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A review by emmaraeempowered
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
4.75
A Tale For The Time Being is a book that was very very challenging to read...but I am very glad that I did.
In this story Ruth finds a plastic bag that has washed up to the shore in the PNW and inside has a Hello Kitty lunchbox with the diary of a teenage girl. In the diary the girl, Nao proclaims that she plans to end her life, but first she is going to document the life of her great grandmother who is a Buddhist Nun and lived an incredible life.
Nao's writings got very difficult to read. She and her family had moved to California when she was very little then moved back to Japan when she was a teen. At her school in Japan she is being bullied at such extreme methods that using the word bullying doesn't feel right. This girl is being harassed, assaulted, and the horrors just continue. Even teachers participate in the mistreatment of her. Nao's father also keeps attempting to end his life and we get entries from her as she processes that.
From Ruth's perspective she is getting more and more concerned for Nao's life and if she is okay or if she really did end her life. As her concern grows the way these two characters stories are entangled is, incredible and heartbreaking I found. I can't imagine how I would handle finding a diary such as this.
Nao also documents what she learns about her great-uncle who was a kamikaze pilot in WWII, she looks up to him for his bravery and the fact that he was only a couple years older than her. She contemplates her own life and what she has or doesn't have to offer.
There is so much I want to say about this book but I feel as though I don't have the words. I wish I could paint my emotions here and you could look at it and go "Ah yes I totally understand- and feel- what you mean Emmarae".
If you are thinking of picking up this book please be mindful of content warnings. And get ready for a story that will suck you in, make you cry, and even question what reality really is. And where we all are in time.
In this story Ruth finds a plastic bag that has washed up to the shore in the PNW and inside has a Hello Kitty lunchbox with the diary of a teenage girl. In the diary the girl, Nao proclaims that she plans to end her life, but first she is going to document the life of her great grandmother who is a Buddhist Nun and lived an incredible life.
Nao's writings got very difficult to read. She and her family had moved to California when she was very little then moved back to Japan when she was a teen. At her school in Japan she is being bullied at such extreme methods that using the word bullying doesn't feel right. This girl is being harassed, assaulted, and the horrors just continue. Even teachers participate in the mistreatment of her. Nao's father also keeps attempting to end his life and we get entries from her as she processes that.
From Ruth's perspective she is getting more and more concerned for Nao's life and if she is okay or if she really did end her life. As her concern grows the way these two characters stories are entangled is, incredible and heartbreaking I found. I can't imagine how I would handle finding a diary such as this.
Nao also documents what she learns about her great-uncle who was a kamikaze pilot in WWII, she looks up to him for his bravery and the fact that he was only a couple years older than her. She contemplates her own life and what she has or doesn't have to offer.
There is so much I want to say about this book but I feel as though I don't have the words. I wish I could paint my emotions here and you could look at it and go "Ah yes I totally understand- and feel- what you mean Emmarae".
If you are thinking of picking up this book please be mindful of content warnings. And get ready for a story that will suck you in, make you cry, and even question what reality really is. And where we all are in time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt, War, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Rape
not a spoiler but there's another content warning that it wouldn't let me add in the content warning section so i'm putting it here child pornography