Vibrator - Mari Akasaka

Late one night, Rei Hayakawa, a troubled young freelance journalist, is idling around the alcohol shelves of her local 24-hour convenience store when she catches sight of a man across the way.

Suddenly she finds herself embarking on a road journey across the wintry landscape of Japan aboard this stranger's longhaul truck. But can the physical relationship that develops between them offer Rei what she needs, and can she ever free herself from the dangerously self-destructive tendencies that afflict her?

Part-dirty realism, part-fairy tale, Vibrator is a disturbing and highly original novel about the strange situations that life can put you in. Exploring themes of liberation and entrapment, it drives unflinchingly at the lonely heart of the lost generation.