A Tale for the Time Being

she's given us the tried and true, deep and essential pleasure of characters who we love and who matter -- Jane Hamilton author of A MAP OF THE WORLD * A Tale for the Time Being is equal parts mystery and meditation. The mystery is a compulsive, gritty page-turner. The meditation -- on time and memory, on the oceanic movement of history, on impermanence and uncertainty, but also resilience and bravery - is deep and gorgeous and wise. A completely satisfying, continually surprising, wholly remarkable achievement, this is a book to be read and reread -- Karen Joy Fowler author of THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB * Funny, heartbreaking, moving and profound... The warmth, compassion, wisdom and insight with which Ozeki pieces all these stories together will have the reader linked in a similarly profound way to this fantastic novel -- Doug Johnstone Independent * Ozeki explores what it means to be human in this moment, right now (Nao). Her novel is saturated with love, ideas and compassion. In short, an absolute treat -- Lucy Atkins The Sunday Times * Packed with philosophical asides about time, and is unexpectedly moving -- Kate Saunders The Times * A huge, compassionate and cleverly wrought novel -- Natasha Lehrer TLS * This novel on belonging and time is a triumph The Sunday Times * A Chinese box of a novel -- Claire Allfree Metro * Dualities, overlaps, time shifts and coincidences are the currents that move A Tale for the Time Being... Even the book's title shimmers and shifts shape upon study The New York Times * A story saturated with love, ideas and compassion The Sunday Times best books to read this summer * A compelling coming-of-age story Sunday Telegraph * Part fantasy, part mystery, part page-turner -- Sam Baker Harper Bazaar * As emotionally engaging as it is -intellectually provocative Washington Post * Ruth Ozeki's wonderful, intricate novel encompasses both global catastrophe and tiny human potentialities... It is enough to say that this is a novel of subtlety and delicacy which is, above all, a celebration of our shared humanity and an affirmation of the myriad possibilities we all carry within us New Internationalist * A sheer work of brilliance More2Read * [This] could revolutionise our reading habits -- David Robinson The Scotsman * Ozeki masterfully develops the two parallel stories, creating a virtual dialogue between the blocked writer and the diarist, who confides, "I'm reaching forward through time to touch you" Washington Post * Masterfully woven. Entwining Japanese language with WWII history, pop culture with Proust, Zen with quantum mechanics, Ozeki alternates between the voices of two women to produce a spellbinding tale O, Oprah Magazine * This is a book which will absorb you from the very beginning and which will stay with you long after you have finished reading it Spalding Guardian * An ingenious, multi-layered novel that, quite possibly because of those layers, works on so many levels - thrilling us, magicking us, prompting us to pause and reflect... A Tale For The Time Being, her third and finest novel yet, is in a league all of its own -- Malcolm Forbes the National 20130320 * A Tale For The Time Being defies synopsis. It incorporates a Zen Buddhist view of the world into the philosophical entanglements and whimsies of Schrodinger and the physicist Hugh Everett. It is playful, amused ad amusing and it pulls off a beautiful ending that might have been trite, but instead is triste. Four hundred pages seems just the right length -- Tom Adair The Scotsman * The pleasure of this book is the way in which, with its inclusive references to everything, from history to quantum physics, Buddhist practices to literary theory, Silicon Valley to Japanese temples, it stretches the boundaries of the novel while managing to remain intensely readable -- Diana Hendry The Spectator * Nao is one of the most sharply realised narrative voices in recent memory, a kind of Holden Caulfield for today... Ozeki can pluck at the heart strings like a samisen, offering moments that bring hand to mouth in both horror and joy Sydney Sunday Herald * Nao is an irresistible character: inquisitive, funny and world weary but heartbreakingly vulnerable... A Tale for the Time Being achieves an impressive balancing act: it's a book that is profound but never earnest Weekend Australian * Ozeki's real skill is in blending concept and story so beautifully. The result is a novel that is clever on many levels but also immensely readable New Zealand Herald on Sunday * An exquisite novel: funny, tragic, hard-edged and ethereal at once Los Angeles Times * In Nao, Ozeki draws an unforgettable character The Globe and Mail * Ruth Ozeki's enchanting A Tale for the Time Being is a must-read Good Housekeeping * Sure to please anyone who values a good story broadened with intellectual vigour Publishers Weekly