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Bedtime Eyes

Amy Yamada,

Yumi Gunji (Translator),

Marc Jardine (Translator)

2.78 · Rating details · 430 ratings · 62 reviews

Amy Yamada is one of the most prominent--and controversial--novelists in Japan today. She burst onto the scene in 1985 with her short novel "Bedtime Eyes," which for critics embodied the spirit of the 'shinjinru'--i.e. Generation X-- in much the same way that Less Than Zero, Bright Lights, Big City, and Douglas Coupland did in the U.S. Bedtime Eyes is the first English-la ...more

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Hardcover, 224 pages

Published May 2nd 2006 by St. Martin's Press (first published November 1985)

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Average rating 2.78 ·

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· 430 ratings · 62 reviews

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Aug 31, 2011 Mike rated it did not like it

Shelves: z-read-in-2011, fiction-drama-poetry, japan-japanese, african-americans

This might be the worst book I ever read in my life.

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Mar 09, 2012 David rated it it was ok

Shelves: big-red-circle

Amy's not winning many friends by page 5: "His dick wasn't the kind of disgusting, red cock that white men have, nor was it the pathetic, infantile thing of Japanese men, the kind that doesn't do a thing for you until it's inside you."

Is true that a Japanese guy's pubic hair is more like seaweed than a white guy's?

The third story was a bit pointless. The first two were okay if you want to read about a Japanese woman having rough sex with Black guys.

African-American characters in Japanese litera ...more

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Dec 12, 2013 GD rated it did not like it

Shelves: 2013

This was actually 3 novellas, and the last one was actually pretty good, except for its last page or so. But it was nowhere near good enough to save this book from the gutter, because the first 2 are some of the worst things I've ever read.

I guess I'm a little biased, but I just can't stand most feminist porn, because, I don't know, I guess I'm just simple, but can anyone tell me why self-identified feminists always write such blatantly abusive, masochistic sex scenes? I actually can't think of This was actually 3 novellas, and the last one was actually pretty good, except for its last page or so. But it was nowhere near good enough to save this book from the gutter, because the first 2 are some of the worst things I've ever read.

I guess I'm a little biased, but I just can't stand most feminist porn, because, I don't know, I guess I'm just simple, but can anyone tell me why self-identified feminists always write such blatantly abusive, masochistic sex scenes? I actually can't think of a single sex scene written by a feminist writer that wasn't violent, and the women in these scenes LOVE it, like, somehow it's a show of a strong woman to enjoy getting the shit kicked out of you. Here's a funny part:

"'Fuck me, you bastard!' I screamed.
'You dirty bitch...' Leroy's fingers stopped moving.
He gave me a look of utter contempt. I was crying now, desperate for his touch.
'So you want me to fuck you, do you?'
I looked up at Leroy, tears in my eyes, and nodded. He spit in my face.
'Why don't you just kill me?'
'No,' he said quietly. 'I can do better than that.'"

Here's another funny part:
"I moaned, and Leroy slapped me hard across my face. My lip split and blood poured out. He hated me now. But I knew he loved me, too. He continued thrusting, trying to humiliate and defeat me, and I let him do what he wanted. I'd pretended not to recognize his genius and now I was being punished. He could do as he pleased with me. He'd earned the right.
I could tell he was feeling the same way now that he had two years earlier when he had fucked me by the piano. As soon as people had begun to recognize his talent, he had started a new life as that pianist. I wondered what else I could possibly do for him. Perhaps the only thing I was capable of was crying to make him feel superior.
I nearly lost consciousness a number of times, and Leroy was obviously very satisfied with his work. When he had finished I couldn't speak. My hair was plastered to my forehead with sweat and he brushed it away with his fingers so he could look into my eyes.
'Now I'm going to be living for the touch of your hands,' I confessed."

This is pretty typical of the garbage that makes up the first two thirds of this book. The last story was about the trouble a new girlfriend has with her boyfriend's 11 year old boy, a tragic kid totally a child of parents who hate each other, and it was actually pretty interesting.

I get the feeling Amy Yamada really wants to be American, she's totally obsessed with black Americans and black American culture, music, food, and in the last story, I didn't even know where it was supposed to be set. The main woman is Japanese, and the ex-wife of her boyfriend is Japanese, but everyone else in the story, the women and men both, have English names, and the kid asks for 5 dollars to buy a cheeseburger. What the shit?

Anyway, no no no. ...more

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Oct 24, 2018 Rox An rated it really liked it

Shelves: literary-fiction, hogwarts-house-cup-challenge

Bedtime Eyes is a collection of three novellas centering on dysfunctional relationship between a Japanese woman and a Black American.

In Bedtime Eyes, erotic dancer and occasional prostitute, Kim falls in love with a black American navy deserter, Spoon, who constantly abuses her. Their love affair is as real as it is cocaine fueled.

Now famous jazz musician Leroy returns to Japan to give Ruiko a test of her own medicine in the sadomasochistic story of The Piano Player’s Fingers. Ruiko was the domi ...more

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Jun 07, 2019 Catalina rated it it was ok

2.5*

For the better half of this collection of novellas the only word that I could associate with it was mediocre. Too much sex talk and definitely overmuch abuse, both physical and emotional coming from both sexes. But I wouldn't put this at the same level with modern western erotica/romance. It is without a doubt better than that. There's something compelling about Yamada's writing, despite all that carnal imagery, that becomes more apparent with the end of the second novella: The Piano Player ...more

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Dec 28, 2014 Philippe Malzieu added it · review of another edition

Are Japanese people racist ? This book received a prize. He had a great success. About what is it? An history of love between a Japanese woman and an American black. For Japanese it is the top of the transgression. A friend spoke to me about their contempt for the inhabitants of Okinawa who have dark skin. Spoon, the black character has all the stereotypes: robber, deserter, traitor and of course equipped with a large penis. For the rest it is level of the Harlequin collection. Bad novel.

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Feb 08, 2010 Veronika KaoruSaionji rated it it was amazing

There are 3Eimi Yamada´s short novel from 1985-1986 in this book. The first, Bedtime eyes, is about heroine´s love for black American soldier nicknamed Spoon, who is sometimes very tender and sometimes very violent toward her. He is very sexy for her and she loves his body, but she learn very slowly to love him (his soul and mind, his behaviour). She manages this at last, but he is deserter from his army base and he is taken into prison for desertion. She is devasted and she swears she will be l There are 3Eimi Yamada´s short novel from 1985-1986 in this book. The first, Bedtime eyes, is about heroine´s love for black American soldier nicknamed Spoon, who is sometimes very tender and sometimes very violent toward her. He is very sexy for her and she loves his body, but she learn very slowly to love him (his soul and mind, his behaviour). She manages this at last, but he is deserter from his army base and he is taken into prison for desertion. She is devasted and she swears she will be love him forever. (This remind me on ending of Snakes and earrings by Hitomi Kanehara.) The third, Jesse, is about the similar thing, but her black lover is only tender and very good man, but he had 11-years-old son Jesse, who hates her and tortures her. But they learn to live together at last.
Eimi Yamada really lived with black American soldier (but no deserter :o)) who has 11-years-old son. :o)
Most interesting for me is the second story, The piano player´s fingers. Heroine is beautiful and capricious Japanese "queen" who is loved by many American soldiers which slave to her. One of them, who loved her very much, was Leroy, nice young man who played piano for his (and her) amusement. She broke up with him cruelly and he was totaly devasted. He returns into Japan after 2 years as famous pianist who is loved by many women. She falls in mad love with him, but he seeks only revenge on her, cruelly toys with her and tortures her. Their sex has strong SM taste. She doesn´like pain but she loves Leroy and she tries endures it all in hope for his future forgiveness. She lives still with her another boyfriend, tender D. C., who loves her very much. He doesn´t know about Leroy, but he is suspicious that she cheats on him. But he loves her still. And she beginns to like D. C. very much - but she doesn´t love him, this is more pity than love. But she is tender toward him, at first at her life. And she confess her love for Leroy, which is her first love confession for anyone at her life, too. But he wants to leave her and to return to U. S. A. She beggs him to kill her in this case, but he tells her that she will be more suffer as abandoned by him than if she would be dead. She hits him after that and she accidentaly kills him. She returns to D. C. and tries to love him but in her soul she feels herself without Leroy as she would be dead...
It reminds me very much on Snakes and earrings by Hitomi Kanehara, but it is more understable version for me. Heroine is not masochist and Leroy is not sadist by nature, this all is only painful game about revenge of weak dumped lover who managed to become strong and avenge his pain. If he could forgive her, there would be happyend, but he couldn´t do it and he died because it. All in this story is logical and whole plot is very good. I hate Snakes and earrings by Hitomi Kanehara, but I love The piano player´s fingers by Eimi Yamada. :o) ...more

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Mar 23, 2015 Mohammad Awny Hamouda El-Mesallamy rated it it was ok

Shelves: روايات, read-related-to-japan, library-borrowing, read-in-english

as for the 2 first novels pure pornography with a hint of a story, you can used instead of a porno movie if you like .... the last one is a good short novel
she writes well but wouldn't recommend it for girls - now all the girls will want to look for it & read it ..... who is the genius who made the legend of Pandora box -
...more

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May 30, 2011 Gary rated it liked it

Shelves: japanese

I didn't expect it to be quite this dirty! But there is far more to this book than violent sex - especially with the last story of the collection. ...more

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Jan 27, 2013 Vanessa Santos rated it liked it

Shelves: japanese-literature, translated

Things were different now. But he would still keep playing the piano. That's all he ever did. Even when there was no piano in front of him. ...more

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Aug 26, 2017 Zoya rated it liked it

Shelves: japanese, 2017

The book consists of three stories. The first two vividly describe a sexual relationship of a Japanese woman and an African-American man. The women are usually sexy, beautiful and cold and always have men crawling at their feet. They fool around and eventually fall in love with these rather initially weak men, and then this crazy drama unfolds. The third story was quite good though. Talked about an emotional state of a child who has been brought up in a dysfunctional home. The last couple of pag ...more

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Nov 08, 2018 Van Pham rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Personally, it is a recommendation by my bro.
It is a mutually-known fact between us that I have no idea of romantic sexist relations. The recommendation is hopefully relevant to my mental disorder. Specifially, I am expected to discover the hidden corners of a true relation once finishing this book.
Eventually, the impression is merely feeling which has never experienced later: Sex is not just as what ordinaries think. Detailedly, it is essential to mention stoicism as well. Kim has unescapably ...more

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Jul 17, 2017 Istvan Zoltan rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: 20th-century, japanese-literature, novel, 19th-century, fiction, romantic, love

I've read the German translation of the book, and the language was clear, flowing, and very direct. For a Japanese book it ws extremeley open about sex, bodily processes, and issues of race and crime.
Certain passages are grippping and take the reader on an emotional roller-coaster. The erotic scenes are exciting and explore both the bodily and emotional sides of the short but intense relationship of an unfortunate couple. ...more

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Nov 04, 2019 Sumaiya rated it did not like it

Shelves: guilty-pleasure

It is a weird book. Yes it’s an explicit book. And it’s a dirty book. Dirty, not in the sexual sense but the words she uses to describe things paints a gross picture in your head and you will feel disgusted. Unexpected things happen just to deliberately shock the reader. Another waste of time.

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Mar 27, 2020 Mai Dam rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2020

not an easy piece. it reminds me of Hemingway’s writing style as not all are displayed in words. maybe the author wants to portrait the harsh reality of that war age? just tell the story, no comments

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May 07, 2009 Eric rated it it was ok

Recommends it for: Women friends who talk about sex

Can't rate a book like this on a one-dimensional scale. I haven't finished it, may not. Finished the title story and one other (there's a third I'm not going to read.) The writing is so-so. Sex, abusive sex, and . . . sex.

Reviews made a great deal of the fact that the protagonist’s love interest is black. Blurbs I’ve read here and there about the author, Eimi Yamada, make it seem that “interracial” themes are big with her. Her black characters are soldiers and sailors in an unnamed port in Japa ...more

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Feb 13, 2012 Rich Gamble rated it liked it

Shelves: translations, japanese

Three Novellas from the 80's. The first title story is one star material. Cringeworthy lines and bad sex between underdeveloped characters reminds me of China's annoying 'literary' sluzzaShanghai Baby. Second story 'Piano Players FIngers' covers nearly exactly the same subject matter - a violent sexual relationship between a japanese chick and her black partner but was written a lot better..almost like Bedtime Eyes was just its early draft. Final story Jessie thankfully mixes it up themes wise a ...more

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Sep 29, 2016 Duc Nguyen rated it it was ok

"Bedtime Eyes" is actual 3 novellas of relationship between Japanese women and black American men.
The first one is a pure pornography with little story line. The word is compact, the description is detailed, the theme is dark. But it hardly raises any emotion.
The second one is better but not nearly enough to get into my favorite. Still with lots of violent sex, the story is more flirtatious but the characters are shallow. All I can have is some gloomy feeling and a bitter ending.
The third one is ...more

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Dec 23, 2013 Andrew added it

Shelves: japanese-fiction

The writing is passable but unremarkable, and the stories themselves suffer from an excruciating sameness-- angsty Japanese woman hunts down black American men, has fucked up relationship, meanwhile fetishizing their music, food, vocal cadences, and genitalia. If an American wrote this, they'd be (rightly) accused of racism. While I recognize the equivalency can't really be made, it does reveal something problematic in Ms. Yamada's novellas.

Sometimes you think that she's trying to write porn. Bu ...more

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Feb 16, 2015 Dingleberry rated it it was ok

Shelves: february-2015

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Oct 22, 2015 kavarnistka rated it it was ok

Shelves: japanese

It's getting those two stars for the last story which was actually quite a good one. I liked the difficult relationship between Coco and Jesse and how it was developing throughout the story.
The other two stories are just something to shock japanese readers; oh my god, just imagine - a Japanese woman and a black man! And they're having sex! That's ground-breaking, no wonder it got some award.
Maybe interesting to Japanese readers, not so much for foreigners... ...more

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Sep 27, 2012 Tiziana rated it it was ok

Shelves: short-stories-novellas, books-about-asia, japanese, women-girls, borrowed, sex-sexuality, rape-abuse, erotica, setting-japan

Three novellas that are rather pointless and the sex scenes are nothing special either. It may be an interesting read for those who are curious about interracial relationships or women & sex in Japan, but I think there may be better books.

Complete review on my blog, Asia in Literature ...more

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Nov 16, 2011 Sofia aaa rated it it was amazing

«His shirt was stained red, but i couldn't decide if it was blood from when i had bitten his neck or lipstick from when i had kissed him».

This was the first book to make a serious impression in me, i haven't read anything like that ever since. ...more

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Jan 26, 2014 David rated it did not like it

Shelves: by-women, fiction, collections, crime, zzloc-japan, not-for-me, abandoned, trashy, interlibrary-loans, sexuality

I make a point of finishing all my interlibrary loans unless the book is utterly repulsive. The following sentence persuaded me to abandon Bedtime Eyes.
"I screwed my eyes shut and clenched my jaw so he wouldn't break any teeth - he had already knocked out two of them." ...more

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Jun 15, 2014 Leona rated it really liked it

I think this book is great. The writing style and the storyline is very interesting. I read this book in english and japanese.
People who haven't been involved in "certain scenes" of japan might find this book boring. ...more

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Mar 06, 2015 Miche rated it it was ok

I read this book out of book hangover after reading really mind-blowing books in the past few weeks. This is also the first erotica story I've read, I'm not a fan of it, just exploring. I enjoyed reading the sexual parts but other than that, I think it's cheaply written. That's just my two cents. ...more

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Oct 27, 2015 Shashank rated it really liked it

Shelves: literature, fiction, japanese-literature, japan, literature-primary, fiction-novels

Bedtime Eyes 2.5
The Piano Player's Fingers 4
Jesse 5 Very unique story: started out disturbing and ended up weirdly endearing. That's a hard narrative arc to make work.

I'm glad I didn't let the fist story stop me, the second two were MUCH better. ...more

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Sep 13, 2008 Miodrag Mitic rated it liked it

Shelves: japan-asia

Unexpected. Female erotica with a punch.

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Oct 02, 2012 Boysie Freeman (not my real name, it's just my Internet name) rated it did not like it

Only this book can make sex such a bore.

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Nov 09, 2012 Susmina gajurel rated it really liked it

I actually loved the story of Jesse..

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About Amy Yamada

Amy Yamada

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Amy Yamada (AKA 山田詠美, Yamada Eimi) born February 8, 1959, is a popular but controversial contemporary Japanese writer who is most famous for her stories that address issues of sexuality, racism, and interracial marriage, topics not typically discussed openly in Japanese society.

Born in Tokyo as Futaba Yamada, she lived in several places around Japan due to her father's job. This transient lifesty Amy Yamada (AKA 山田詠美, Yamada Eimi) born February 8, 1959, is a popular but controversial contemporary Japanese writer who is most famous for her stories that address issues of sexuality, racism, and interracial marriage, topics not typically discussed openly in Japanese society.

Born in Tokyo as Futaba Yamada, she lived in several places around Japan due to her father's job. This transient lifestyle forced her to confront issues of separation and bullying, issues that many of her protagonists also deal with.

According to her interview with the Japanese magazine Bungei, during middle school she was moved by African-American soul music and began to read any novels she could find written by black people, or featuring black people. She held a job in the Roppongi district of Tokyo, an area rich with foreigners.

After graduating from high school in 1977, she entered Meiji University's Literature Department, but dropped out before graduating. After a short stint writing and drawing manga, she began writing novels in 1980. Though her works garnered some attention, even receiving praise from Japanese literary critic Jun Eto (江藤淳 Eto Jun?), she only achieved widespread recognition in 1985, when Bedtime Eyes won the Bungei Prize. In writing Bedtime Eyes, Yamada drew upon her experiences with black people and black culture and combined them with the Japanese literary tradition.

In 1996, "Trash" was published in English translation by Kodansha International (translator: Sonya L. Johnson). In May 2006, three of Yamada's novellas (Bedtime Eyes 「ベッドタイム･アイズ」, The Piano Player's Fingers 「指の戯れ」 and Jesse 「ジェシーの背骨」) were published in English translation (translators: Yumi Gunji and Marc Jardine) as a single volume by St Martin's Press under the collective title Bedtime Eyes.

In Yamada's second collection of works, Jesse's Spine, Yamada depicts the experiences of a woman who is learning to adjust to life with her lover's child from another relationship. The writing style of this work has been compared to William Saroyan's novel, Papa You're Crazy. Through her depiction of the child's perspective on the world, her book was a critical success, earning her a nomination for the Akutagawa Prize for new authors. In her short novels Classroom for the Abandoned Dead, Afterschool Music, and I Can't Study, Yamada tackles the topics of childhood life, bullying, and school life. In an interview with Bungei Shunjū upon winning the Akutagawa Prize, Risa Wataya and Hitomi Kanehara named Yamada's Afterschool Music as one of their major influences, explaining that her works were one of the greatest depictions of modern Japan. ...more