Title: A Tale for the Time Being (Goodreads)
Author: Ruth Ozeki
Published: Text, 2013
Pages: 422
Genres: Contemporary, Magical Realism
My Copy: Library Book
Buy: Amazon, Book Depository (or visit your local Indie bookstore)
Sixteen year old Nao lives in Tokyo and has decided to take her own life. Her life isn’t great, being bullied in school, her parents are depressed but before she ends her misery she has one task to complete. She wants to document the life of her great-grandmother Jiko. She writes a diary to tell the story of her life. On the Pacific coast of Canada, a few months after the tsunami that hits Japan, Ruth finds a Hello Kitty lunchbox on the beach, inside there was a diary.
Starting with the story of Nao, A Tale for the Time Being was a fascinating look at the Japanese modern culture with references to pop-culture. It made me want to read more books like this; the Japanese culture, while similar is very different and unusual. The only problem with Nao was the fact I didn’t believe she was a struggling teenage girl, all references to being bullied or having a hard life seem to come across as non-issues. I think if someone is struggling to the point of suicide then these issues would be a major focus and never downplayed. This really became the underlining issue with this novel.
I expected this to be brutal and dark but it felt like it wasn’t taken seriously in the effort to make the book light hearted and humorous. The writing was beautiful but I felt it was too flowery and at times preachy. Ruth Ozeki is not just a novelist; she is also a Zen Buddhist priest. Now I have nothing against Buddhism and I think we need religious equality for all people but for some reason this felt heavy. I like books that teach me something I don’t know and A Tale for the Time Being does just that but I felt like it overdid this. I get that Ozeki is passionate about Zen Buddhism, it really showed, there is nothing wrong with that, just a little priggish.
As for the other major character (Ruth), which I couldn’t see as anything else but the author was rather dull in caparison. Nao’s story was fascinating, learning about Jiko was interesting but Ruth felt full of self-pity and two dimensional. I found myself wanting to skip over her story and return to Nao. Personally I think the Ruth character played no real part in the novel and cutting her chapters out completely would have worked just as well.
While the Zen Buddhist element did feel preachy the major downfalls were the believability of Nao’s struggle and Ruth. This is just too light and whimsical for me this really became a distraction from the themes and ideas the novel was trying to achieve. There was so much going for this but the negatives started to outweigh the positives. I must be one of the few that thought this novel wasn’t amazing.
I wanted to like this book a lot more than I did.
I loved learning about the gyres and the big rubbish heap in the middle of the ocean though.
There was so many interesting parts of the book, but Ruth’s story should of been cut
I don’t think you are alone in questioning the merits of this book Michael. The night before the Booker prize was announced, a panel discussion on BBC about the candidates also said they felt Ruth’s story was a mistake.
I feel like most people seem to like it, but I do wonder if they like it because they think they are meant to like it
I think I might the only person left who hasn’t read this book! I appreciate your criticisms. I must admit that i wasn’t even interested in the book until around Booker season, but then I heard so many good things about it. I am also interested in Ozeki’s perspective as a Buddhist. That may be where we ultimately differ in our opinions. I will be reviewing it sometime in December, so you can see what i think then.
look forward to reading your review
I liked the book overall, but on thinking back I feel there was just too much – magical realism bits with the dream and the crow, the quantum physics, and the Zen Buddhist stuff. I think one of them could have been cut out to make it less scattered.
I am specifically thinking the crow and the dream were rather random, and I would have preferred another way of resolving the situation.