A werewolf’s bone-chilling transformation, a vampire’s immortal beauty and the fear generated by a terrifying monster are things that we can’t see but we fantasize about. We can’t visualize these creatures in our own world, so we turn to fantasy novels to satisfy our desires. They create an immersive experience that pulls us in and allows us to encounter a completely new and exciting narrative. Sifton Tracey Anipare beautifully achieves this immersion within her own exciting world in her new novel, Yume, using her re-imagination of Japan and the experiences of the main character to create a bright yet terrifying dream world filled with nightmares. The two worlds in this novel create a whirlwind of chaos and colour, blending vivid descriptions and well-defined characters to create an intricate realm that I wish I could visit.

Yume introduces us to Cybelle, a young Black woman from Canada who lives in Japan teaching English to young students. This story bounces between Cybelle’s experiences as a Black woman in Japan and the folklore of the yokai that roam around the city of Osaka. It focuses on the experiences of being an immigrant and the loneliness of figuring out where you belong, whether it’s within your work community or in a dream realm filled with monsters. Throughout this story, we follow Cybelle and Zaniel, a dream walker who works for a very strong yokai named Akki. This modern-day fantasy novel tells two stories that start off on different paths but slowly intertwine, leading up to Cybelle questioning who she is and where she belongs.

Cybelle doesn’t have it easy in Japan. When we meet her, we get to know about the pressures she endures from being ostracized, her shitty coworkers, and her mother begging her to come home to Canada. The icing on the cake? She’s still trying to figure out where she fits in.

While we familiarize ourselves with Cybelle’s life, the narrative changes to show the dream realm where the yokai live. We are also introduced to Zaniel, a young man who has worked for Akki since he was a child. Zaniel can walk through people’s dreams and through the realm of the yokai, while Akki is a strong boar God, often called the King of Nightmares. As we learn more about these characters, their lives start to change. Cybelle starts blacking out for days at a time, while Zaniel meets a new yokai who finds themselves on Akki’s bad side. As the dream realm turns into chaos to find this new yokai, Cybelle and Zaniel cross paths, shaking up everything that Cybelle knows, including her seemingly normal life.

Yume creates a distinct voice for all of its characters, illustrating them in a way that allows me to picture each character as I am reading their perspectives. The way these characters are written is well done, ensuring that they don’t outshine one another, but compliment each other instead. Each chapter shows a different perspective and the point of view even changes midway through, which makes for an interesting read. Anipare gives us insight into each character’s life through their eyes instead of through one person, allowing us to become familiar with each character and their personal struggles. Cybelle’s chapters show the mundane life of being a teacher, while also showing her clear struggle with racism. Anipare uses her own experiences as a new resident in Japan to create Cybelle’s character. Her representation of being an outsider truly made me relate to the struggle that Cybelle goes through, especially as an immigrant myself. As a child who had recently moved to Canada, I felt very alone, especially when it came to meeting new people who already had friends or who simply ignored me for being the “new kid.” Some of the challenges that Cybelle faces are things that I think every immigrant, outsider, or new kid can relate to. It pulled me deeper into this story, seeing parts of my young self in Cybelle as she deals with her loneliness. Cybelle’s chapters, while being very exciting and mysterious, bring up the important topic of fitting in and how we all react and relate to the feeling of being an outsider, whether this feeling is caused by a new situation or the people around you.

 Zaniel’s chapters show the colourful world of the yokai while also doing a great job at describing his nerves, making me feel just as scared as he is when he’s walking through their realm. Akki’s perspective was the most intriguing to me as it shows a very strong demon who behaves immaturely, using Zaniel to lure in women for him to sleep around with, eventually devouring them once he’s done with them. His chapters were very fun to read through, giving a deeper insight into the yokai themselves and how they behave.

Learning about the yokai was something that I loved about this book as it introduced me to Japanese folklore. The incorporation of Japanese mythology made me feel as though I was learning while finding out more about these characters. It’s more than just a made-up story; it brings in history and I really appreciate the opportunity to learn more about the myths and legends that originated in Japan. While I didn’t know anything about Japanese folklore before reading this novel, I was efficiently introduced to it through descriptions of the yokai and how they act. Anipare skillfully shows her ability in grounding her story within Japanese culture and I enjoy the level of knowledge that’s embedded in this story. It gave me the opportunity to learn more about Japan and its history without shoving it down my throat.

While the use of yokai and Japanese culture is very intriguing, one aspect that pulled me away from the story was the inclusion of Japanese phrases and conversations. I don’t understand Japanese so whenever it comes up, I completely miss the context, and it disrupts the immersive qualities of the story. At first, Google Translate was open on my phone and I translated the small phrases but when it became evident that it would continue throughout the novel, I found myself skipping it completely. Even if the Japanese phrases added to the story, I still felt lost. Maybe the inclusion of the language was to generate the same feeling of isolation that Cybelle felt as an outsider, but it didn’t have that effect. Instead of understanding the character in a better light, I found myself frustrated that I couldn’t get the full effect of this novel without using Google Translate.

In her novel, interestingly named “dream” in Japanese, Sifton Tracey Anipare created a dream world filled with nightmares that opens up the discussion of Japanese culture and mythology while also diving into the truth of what it means to feel like a stranger, like you don’t belong, no matter how hard you try. Through Cybelle’s experiences, both in the human world and in the dream world, we see her struggle with racism and ostracism. While she is trying to make sense of her life in Japan, she is also discovering who she is. The parallels between these two worlds work together to discuss the loneliness and solitude that comes with being an outsider.

Ostracism continues to be addressed within and beyond literature. Yume brings a unique perspective to this discussion, drawing attention to the issue of exclusion. Cybelle moved to Japan to start a new life and to experience new things, but she finds herself in a beautiful city that treats her in a monstrous way. Anipare uses her fantastical world to dive deeper into the struggles of fitting in, truly revealing a dream world that can be made of nightmares. A world that, on the outside, seems inviting and safe but ends up being the complete opposite of what you expect. A situation that many people, including myself, are familiar with.