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 herself suddenly unable to stay awake. A third finds her sleep haunted by a woman against whom she was once pitted in a love triangle. Sly and mystical as a ghost story, with a touch of Kafkaesque surrealism, Asleep is an enchanting new book from one of the best writers in contemporary international fiction.
"Asleep examines the numbness and fatigue that often come with pain and transition. It is to Yoshimoto's credit, in this artful translation by Michael Emmerich, that she is able to articulate those physical and emotional states that are more often than not aligned with silence."--The New York Times Book Review
"Ms. Yoshimoto's writing is lucid, earnest and disarming, as emotionally observant as Jane Smiley's, as fluently readable as Anne Tyler's."--The New York Times
"Banana Yoshimoto is a master storyteller.... The sensuality is subtle, masked, and extraordinarily powerful. The language is deceptively simple."--Chicago Tribune
"Earnest, deep, and unaffected.... A sure and lyrical writer.... Yoshimoto transforms the trite into the essential. This is her odd and charming art."--The New Yorker
"A master storyteller with a lot of heart."--Harper's Bazaar
"Yoshimoto hits some of the same notes that a previous generation's literary masters (say, Kawabata or Tanizaki) might sound, and yet the effect seems artless, spontaneous and wonderfully fresh."--Los Angeles Times Book Review
Banana Yoshimoto was born in 1964 and lives in Tokyo. She is the author of Kitchen, N.P., Lizard, and Amrita. Her writing has won numerous prizes around the world.
Michael Emmerich is also the translator of First Snow on Fuji by Kawabata Yasunari. He currently lives in Kyoto, Japan.
