Asleep (Paperback, Main)

The three stories in this collection from prize-winning author Yoshimoto share the theme of escape from the pain of waking life into sleep. They tell of sleep in many guises: blissful sleep, disturbed sleep, sleep that refreshes and enlightens, sleep that contacts the dead, sleep induced by alcohol, sleep in coma and in death. All three stories are told in the first person by young single women and the emotional naivety of their expression lends the tone of teenage rites of passage to their tales. They are not particularly sympathetic characters, often indolent, spoiled and self-obsessed. The differences in emotional development between young Japanese and their Western counterparts are evident. The voices, attitudes and opinions of these Japanese women in their late twenties are those we would expect of Western teenagers first escaping parental control. They are more shocked and impressed by their own worldliness than the reader is. The question of narrative voice also raises the difficulty of translating a Japanese text into English. Here, it feels as though a fairly literal approach has been adopted, which often leads to quite jarring effects where the tone and content are at odds. Whether a less rigid translation would sacrifice the essential point that this is writing from and about Japan is open to debate. This is a book of subtle charms, the stories are more atmospheric than plot driven and are deliberately inconclusive; their effects and the questions they raise develop slowly afterwards. So, to get the best from the three stories in Asleep, read it late at night and then sleep on it for a while. (Kirkus UK)

Banana Yoshimoto has a magical ability to animate the lives of her young characters, and here she spins the stories of three women, all bewitched into a spiritual sleep. One, mourning a lost lover, finds herself sleepwalking at night. Another, who has embarked on a relationship with a man whose wife is in a coma, finds herself suddenly unable to stay awake. A third finds her sleep haunted by another woman whom she was once pitted against in a love triangle. Sly and mystical as a ghost story, with a touch of Kafkaesque surrealism, Asleep is an enchanting book from one of the best writers in contemporary international fiction.

General

Imprint:	Faber and Faber
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Release date:	September 2001
Authors:	Banana Yoshimoto
Dimensions:	197 x 127 x 12mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback - B-format
Pages:	192
Edition:	Main
ISBN-13:	978-0-571-20537-0
Categories:	Books > Fiction > General & literary fiction > Modern fiction
LSN:	0-571-20537-2
Barcode:	9780571205370

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