Asleep by Banana Yoshimoto

Fist published in Japan in 1989, this slim volume of three novellas shows off the writerly talents that made Banana Yoshimoto such a publishing sensation. Each story features a young woman afflicted by loss, either of a friend or a lover, but with the requisite emotional gumption to start over. As always there's a stillness at the heart of Yoshimoto's writing, and the gentle sizzle of something nourishing being stir-fried in the background.