A Tale for the Time Being: A Novel (ALA Notable Books for Adults)

shut.

understand. My daughters were not writers. To a writer, this is so funny. To send a word, instead of a body! Haruki was a writer. He would have understood. If he had been there, he would have laughed, too,

Sensei was announcing that the U.S. had started bombing Afghanistan, and suddenly I felt myself starting to bleed.

In Japan, some words have kotodama,56 which are spirits that live inside a word and give it a special power.

She’d already changed so much since she died.

“Invasive species. Exotics. Black slugs, Scotch broom, Himalayan blackberries, and now Jungle Crows?”

“Tadaima . . . ,” I called. Have I mentioned tadaima? Tadaima means “just now,” and it’s what you say when you come in the door to your home. Just now. Here I am.