Ruth Ozeki's A Tale for the Time Being
I adored both of Ozeki's earlier novels (and have made more than one book club read them), so was psyched to read her first new book in nine years, which completely lived up to my expectations. It's the story of a novelist, Ruth, struggling with writer's block (in theory she's working on a memoir about her mother's Alzheimer's). From what I can tell, a lot of this is definitely based on Ozeki's real life (to the point where I got worried and uncomfortable when she argued with her husband in the story). Anyway, one day, near their remote Canadian home, Ruth finds a package on the beach, which turns out to contain a diary, some letters, and other assorted plot points. The diary belongs to a teenager, Nao, contemplating life, the universe, her amazing great-grandmother (a radical feminist author turned Buddhist nun), her depressed father, war, American vs Japanese culture clashes, and her own plans to commit suicide. Things get pretty metaphysical. Or maybe just meta. Either way, I loved it, and will need to revisit it soon. A.
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