In the three novellas in "Asleep" (Grove, 177 pages, $21), Japanese author Banana Yoshimoto writes about exhaustion in a voice that is far more lucid than the torpor of her characters' lives. Fumi observes: "Late at...

...months that followed: the rescue efforts, cleanup and funerals. Other Fiction "Goodbye Tsugumi" (Grove) by Banana Yoshimoto is about two female cousins facing separation who spend one last summer together. "A Summer to Remember" (Delacorte...