A Tale for the Time Being is about a novelist, Ruth, living on the Canadian Cortes Island with her husband Oliver. Ruth finds a freezer bag containing a Hello Kitty lunchbox filled with a journal written in English, French and Japanese letters, and a kamikaze pilot's watch. Ruth believes that the package was washed ashore after the 2011 tsunami that hit Japan. She beings to read the journal and letters to discover their origin but eventually becomes enraptured in the story.
The journal was written by Nao Yasutani, a 16-year-old Japanese girl. Nao was originally raised in California by her Japanese parents but due to her father's loss of his job they moved back to Japan. Nao does not acclimate well to Japan, she is bullied and feels uncomfortable in this new culture. Nao decides she is going to kill herself, thus why she is writing the journal. She wishes to tell the story of her 104-year-old Zen Buddhist great-grandmother. Although this was her original plan she ends up talking about her Uncle, a suicide bomber in World War II; her suicidal father, and herself.
Ruth is using Nao's story as a distraction from the memoir she cannot seem to complete. But Ruth ends up caring deeply for the girl and her family. Both Ruth and Nao feel a connection that seems to stretch through time. In the end they both learn more about themselves and how to begin to truly live their lives.
The journal was written by Nao Yasutani, a 16-year-old Japanese girl. Nao was originally raised in California by her Japanese parents but due to her father's loss of his job they moved back to Japan. Nao does not acclimate well to Japan, she is bullied and feels uncomfortable in this new culture. Nao decides she is going to kill herself, thus why she is writing the journal. She wishes to tell the story of her 104-year-old Zen Buddhist great-grandmother. Although this was her original plan she ends up talking about her Uncle, a suicide bomber in World War II; her suicidal father, and herself.
Ruth is using Nao's story as a distraction from the memoir she cannot seem to complete. But Ruth ends up caring deeply for the girl and her family. Both Ruth and Nao feel a connection that seems to stretch through time. In the end they both learn more about themselves and how to begin to truly live their lives.