A TALE FOR THE TIME BEING

Ozeki’s novel illustrates the interconnectedness of all things. Despite being stuffed full of topics—from quantum physics to kamikaze pilots, tsunamis, and a billion other things—the novel is suffused with a warmth and immediacy that keep the listener hanging on every word. The story alternates between Ruth, a blocked writer living on an island off British Columbia, and Nao, a suicidal Japanese schoolgirl. Ruth finds Nao’s diary in a Hello Kitty lunch box on the beach, along with letters, an older diary, and a watch. For Ruth, Ozeki’s tone is slightly worried and obsessive as she reads the diary aloud to her husband. She lends a note of childishness and forced cheerfulness to Nao and her (literally) purple prose. The intoned prayers of gratitude from Nao’s great-grandmother, a feminist Buddhist nun, are genius. A.B. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine [Published: APRIL 2013]