Breasts and Eggs

hardcover, 448 pages

Published April 7, 2020 by Europa Editions.

ISBN:
9781609455873

View on OpenLibrary

4 stars (9 reviews)

7 editions

Boiling women down to the parts

4 stars

Content warning Gender essentialism? A bit of possible transphobia

reviewed Breasts and Eggs by David Boyd

Kawakami stan.

5 stars

What a beautiful book. I was scared by the reviews calling it a "feminist novel" but it was not what I was expecting. Whenever I read someone describing something as "feminist", I brace myself for something superficial, something that can only be envisioned in the realm of white feminism. This was not it. Granted, I have just recently started reading modern literature and this was my first real taste of Japanese literature, but this book felt like nothing I have ever read before. I have never read a book about women so profound and raw. I am enamoured with Mieko Kawakami writing and persona. I am already planning a reread (what have I become?).

Review of 'Breasts and Eggs' on 'Goodreads'

No rating

I couldn't finish. I got about halfway through, and the story was just too meandering and plotless, I just couldn't imagine it holding my attention for another 200+ pages. This is really two separate books -- a novella (the first half) and then a longer novel (the second half), resulting in a too-long 448 pages. The first-half novella was excellent, a well-written family drama giving a view of what life is like for poor women in Japan, one of whom is a single mother, and I liked the fact that all of the characters were women. But the second half just drags on.

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4 stars
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5 stars
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3 stars