R
Ruth Ozeki
Ruth Ozeki is an American-Canadian author, filmmaker and Zen Buddhist priest. Photo By Latrippi - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32116034
A Tale for the Time Being
A Tale for the Time Being
- Pages
- 432
- Published
- 2013
- Language
- English
Synopsis
A Tale for the Time Being unfolds in two intertwined narratives. In Tokyo, sixteen-year-old Nao Yasutani is bullied at school and estranged from her depressed father after her family's move back to Japan from Silicon Valley. Planning to end her life, she instead begins a diary about her 104-year-old great-grandmother Jiko, a Buddhist nun, and her great-uncle Haruki, a reluctant kamikaze pilot conscripted during the Second World War.
On Cortes Island, a remote island off British Columbia, a novelist named Ruth finds Nao's diary washed ashore in a barnacle-encrusted Hello Kitty lunchbox, likely debris from the 2011 tsunami. As she reads, Ruth becomes consumed with tracking down what happened to Nao, drawing her own life -- and that of her husband, Oliver -- into Nao's story.
Ruth Ozeki's novel moves between the two women's voices to explore Zen Buddhism, the physics of time, and the fragile, connective act of reading and writing across distance. It won the 2013 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction and the Kitschies' Red Tentacle award, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.
Genres
Characters
NaoProtagonist
Ruth (A Tale for the Time Being)Protagonist
Japanese-American novelist on a remote BC island who finds Nao's diary washed ashore; co-narrator alongside Nao, closely modeled on the real author.
JikoSupporting
Nao's 104-year-old great-grandmother, a Buddhist nun, who teaches Nao spiritual lessons and offers her a model of wisdom and compassion.
Haruki Yasutani (#2)Supporting
Nao's father, who lost his tech job in Silicon Valley, moved the family back to Japan, and attempted suicide.
Haruki Yasutani (#1)Supporting
Jiko's son and Nao's great-uncle, a reluctant kamikaze pilot conscripted in 1943; his wartime letters and diary form a historical thread in the novel.
Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction (2013)The Kitschies Red Tentacle (2013)
Frequently asked questions
Is the character of Ruth in the book based on the author?
The character of Ruth is a fictionalized version of the author, Ruth Ozeki, and the narrative incorporates elements of her own life, such as her identity as a Zen Buddhist priest and her experiences living on an island in British Columbia.
What is the significance of the title regarding the book's philosophy?
The title refers to the Zen Buddhist concept of being-time, or uji, which suggests that time is not a linear progression but rather existence itself, where the act of reading and writing creates a shared, present moment between the author and the reader.
Does the book require knowledge of Zen Buddhism or quantum physics to understand?
While the novel weaves these subjects into its narrative, they serve as thematic lenses for the characters' experiences rather than academic requirements, and the story remains accessible through its focus on the human connection between the two protagonists.