A Tale for the Time Being Audiobook By Ruth Ozeki cover art

A Tale for the Time Being

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A Tale for the Time Being

By: Ruth Ozeki
Narrated by: Ruth Ozeki
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About this listen

Winner: The Kitschies - Red Tentacle novel award 2013

"Hi! My name is Nao, and I am a time being. Do you know what a time being is? Well, if you give me a moment, I will tell you."

Ruth discovers a Hello Kitty lunchbox washed up on the shore of her beach home. Within it lies a diary that expresses the hopes and dreams of a young girl. She suspects it might have arrived on a drift of debris from the 2011 tsunami. With every turn of the page, she is sucked deeper into an enchanting mystery. In a small cafe in Tokyo, 16-year-old Nao Yasutani is navigating the challenges thrown up by modern life. In the face of cyber-bullying, the mysteries of a 104-year-old Buddhist nun and great-grandmother, and the joy and heartbreak of family, Nao is trying to find her own place - and voice - through a diary she hopes will find a reader and friend who finally understands her.

Weaving across continents and decades, and exploring the relationship between reader and writer, fact and fiction, A Tale for the Time Being is an extraordinary novel about our shared humanity and the search for home.

©2013 Ruth Ozeki (P)2013 Canongate Books Ltd Genre Fiction Historical Literary Fiction Mystery
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Critic reviews

"Bewitching, intelligent, and heartbreaking... Nao is an inspired narrator and her quest to tell her great grandmother's story, to connect with her past and with the larger world, is both aching and true. Ozeki is one of my favorite novelists and here she is at her absolute best." (Junot Diaz)
" A Tale for the Time Being is a timeless story. Ruth Ozeki beautifully renders not only the devastation of the collision between man and the natural world, but also the often miraculous results of it. She is a deeply intelligent and humane writer who offers her insights with a grace that beguiles. I truly love this novel." (Alice Sebold)
"Ingenious and touching, A Tale for the Time Being is also highly readable. And interesting: the contrast of cultures is especially well done." (Philip Pullman)
All stars
Most relevant
Beautiful, precious book. A real and brave story but so gemlike, shining with wisdom and humility. Amid the mingled stories of two women, a teenage girl writing about her life being bullied at school in her diary and and middle-aged ex-New Yorker suffering writer's block, are so many ideas and themes: age, fate, Japanese Zazen practice, suicide, war, quantum physics, and honesty ... All carried along. beautifully in the powerful and authentic voices of the young woman and her older reader.
The author's reading voice is mesmerising.
You'll love this story. Like all beautiful things, it is an endless surprise.

Six stars

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I have read this book in print and thought I would give the audio version a listen rather than re-read it. The book is so richly layered and is not just your run-of-the-mill work of fiction. The audio version was so much better than I could have anticipated, and provides even more layers to the novel. Ozeki does well in characterizing the voices of each person in the text, and her intonation and emphasis provided some interesting insights to the work I hadn't picked up by reading in print. You cannot grasp this book in one reading, and the research Ozeki put into this book is very dense. It is subtle enough for those who wish to skip over it can do, but for those readers who wish to dig deeper provide a welcome treasure trove of history, environmental, culture and textual depth. I will listen to it again in the future.

Ozeki reads wonderfully: Author-narrator-hero Ruth

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When I first heard about this book, I wasn't convinced. A diary of a Japanese schoolgirl washes up on a beach and a middle-aged author interweaves it with her own life on a Canadian Island? It did not sound like my thing.

I'm so glad I didn't listen to my first reaction and gave this book a try. Listening to this book is a real experience. I knew I was hooked when it was 3am and I was still lying in bed in the dark, unable to press pause. There is nothing maudlin or predictable about this story, and there are no dull characters who you feel like you just have to get past to get to the ones you like. There is terror, tragedy, history, family and quite a lot of humour in this book. No wonder it's been long listed for the Booker.

And the narration fro the author is spectacular. After listening, i can't imagine how they could have got anyone else to narrate this unique and wonderful book.

Give it a chance, you won't regret it.

Give this a chance and you're in for a treat.

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What made the experience of listening to A Tale for the Time Being the most enjoyable?

Beautifully read book which stays with you. The story is different and compelling.

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

Her accent.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

Compelling story

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This is the first review that I've felt compelled to write. If you listen to one book this year - make it this one!

I am amazed that this book does not have hundreds of reviews of praise. I kept thinking that the reader seemed to have such a deep insight into the characters - it was only when I listened to part 3 did I realise that it was read by Ruth Ozeki herself. It definitely adds another layer to experience.

I loved her Year of Meat - this book is even better. As before Ruth Ozeki combines fact with fiction making it more than simply a story. Listen to this book - or read this book. Or even better do both - you won't be disappointed.

One of the best books ever

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An extremely well written story, with the privilege of being told by the author’s own voice. Thanks, Ruth Ozeki❤️

What a delight!

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“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.”

This book is a beautiful concept under a masterful narrative. The 2 narrating characters (not the reader) lives touch in a meaningful way, although they will never meet.

An American novelist, Ruth, finds a Hello Kitty lunchbox washed up on the beach of the island she lives on in Canada. It contains the diary of Nao (a bullied teenager in Japan), some letters and a watch. A lot of the story is the diary, where Nao reveals the secrets she is sharing with no-one else.

The other half of the book is Ruth's attempt to to find out more about Nao and her family. Nao appears to be in danger. While Ruth & her husband wonder whether the lunchbox might have washed across from Japan in the drift following the 2011 tsunami, it's also clear that the Nao's bullying & her father's attempted suicide is leading her to seriously contemplate her own suicide.

Buddhism, western philosophy & environmentalism are some of the themes that flow throughout this beautiful creation, but most of all it is about being now. It is this that makes this book something you want to read in one sitting. And what makes you want it never to end.

Booker short listed, this is an exceptional piece. Get it, you will love it. It has found it's place among my all time favourites & I am sure it will be the same for many other readers.

Being Now

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If you could sum up A Tale for the Time Being in three words, what would they be?

Three words? Truth, time, tears.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I cannot name one character and say he or she was a favorite. The old grandma I feel I did not get to know well and the mothers are a little unclear and fogy. But still all equally important,, and made the story.

Which character – as performed by Ruth Ozeki – was your favorite?

She, Ms. Ruth Ozeki read all character equally good, I hope she reads more book as well as her own and maybe she has?

If you could rename A Tale for the Time Being, what would you call it?

I don't know. Is this a story of two parallel worlds or times. Is it a story of her self. Is this a story of what??? Now I am writing and now I am not and then what??

Any additional comments?

Beautiful story, wonderfully read. Thank you.

Very unusual for my but enjoyable

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