Breasts and Eggs

kab reviewed Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami

3 stars

I appreciate that female friendships and fulfilment without a romantic relationship are themes in the author's work. Writing about poverty and classism from the opening chapter also boded well, but in the end I was disconnected from every one of the characters' thought processes and motivations. Disengaging scenes included the later-unreflected-upon policing of gender when the protagonist is trying to work up the nerve to tell someone off for being in the women's section of a bathhouse, and when the protagonist speaks during the Q&A after a donor conception meeting and her argument degenerates and she lands on talking about parents murdering their own children. More than one character rants about inflicting life on people who never asked to be born and it teeters near ableist ideas of what lives are worth living. Natsuko concludes that Yuriko and Sengawa were right, and instead of standing up for herself, her decision …

I appreciate that female friendships and fulfilment without a romantic relationship are themes in the author's work. Writing about poverty and classism from the opening chapter also boded well, but in the end I was disconnected from every one of the characters' thought processes and motivations. Disengaging scenes included the later-unreflected-upon policing of gender when the protagonist is trying to work up the nerve to tell someone off for being in the women's section of a bathhouse, and when the protagonist speaks during the Q&A after a donor conception meeting and her argument degenerates and she lands on talking about parents murdering their own children. More than one character rants about inflicting life on people who never asked to be born and it teeters near ableist ideas of what lives are worth living. Natsuko concludes that Yuriko and Sengawa were right, and instead of standing up for herself, her decision is more about stubbornness and the readiness to fail. On top of already being at a remove from the story, there were prominent translation errors throughout that kept taking me out of it.

c_hopped reviewed Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami

chewy

4 stars

Content warning Spoilers & CW birth, ableism

I devoured this book. lots to think about. like others have said, the pacing is pretty wild--part I races and part II drags. despite the dragging, something about the sparse, direct prose style kept me totally hooked in both parts. I loved the prose.

the content/themes/message are very chewy. I thought it was very honest, reading as a woman who is also so confused about having kids, and a woman who has a body. I really saw myself in the protag's anxious weighing of the pros and cons.

I do have some issues with the end. I feel like at every turn, the protag got good reasons not to have kids. she asked the universe a lot and the universe mostly said do not do it. and then she decided at the end to do it. which is brave! but the pacing was SO rushed at the end. We didn't get a compelling reason why she decides to have the baby--she basically says, yes I could hurt my child by creating them but i'll take that chance. which to me is not satisfactory. and then we SPRINT through the pregnancy and birth. We're left with the message that women should get pregnant because it's a miracle and that outweighs EVERY other consideration. Just do it! Just have baby! It's your destiny! It felt so discordant with the (very long) rest of the book.

This really sticks in my craw. I saw a disabled mom creator post something recently to the effect of--when she was considering getting pregnant, everyone told her to do it, believe in miracles, women are beautiful, babies are revelations, etc etc. and then once she had the baby, she got floods of awful comments telling her she was endangering her child by being disabled, that she should give her child away, that she's delusional for thinking she should be a mom. I feel like the cultural messages I get as a (disabled) American woman are really similar: pregnancy and birth=warrior goddess queen, and once it comes to parenting a child you're on your fucking own. I'm getting the sense that Kawakami is writing from a very different cultural context, so maybe it would hit different if I was an (able-bodied) single woman in Japan, but the end of this book really reinforced that message for me, and I found that unsatisfying.

All of that being said: I loved reading this book, I think Kawakami's writing is fantastic, and I'll be thinking about this for a long time.

swannodette reviewed Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami

10 out of 5 stars

5 stars

Easily one of the best books I have ever read. No previous description, or review could have prepared me for it. A lot of folks go on and on about the meta / societal aspects of the text. They are there, but they are not the point, and that certainly isn't what floored me. Come without preconceptions, let yourself bask in the language, the stories within stories.

Alba Lafarga reviewed Breasts and Eggs by David Boyd

Review of 'Breasts and Eggs' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Bueno, que no soc imparcial nene, visca la Kawakami i les novel·les de 400 pàgines sobre dones i els seus putus issues

Tsundoku reviewed Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami

Boiling women down to the parts

4 stars

Content warning Gender essentialism? A bit of possible transphobia

Okay, let's start with the basics. In Japan, there are TWO versions of Breasts and Eggs: the first, published in 2008, under the title 乳と卵 / Chichi to Ran (Breasts and Eggs). Then, in 2019, the redone version 夏物語 / Natsu Monogatari ("Summer Tales") is published. This book is the Natsu Monogatari version. I have conflicting information as to whether the original Breasts and Eggs novel was published at all in English.

I do not know much Japanese, I especially do not know the Osaka dialect, so I cannot comment on the accuracy of the translation. I can see why Kirkus felt it was a bit flat though.

Basically- the book is about a family. Natsuko Natsume - the Protagonist, her older sister Makiko, and Makiko's daughter Midoriko. The first part is about how Makiko (who works at a hostess club) wants to get breast augmentation surgery, and the fact her daughter, Midoriko hasn't spoken to her in months. But it's interspersed with diary entries about Midoriko going through menarche.

The second part takes place many years later. Midoriko is now an adult, and yes, talking to her mother again. Natsuko wants to become a mother but does not want to have sex (I think she's sex-repulsed, in addition to being asexual) so she's looking into sperm donation.

Natsuko is a writer, and is basically researching sperm donation instead of researching her next novel.

To talk about the content warnings for a bit:

There's a scene in a bathhouse where someone on the woman's side who isn't sufficiently feminine enough for Natsuko is bathing (I got the impression this bather was probably a butch lesbian) and she is pissed off about it for several pages. I Think you're supposed to be "What the fuck Natsuko" instead of "Hmmm yes this woman who isn't womanly enough should get the hell out of the bath"

Now the gender essentialism. As the title might have clued you in on, the book is about both Breasts and Eggs. But there's some interesting stuff: Basically Natsuko doesn't feel in touch with her gender (I think this is partially due to the sex-repulsion) and you could totally read her as non-binary / trans. Basically, There's a lot of stuff about the power of a woman as mother (since Natsuko wants to be a single mother). There's a lot of stuff on Hetero-pessimism about how men suck that also isn't really challenged.

Now don't get me wrong: It talks about why men are like this, and while I am not looking for a "Hashtag NotAllMen" I also don't believe in throwing out all men, you know?

I suspect (given an interview I haven't read) that Kawakami wrote / rewrote this book in response to literary darlings like Haruki Murakami, whose women come across as flat in his books.

I think my problem with this is basically, as an AFAB non-binary person (who, admittedly, does not want children) I Don't Want to be reduced to breasts and eggs, even if it's possibly an improvement over being reduced to sex symbols.

I'd be interested in learning more about this book, but honestly, while I did not hate the book, I'd recommend starting with Ms. Ice Sandwich first.

ElectricMari 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?).

GG reviewed Breasts and Eggs by David Boyd

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.

Court reviewed Breasts and Eggs by David Boyd

Review of 'Breasts and Eggs' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

This brought up a lot of questions but I'm not sure it always answered them. As I mentioned before, several pages of transphobic nonsense in the beginning that had nothing to do with the plot. I'm not entirely sure what this book was trying to communicate unless it genuinely just wanted me to think on questions of the female condition on my own. Some beautiful writing and wonderful translation. Overall an enjoyable read.