The Role of the Reader

 

Something that struck me in the last third of Ruth Ozeki’s novel, A Tale for the Time Being, was the disappearance and reappearance of the end of Nao’s diary. This disappearance reflects Ruth’s mental state towards the end of this narrative and shows how a story can be deeply impacted by its reader. In the disappearance and reappearance of the last pages of Nao’s diary, Ruth is left to confront her fears that she could be losing her mind and comes to terms with the reality of not only her own story, but also of the uncertainty of Nao’s story and life as a whole.

When the final pages of Nao’s diary first disappear, Ruth is in a panic because she knows, or at least she thinks she knows, that those pages once existed. Eventually, her husband says to her, “If you’re so sure the words were there… then you have to go find them” (345). Ruth, in her dreams, goes on this great quest, talking to Nao’s father and leaving the diary of Haruki #1 in the box where his remains should be (346-354). It is a wild dream, but in it, Ruth is attempting to fill the pages, to find the words, and to finish the story. After this dream, the words appear again on the page. What was lost was found, and Ruth’s dream interactions with Haruki #1 and #2 seemingly impact the ending of Nao’s story.

Whether or not Ruth actually travelled back in time and convinced Nao’s father not to kill himself and left Haruki #1’s journal for Nao to find, is not necessarily relevant to these transformative moments within the novel. Though it would explain some missing pieces within Nao’s narrative, these passages reveal more about Ruth as a reader of Nao’s story and the impact that she has on its outcome. Muriel says to Ruth, “You haven’t caught up with yourself yet, the now of your story, and you can’t reach [Nao’s] ending until you do” (377). Muriel points out to Ruth that Ruth’s story, what she is going through and dealing with and unpacking, affects her ability to read and process Nao’s.

The disappearance, and its subsequent reappearance, of Nao’s story during Ruth’s reading reflect the power that the reader can have over a story. A reader brings their own narrative, their own now, into their reading. They cannot simply read objectively, because the reality of their own life impacts how they see and feel the story they are consuming. Ruth is reading Nao’s story, which has become her own story, and we as readers are reading Ruth’s and Nao’s stories, which have also become our own. Our lives shape our understanding of the narrative. They also shape our desires for how the narrative should end.

Ruth says to Nao, “I don’t really like uncertainty, I’d much rather know, but then again, not-knowing keeps all the possibilities open. It keeps all the worlds alive” (402). It allows the reader to shape the story, to let their own experiences guide them. The disappearance of Nao’s story allowed Ruth to rewrite it, to make it her own as well as Nao’s, because, a story does not only belong to the author. It belongs to every reader, at any time, in any world.