Asleepthird novella from Asleep
by Banana Yoshimoto
Published: 1989
Translated: 2001
Hardback: 192 pages
Genre: Ghosts
Description from book:
Banana Yoshimoto has a nuanced and 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 who has embarked on a relationship with a man whose wife is in a coma, finds herself suddenly unable to stay awake.
My thoughts:
In-a-word: companionship
Main character, Terako, has trouble dealing with grief from the death of a friend and with her situation with her boyfriend. She spends the day away sleeping. She sleeps so much that she reaches the edge between life and death. In a state of limbo, Terako meets a spirit. After the encounter, Terako starts to make a life for herself in the land of the living again.
I liked how this one ended with fireworks bursting in a dark sky. Full of hope.
*part of my Japanese Lit3 challenge
