A TALE for the TIME BEING- by Ruth Ozeki-A Testament for Humanity

Ruth Ozeki is a Canadian-American novelist, filmmaker & Zen Buddhist priest.  Her spellbinding novel, A TALE for the TIME BEING was short listed for the Man Booker in '13.  Amongst the flotsam & jetsam along a desolate Canadian island, a Hello Kitty lunch box is uncovered.  Ruth, a novelist living on the island with her husband, salvages the writings & possessions of Nao, a Japanese teenager.  Ruth soon becomes immersed in Nao's tale and is driven to discover her fate.  The expansive storytelling flows magically between time and place.  Nao writes of her tormented life, her salvation with her great-grandmother, a Zen Buddhist nun and what she learns of her great-uncle, a Kamikaze pilot in WWII.  A TALE is a philosophical search for understanding of  "the silly metaphysical business of life-identity, society, individualism, totalitarianism, human will."  The mystical  beauty of this book is boundless.  Nao as a little girl feared nightmares.  Her father told her "Remind yourself it's just a dream. And then wake-up. - But what if I can't get back in time?  Then I'll come and get you."