Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Breasts and Eggs

Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami

16 reviews

nabila99's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

a beautifully written, insightful, melancholy exploration of patriarchy, womanhood, motherhood, loneliness, and career stagnation. much of this book was just long conversations that the main characters have with other people and themselves, and they feel so real. their problems are ours, our mothers' and sisters', our friends' and acquaintances'. even though there is no "plot" to speak of, i flew through the chapters and was excited to be in natsuko's head again every time i put it down.

virtually the only issue i have with this book, and the reason i took off half a star, is that although i really enjoyed the second half and all of natsuko's musings about asexuality, single motherhood and her future, i did feel the absence of makiko and midoriko. it would have been nice to see their development also, where they were in their journeys.

nevertheless, kawakami's writing and characterisation are stunning, and i can't wait to read more of her work

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amyp3's review

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dark emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

New fave??

Content Warnings

bookshelfofbee's review

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

⚠️content warnings: talk of cancer, body dysphoria, child sexual abuse, death of a parent, infertility, misgendering, transphobia, suicidal ideation. a lot of these are very minor but still present so pls make sure you’re comfortable with reading on these topics before reading!

first off, I FRIGGIN LOVED THIS BOOK. so so important and so relevant and so relatable!!!! I have soooo many tabs in this book of bits I loved and thought were so important (there’s a section where they discuss the irrelevance of men in a women’s household and my god am i LIVING for it lmao). it brings up so many important topics that we face in society and it really puts things into perspective on the variability of childbirth, motherhood and single parenting. i really have so much love for this book, it’s unreal.

i had *one* problem with it which brings it down a star and that was a weird passage in the first half of the book. we see Natsume and her sister Makiko in a bath house and there seems to be a male and female sat near them and Natsume goes on a tangent on how men cannot be in the women’s bathing section. BUT it turns out that the ‘male’ in question is in fact a trans woman and Natsume can’t seem to wrap her head around that and it seems quite transphobic to me. I’m not sure if this was miscommunication thing because obviously this book has been translated from Japanese to English but either way, I think it’s important to be aware of this misgendering section in the book.

Overall I really really enjoyed this book and really recommend it to anyone who asks for a book rec!! i have no clue what genre to put this in as it’s not really a romance and i don’t even know if i’d say it was a coming-of-age book, maybe feminist lit?? either way, you should read this asap <3

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