“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."
~ A Tale for the Time Being ~
This years book is A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki. The premise is a diary in a old French book, letters, and watch wash up on the beach in a Ziploc bag. A writer, Ruth, discovers the bag washed up on the beach. Ruth is a struggling writer who lives on an isolated island. The diary is that of a young Japanese girl, Nao, and discusses her move to Japan after her father loses his job in the United States during the dot.com bust. She talks about her trouble assimilating back into the Japanese culture, about her father wanting to commit suicide, and her 104 year old great grandmother who is a Buddhist nun. This book might not be a good fit for all readers subjects due to some of the subject matter. Suicide and prostitution are discussed. I have mixed feelings about this book. The book has both Ruth portions and Diary portions by Nao. I found the diary portions challenging. Maybe it was the teenage voice and lots of footnotes on Japanese terms. The flow was off for me. Then there is the whole quantum physics twist.
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| Some of my piles of beach finds |
I relate to finding things on the beach. I love hunting for beach glass aka sea glass.
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| Sea Glass Collection |
It is so fascinating to me what washes up on the beach. The book also discusses the trash in the ocean and how the tsunami has brought Japanese trash to the shore of British Columbia, Canada and Washington State. My friends are always on the lookout for Japanese trash at our local beaches. My friends found this cool tooth .
There is a decent interesting story here in A Tale for the Time Being and I can see why they chose it for this years Whatcom Reads.
I am linking up to Modern Mrs Darcy's Quick Lit
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