Asleep is about the connection between the dead and the alive. One of Yoshimoto’s books set my expectations very high for this one. And let’s say that “it surpassed my expectations with delight. It explores one of the physical symptoms of grief – sleep overload– in an intricate way. Within the first pages I thought that the story was about characters making jumps between real and surreal during their bereavement, but the direction that the book takes is quite surprising.  The oddity in which the protagonists experience their pain is what makes Asleep brilliant.

It is written in the 1st person in the 3 stories. However,

• In the first story, the first person narrative is the deceased‘s sister.
• In the second story, the first person narrative is a woman who was made aware that a person she knew has died.
• In the third story, the first person narrative is the best and only friend of the deceased. She is losing touch with reality.

All the protagonists are on their journey for closure through their sleeping and floating mode. At some point, I got confused when the brief fantastic element came into play because I,  like the main characters, became aloof from the real world. The writing is why I admire Yoshimoto even though I am well aware that I can only read the translated versions of some of her books. Yoshimoto masters the art of language. She has a unique way to describe abstract, ephemeral experiences. Imagine describing the mist in the clearest way possible so people can see it and feel it. The background stories are so developed that when the circumstances in which some characters died are brought to light, you feel the shock and quickly try to look for the meaning of their death while there is none. They simply died in unfortunate events that no one had control over. Full stop. Asleep left me wondering about how Yoshimoto does her research. There are so many entangled elements (psychological, mystical, scientific, human) in her books.

Personal note: Some of you may know that I usually try not to read many books by the same author because I want to read as many authors as possible, but there is always an exception to the rule, right? – Especially when it is yours! I am tempted to read a 3rd book by Yoshimoto.

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