K lives in Tokyo with his wife and three children. Eeyore, his eldest, was born with two brains and surgery, while successful, has left him mentally handicapped. Now in his late teens, Eeyore's behaviour has become increasingly disturbed. K, meanwhile, is a private, thoughtful man who retreats from the demands of family life into literature, usually the poetry of William Blake.
It is only when K's wife confronts him with the facts - Eeyore's aggression is frightening everyone, and he has brandished a knife at his mother - that K is forced to confront reality. In his struggle to understand his family and his place within it, K makes startling discoveries about himself and his personal obligations.
Disarming, delicate and bittersweet, 'Rouse Up' is a profound novel that is haunted by Oe's common themes: the responsibility that comes with the commitments we make and the tensions between being a writer and being a parent.
