A Tale for the Time Being

This is a story-within-a-story. One is the account of Nao, a 16-year-old girl who is yanked out of her comfortable life in California to return to Japan when her father loses his job. In between her suicidal thoughts, she decides to write the story of her grandmother, the Buddhist nun. The other is the story of Ruth, a novelist living with her husband on an island off the coast of Canada. One day a Hello Kitty lunchbox washes up on shore, possibly from the 2011 tsunami. It contains a collection of artifacts, and an account of Nao\’s life. With Ruth, we are drawn more and more into Nao\’s story. I am stingy with my stars, but I am awarding this one five stars. Both stories are enchanting, and we care as much for one as the other. Nao defines a time being as . . . someone who lives in time, and that means you, and me, and every one of us who is, or was, or ever will be. It is a book that will stick in you memory for a long time. I plan to reread it in a year or so.

I think this novel could have been wonderful–the concept of it really interests me–but, I found the writing unimaginative and contrived. Parts of the plot were intriguing enough for me to slog through to the finish, but given the ending, I wish I hadn\’t wasted my time. I\’ve read several books about quantum mechanics, and I\’ve read quite a bit about Buddhism, too, but I can\’t accurately tell you how the author dealt with these things because I kept skipping over whole paragraphs and pages because I found them far too boring and unclear. Giving this novel just one star is pretty harsh but I\’m trying to offset the many, many five star reviews. This book\’s popularity baffles me! It is NOT good literature!

This book really pulled me in. Other reviewers mentioned the end being confusing, but if you hold space and time a little bit loosely, it makes sense. I wasn\’t annoyed like some reviewers by the middle aged writer with a writing block. I felt she was very human and I could relate to some of her experiences. I loved reading the diary of the girl in Japan and her memories of her great grandmother. I actually enjoyed this book so much that I looked at the bibliography to get more ideas of what to read next. Women Living Zen: Japanese Soto Buddhist Nuns was one of these books and I started reading it next. I really enjoyed the character of the great grandmother who was a zen nun living up on the mountain. The Women Living Zen book is really fascinating and delves more deeply into the history of how these nuns lived and still practice today in Japan. Another book that the author of A Tale for the Time Being, Ruth Ozeki, praised is Where the Dead Pause and the Japanese Say Goodbye by Marie Mutsuki Mockett. I really enjoyed this book as well and it complements some of the Japanese culture and background, including zen practice.

While I am liking the book quite a bit, the Kindle edition is so frustrating.There are footnotes on every other page–both Japanese terms and French quotes which are translated in the footnotes. I tried to bookmark the footnotes page, but they are arranged in such a way as they can\’t be easily accessed. I even went to the library to find the paper version of the book as a reference. It is impossible to read on my Kindle! That is taking so much time of the enjoyment away from the book that I am forcing myself to finish it.

A Tale for Time Being by Ruth Ozeki Time is defined as \”the indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and future regarded as a whole.\” But a definition cannot begin to capture what time feels when you have to live through it. Through this PhD program I have wrestled with the concept of time. There is never enough of it. It either passes too fast, or too slow. Reading this book was extremely lethargic, for the main characters, speak of time often. Nao, the sixteen-year-old girl who\’s diary is the center of this story, explores what time means and how frustrating it can be. Her diary is for a time being, \”…someone who lives in time…\”; this book is meant to be read, for we readers are time beings. It is not often that you find a narrative that looks to explore this conception of time and does it so well. I have to say though, the plot line is heavy and it took me awhile to finish reading this story. And by awhile, I mean several months. It is not a book that one devours, just like Ruth (the other main character) did not devour Nao\’s diary in just one sitting. In A Tale for Time Being, there are two stories being told side by side, with one narrative\’s character addressing the other one. Nao writes her diary addressing the person who will find it and speaks to them as if they were already a part her life. At some points you aren\’t sure who needs the other more, is the writer needing the reader, or is the reader needing the writer? The juxtaposition of reading both the perspective of the writer and the reader, while yourself being an additional reader is trippy. It plays well into the themes brought up throughout the book, particularly the theme of time. Because time passes by differently for the writer, the reader of the diary, and then you the reader of the book. There are three different timelines, but everyone is centered on Nao\’s story. I was most stricken by Nao\’s definition of \”now\”. Nao explains \”now\” as: \”…in the time it takes to say now, now is already over. Its already then. Then is the opposite of now. So saying now obliterates its meaning, turning it into exactly what it isnt. Its like the word is committing suicide or something.\” This blew me away because she\’s hitting the nail on the head. Can we ever capture the now? As I am typing now, it is already then. Is it futile to attempt to capture the now, when it will always be the then? Is even trying to capture the now not allowing you to experience the now? The theme of exploring the conception of time resonated with me. Time is as elusive as the wind. You can feel it happening, but you can neither touch or see it. However, both wind and time can have physical effects on the world, and you can feel them both passing by. Time is also something that we all have to experience, regardless of how short or long we remain on this earth. However, it is not often enough that we appreciate time for what it is. Our time is limited; we only have so many heartbeats to be had, so spend them wisely. \”In reality, every reader, while he is reading, is the reader of his own self. The writers work is merely a kind of optical instrument, which he offers to the reader to permit him to discern what, without the book, he would perhaps never have seen in himself. The readers recognition in his own self of what the book says is the proof of its truth.\” Marcel Proust, Le temps retrouv

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