Asleep

by Banana Yoshimoto

Book Overview

Demonstrating again the artful simplicity and depth of her vision, Banana Yoshimoto reestablishes her place as a writer of international stature in a book that may be her most delightful since Kitchen. In Asleep, Yoshimoto spins the stories of three young women bewitched into a spiritual sleep. One, mourning for 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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802138209
• ISBN13: 9780802138200
• Release Date: August 2001
• Publisher: Grove Press
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.43 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.0" x 7.3"

Customer Reviews

A Young Adult Novel in Disguise

This book is three novellas about young women who are, in one way or the other, unconscious. In the first, the narrator is mourning for her beloved brother, the second is told by at the end of a painful affair and the last is about a woman having an affair with a man whose wife is in a coma. The narrators are all somewhat detached from reality and emotions so it's not strange to hear that one meets her lost brother in a strange encounter or when another uses a medium to make contact with a romantic rival or when the third starts to become comatose herself. It helps to understand that sleep itself has a special meaning Night-time and Sleep in Asia and the West: Exploring the Dark Side of Life (Anthropology in Asia)in Japan, but in the end these little fictions-which were written by a 25 year-old are really more suitable in both style and substance for a younger reader. Lynn Hoffman, author of the completely adult bang BANG: A Novel

Somnambulism

Slumber, Drunkenness, Death and Love are the topics explored in Banana Yoshimoto's "Asleep." As with "Kitchen," there are three novellas linked thematically but not by characters or plot. Three women, all in love with someone emotionally of physically dead, all troubled sleepers, all drinkers, try to find rest and quietude that is not found in sleep. Each aspect is a metaphor for the unconscious, where perhaps the answers lie. For in this sleep of death, who know what dreams may come? Girlfriend in a coma, I know, I know it's really serious. Drink, don't think. Seeking answers, the women look to their friends, their family, magical dwarfs or anyone who can help."Asleep" is told in Yoshimoto style, like a story overheard with half-open eyes while drifting off to sleep. It is semi-magical and dreamy, but still in touch with the real world. The pacing, the narrative are all influenced by classical Japanese literature. Her writing is very gentle, very feminine. And poetic.An enjoyable, lazy book. Good for seekers of love and those who cannot sleep at night.

A Book to Read Over and Over!

I loved this book so much that I read it again, and then I loved it even more! The situations are so well described that you really get into them, and you can really identify with the characters. I find this with all Banana Yoshimoto's books, but I liked this one specially. It's so subtle, but the more you get into reading it the more you are rewarded with deep knowledge of the three women who are the main characters. And all the writing is so beautiful that I kept stopping just to read sentences over again. Read this book, because it will grab you and it won't let you go!

Has that distinct Banana flavour, yet unique from her other!

I've enjoyed all of Banana Yoshimoto's books, my favorite being the short story collection "Lizard." What I loved about this book of three novellas is that we have three entirely different tales with identical elements: sleep lending itself as a catalyst or barrier in the womens' lives; and each grieving over the untimely death of somebody who touched their lives. What struck me most -even above the theme of sleep- is the varying impact that those who passed away have had on the people they left behind. In "Night and Night's Travelers," the see the loss of Yoshihiro through his sister's eyes, yet the story shows how his short life had a rich impact on two other key characters. "Love Songs" takes an interesting twist when a young woman learns that a woman who was her nemesis (they battled over a selfish lover) has died, and works to make peace the departed. The third tale "Asleep," gives us a narcoleptic young woman who copes with a close friend's suicide, and simultaneously deals with the fact that her lover's wife lay dormant in a coma. To tell much more of the plot would be giving away enough the wreck the enjoyment of these stories. Ms. Yoshimoto uses the hint of apparitions to paint a moving portrait of three women who must cope with these losses too soon in their lives. I am a complete mark for Banana Yoshimoto's work, I praise the page she writes on! That said, I would still recommend this book to someone who is unfamiliar with her work.

The master storyteller is back!

Banana Yoshimoto's novels have touched me in so many ways. Her lucid, subtle and disarming writing style is a work of art. She is a tour de force in contemporary fiction. I have waited a long time for the release of Asleep, and I am not disappointed.The three novellas in Asleep are earnest, sensuous, eccentric, and extremely surreal. The three female characters in the book are bewitched into a spiritual and magical sleep. In Night and Night's Travelers, the first story, a woman finds herself sleepwalking at night. In Love Song, a woman's sleep is haunted by a rival whom she once competed with in a love triangle. And in Asleep, a woman loses her best friend to suicide. Also, she is having an affair with a man whose wife is in a coma. Things take a strange turn when she finds herself suddenly unable to stay awake. The stories are very ambiguous; you have to pay attention to every detail in order to grasp their meaning. The magical realism in the stories is as mystical as a ghost story and the language is deceptively simple -- it is meant to play with the reader's mind. I am awed by this incredible piece of fiction. The stories are very well done and interestingly nuance. This is her most creative work since Kitchen and her best collection of stories since Lizard. Powerful and spooky, Asleep will capture your heart. I strongly urge you to read this one!