I view it almost as a psychological case-study, looking at an individual who suffers from bullying and neglect. I also find the visions Nao seems to have – such as Haruki #1′s ghost – to perhaps be extensions of this? Viewing it from another angle, Haruki’s ghost could be an extension of her feelings for her father considering she goes to great lengths to compare the two Harukis. And if it’s a real ghost, than perhaps communication from the afterlife is a valid answer. Ruth’s own memoir also serves a form of communication, as I interpret it as a much more “official” form Nao’s diary, albeit unfinished. Ruth’s dreams of Jiko, like Haruki’s ghost, serve as an otherworldly form of communication – perhaps it’s Ruth’s subconscious communicating with her. Maybe it’s Nao’s spirit making connection with Ruth? I mean if Nao’s fate is left unanswered, than we could theorize that perhaps Nao did die and maybe this is her way to reaching out to Ruth? I have no idea, but I like to speculate on these kinds of things.

Nao is always thinking about the “happier” times – her life back in Sunnyvale, her old friends, her father’s happiness – and Ruth thinks about her life in New York as well as her mother before she died. Before long, Ruth begins to pour most of her time into this diary, and despite their difference of age, connects with Nao at a most personal level. At one point, Ruth refers to writing as the “opposite of suicide”, meaning that writing is “about immortality. Defeating death or at least forestalling it”. The theme of life and death are very much tied to time and age, and Nao’s diary preserves her 2001 teenage self as if she poured a bit of her soul into it (harry potter reference!), which lends to the idea that writing is a form of “time travel”.

Even ghosts seem to make their way into this story, like when Haruki #1 returns in spectral form to Nao. Haruki’s letters contain a certain air of death, like storm clouds shrouding the country side, due to the nature of his position during the war. These letters reveal a deep personal shame of Haruki, and the darkness of his inevitable death resting in his mind. The truth that Haruki #1 chose to die on his own terms instead of taking the lives of others only strengthens this theme. Through all of this, Ruth becomes obsessed with Nao’s life and is taken by the idea that she needs to “save Nao”, possibly from death or from herself. Ruth’s own life has become bored and unproductive as she has been sitting on an unfinished memoir for years and I think Nao’s diary gives Ruth a much needed kick start in terms of getting her inquisitive mind going again – meaning something to focus on.