buddhism, I think that would appeal to me, and I want to try this book. I will look for this one at the book sale for sure.

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  6. myworldofbooks Avatar
    myworldofbooks

    thank you for the review! I was mostly interested reading about Nao’s parts and didn’t care much for the novelist and her husband in BC

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  7. kathyvullis1 Avatar
    kathyvullis1

    Thanks for your comments and I agree Nao is the more interesting of the two characters. Really heartbreaking bullying she was subjected to at school.

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