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Review
'Yoshimoto's writing is lucid, earnest and disarming, as emotionally observant as Jane Smiley's, as fluently readable as Anne Tyler's.' New York Times
Product Description
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.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Against the background of the routine, everyday life of Japanese youth Yoshimoto's writing delves into the depths of consciousness from such a unique angle and from such a refreshing viewpoint that it made this collection of novellas strangely spellbinding.
Sleep is her main theme and runs throughout the three individual stories. The sense of loss and loneliness is prevalent, as is Yoshimoto's preoccupation with the night and by association the not quite so real world. Ghosts, psychics, sleepwalkers and suicide victims all feature in this book as part of dreams or chance encounters.
The narrative appears disjointed at first, time shifts about in no clear chronological order, it is only at the end when all the pieces fit into place. The main character in each story narrates a time in their life when they, or in the case of the first story, a cousin, started slipping away, started stepping out of normal life and just slept, all the time. This 'fading away' of the characters and the reasons for their deterioration is gradually unfolded as the traumatic, tragic event that changed the lives of these once typical young people is told. By weaving the threads of surreal ideas into the fabricate of a normal context Yoshimoto produces an extremely readable and interesting book.
Sleep is her main theme and runs throughout the three individual stories. The sense of loss and loneliness is prevalent, as is Yoshimoto's preoccupation with the night and by association the not quite so real world. Ghosts, psychics, sleepwalkers and suicide victims all feature in this book as part of dreams or chance encounters.
The narrative appears disjointed at first, time shifts about in no clear chronological order, it is only at the end when all the pieces fit into place. The main character in each story narrates a time in their life when they, or in the case of the first story, a cousin, started slipping away, started stepping out of normal life and just slept, all the time. This 'fading away' of the characters and the reasons for their deterioration is gradually unfolded as the traumatic, tragic event that changed the lives of these once typical young people is told. By weaving the threads of surreal ideas into the fabricate of a normal context Yoshimoto produces an extremely readable and interesting book.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is truly something out of the ordinary and nothing like what I have read before. This book takes you on a journey through our inner psyche, the place that is taken by our dreams and our subconscious. Yoshimoto explores a range of different, very abstract ideas about our inner worlds and what our dreams compromise of. There are various connected themes, and there are points in the book that are spellbinding, lonely, and utterly creative. If you are a Yoshimoto fan, this book will certainly please.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I came to this book with high hopes, but quickly came down to earth. The three novellas tell vaguely interesting tales,with female characters exhibiting various degrees of depression, alienation and sleep disorder symptoms - but to me, it quickly became rather dirge-like, insubstantial and unsatisfying. The air of pseudo-mysticism became irritating and the quality of the prose was not good enough to lift the book into any kind of relevance - you may have guessed - I wasn't keen on it! Not bad, but certainly not brilliant.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
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Published 11 months ago by XX
Tantalising as ever
I love Banana Yoshimoto. Her work is delicate, subtle and thought provoking. She talks about young people in modern Japan but in a way which links her firmly in the traditions of... Read more
Published on 15 Jun 2008 by Mrs. K. A. Wheatley
Good to reflect on
I first discovered Banana Yoshimoto when I received this book as a gift from a friend – and I have to say that friend has certainly gone up in my estimations! Read more
Published on 12 Mar 2003 by Miss Georgina E West
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