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4 Japanese novels that feel like a fever dream

Discover how dreamlike narratives blur the lines between reality and fiction, immersing readers in unique experiences.

Book covers of Earthlings, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World and Asleep superimposed on the cover of The Woman in the Dunes

Books don't just create new realities, sometimes they dissolve it.

Books do not just create new realities, sometimes they dissolve it. Converging reality, dreams, memories, and illusions in a world where all of these co-exist, here are a few surreal Japanese novels that feel like a floating through a fever dream:

The Woman in the Dunes

The Woman in The Dunes tells an absurd story about an entomologist trapped in a sandpit shovelling seemingly endless sand alongside a mysterious woman in the hope of not getting buried. (source: amazon.in)

Kobo Abe’s most renowned work, The Woman in The Dunes (Penguin UK, pages 256, Rs 499), tells an absurd story about an entomologist trapped in a sandpit alongside a mysterious woman shovelling seemingly endless sand in the hope of not getting buried. The setting with the shifting sand dunes and the repetitive act of shovelling sand add a dream-like surreality to the story. As the days blur together, the characters descent into an entrapment that is both physical and existential.

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami is a genre-defying narrative with a blend of science fiction, detective story, and postmodern surrealism. (source: amazon.in)

Composed of a dual narrative, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World (RHUK, pages 416, Rs 599) by Haruki Murakami is a genre-defying narrative with a blend of science fiction, detective story, and postmodern surrealism. The two narratives are entirely different in setting and tone, with one set in a semi-futuristic Tokyo following a data specialist entangled in a secret project, and the other set in a quiet town where reality feels dreamlike. The novel features a blend of the bizarre and mundane that is characteristic of Murakami’s works.

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Earthlings

Earthlings by Sayaka Murata can be considered an coming-of-age story reimagined through the lens of surreal horror. (source: amazon.in)

Earthlings (Granta Books, pages 256, Rs 1049) by Sayaka Murata can be considered an coming-of-age story reimagined through the lens of surreal horror. The novel follows the life of Natsuki, a girl who believes she is an alien, as she grows up and rejects conforming to societal standards. Plunging into psychological horror, the story gets increasingly disturbing and uncanny as it progresses, resulting in an eccentric and disconcerting tale.

Asleep

A collection of three novellas, Asleep contains stories featuring characters that gradually retreat from reality, both literally and symbolically, into their memories and dreams. (source: amazon.in)

A collection of three novellas, Asleep (Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press, pages 192, Rs 1443) contains stories featuring characters that gradually retreat from reality, both literally and symbolically, into their memories and dreams. The characters’ mental detachment from reality is mirrored in the novellas’ quiet and dreamlike tone. Asleep is less about its plot and more about the introspective and dissociative atmosphere created by the narrative.

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