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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
A thought provoking and powerful read exploring breasts, eggs, and sperm, alongside gender roles, sisterhood, parenthood, grief, love and life.
All you need is the will, the will of a woman.
I've seen some people say this book drags on for too long. I see that, but considering how slowly i've been reading all year, i actually appreciated how long i carried this book around for, and it has a point to that drag.
I started in the summer, which was perfect for the first part. You can tell this was written independently, and then continued with the second half. I feel like they have very different vibes and fit together a bit oddly as a full book, but i liked both for their own reasons.
First part has its own magic, summer days, a sort of loneliness, a 12 year old's diary entries of her musings on femininity and the female body, and how awful, almost, it is to be born with everything you need to procreate already inside you, like you're programmed and crafted with the intent of further birth; her mother's fixation for breast enlargement surgery, and her sad life as a hostess, and the heartbreaking story of her young teenage coworkers and the violence they endured, and ferris wheel cabins, broken eggs and bath houses and the pain and the truly life-shortening hard work and suffering of the protagonist's mother and grandmother. So many facets of the pains of being a woman, one at a financial disadvantage as well. And how entirely man-free their lives appear.
The second part does feel very different. I was reading a chapter listening to christmas music, and next chapter it was already spring. Years just go by in older Natsuko's life. Days and months and seasons pass, it drags on and on, and not much happens. She goes out now and then, meets all the same people, makes new friends and they each bring something new into her life. A new perspective. She wants to have a child, but isn't taking any decision. Time passes. The book drags. She's also not making any progress on her book, either. The speed of the time passing feels almost opressive, knowing Natsuko's age and how relevant that is to her ultimate decision on having a child or not. The dragging helps drive the point home. Her life is sort of lonesome, not marked by anything big, and full of dialogues with this or that person. It's the mundane of a woman close to 40, single and with a dream she can't decide to act upon. And overall, i enjoyed the experience. i spent this much time, this many pages with a woman who felt much like me, who wanted a child, but not a partner, one who wrote a distressed poem to her unborn child about wanting to meet them. Natsuko felt a bit too in my head. I wanted her to go through with it and try for a child, got riled up by Rika's speech along with her, got mad at Sengawa's opinion along with her. Was also on Yuriko's side entirely. The implicit imorality of voluntarily bringing a new life into this world of suffering, without any way for them to give their permission; it feels almost impossible to argue against. I've felt it my whole life; how often i wish i weren't forced into this life. Why would i want to bring someone into this? If i know this, then why do i feel differently? The subject was simply too personal for me to not be swept right into it. In the end, Natsuko's final decision feels maybe less satisfying than i thought it would. Something feels empty. It's almost difficult to remember this is just a fictional case.
Every female character had such a story, one that was treated with such care and respect and given so much meaning, which i find one of the biggest strengths of this book. Natsuko's experience with asexuality and wanting a child. Midoriko was washed out a bit as a young adult in the second part, but her 12 year old perspective on the female experience is so valuable. Makiko's work as a hostess, her fixation with getting breast implants. The stories she tells about the 14 year olds at her place of work were truly one of the moments in this book that will stay with me forever. Yuriko's childhood abuse and trauma, Sengawa's life without children, Rika's single mother experience. Rie's story is another extremely moving one. Her tales of her mother's almost sclave status and her seeming acceptance of it, and her veneration of her horrible, abusive husband over her own daughters. And then, Rie finds herself with a husband she's willing to give up her job, home, her entire life over, just to support him through his depression. It's all the more shocking when she tells of how he ignored her own pain after the birth of their child, and told her as a mother she's supposed to simply get over it and act as she should. Then Natsuko's mother and grandmother, all their work and pain and effort. Such powerful stories that feel so universal.
And, beyond women not being reduced to their motherhood, very single one of these women's stories does circle back to that. Wants a child, but needs alternative solutions. Raising a child all alone. Having no children, not out of a conscious choice. Life just went that way. Finding it immoral to have children. It all feels like a meditation on what motherhood and the ability of having children really means. Phisically, because the female body is the one bringing the new life into the world. And mentally, culturally, socially. For a cis woman at least, it feels like because your body has this attribute of bringing a new life about, your life is never gonna be truly separate from the question of motherhood. Whether you make one choice or the other, or don't truly have a choice, or take no action and how and whether tha later affects you in any way. I thought it was such a fascinating look into all this. I'm not able of expressing it more aptly. I was just definitely one of the women this book was written for.
I've seen some people say this book drags on for too long. I see that, but considering how slowly i've been reading all year, i actually appreciated how long i carried this book around for, and it has a point to that drag.
I started in the summer, which was perfect for the first part. You can tell this was written independently, and then continued with the second half. I feel like they have very different vibes and fit together a bit oddly as a full book, but i liked both for their own reasons.
First part has its own magic, summer days, a sort of loneliness, a 12 year old's diary entries of her musings on femininity and the female body, and how awful, almost, it is to be born with everything you need to procreate already inside you, like you're programmed and crafted with the intent of further birth; her mother's fixation for breast enlargement surgery, and her sad life as a hostess, and the heartbreaking story of her young teenage coworkers and the violence they endured, and ferris wheel cabins, broken eggs and bath houses and the pain and the truly life-shortening hard work and suffering of the protagonist's mother and grandmother. So many facets of the pains of being a woman, one at a financial disadvantage as well. And how entirely man-free their lives appear.
The second part does feel very different. I was reading a chapter listening to christmas music, and next chapter it was already spring. Years just go by in older Natsuko's life. Days and months and seasons pass, it drags on and on, and not much happens. She goes out now and then, meets all the same people, makes new friends and they each bring something new into her life. A new perspective. She wants to have a child, but isn't taking any decision. Time passes. The book drags. She's also not making any progress on her book, either. The speed of the time passing feels almost opressive, knowing Natsuko's age and how relevant that is to her ultimate decision on having a child or not. The dragging helps drive the point home. Her life is sort of lonesome, not marked by anything big, and full of dialogues with this or that person. It's the mundane of a woman close to 40, single and with a dream she can't decide to act upon. And overall, i enjoyed the experience. i spent this much time, this many pages with a woman who felt much like me, who wanted a child, but not a partner, one who wrote a distressed poem to her unborn child about wanting to meet them. Natsuko felt a bit too in my head. I wanted her to go through with it and try for a child, got riled up by Rika's speech along with her, got mad at Sengawa's opinion along with her. Was also on Yuriko's side entirely. The implicit imorality of voluntarily bringing a new life into this world of suffering, without any way for them to give their permission; it feels almost impossible to argue against. I've felt it my whole life; how often i wish i weren't forced into this life. Why would i want to bring someone into this? If i know this, then why do i feel differently? The subject was simply too personal for me to not be swept right into it. In the end, Natsuko's final decision feels maybe less satisfying than i thought it would. Something feels empty. It's almost difficult to remember this is just a fictional case.
Every female character had such a story, one that was treated with such care and respect and given so much meaning, which i find one of the biggest strengths of this book. Natsuko's experience with asexuality and wanting a child. Midoriko was washed out a bit as a young adult in the second part, but her 12 year old perspective on the female experience is so valuable. Makiko's work as a hostess, her fixation with getting breast implants. The stories she tells about the 14 year olds at her place of work were truly one of the moments in this book that will stay with me forever. Yuriko's childhood abuse and trauma, Sengawa's life without children, Rika's single mother experience. Rie's story is another extremely moving one. Her tales of her mother's almost sclave status and her seeming acceptance of it, and her veneration of her horrible, abusive husband over her own daughters. And then, Rie finds herself with a husband she's willing to give up her job, home, her entire life over, just to support him through his depression. It's all the more shocking when she tells of how he ignored her own pain after the birth of their child, and told her as a mother she's supposed to simply get over it and act as she should. Then Natsuko's mother and grandmother, all their work and pain and effort. Such powerful stories that feel so universal.
And, beyond women not being reduced to their motherhood, very single one of these women's stories does circle back to that. Wants a child, but needs alternative solutions. Raising a child all alone. Having no children, not out of a conscious choice. Life just went that way. Finding it immoral to have children. It all feels like a meditation on what motherhood and the ability of having children really means. Phisically, because the female body is the one bringing the new life into the world. And mentally, culturally, socially. For a cis woman at least, it feels like because your body has this attribute of bringing a new life about, your life is never gonna be truly separate from the question of motherhood. Whether you make one choice or the other, or don't truly have a choice, or take no action and how and whether tha later affects you in any way. I thought it was such a fascinating look into all this. I'm not able of expressing it more aptly. I was just definitely one of the women this book was written for.
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A book with a lot to unpack. I picked this up after coming across at a Barnes and Noble and being smitten with the title and the cover. Haruki Murakami's blurb on the back aided in my desire to dive in (although he has received a lot of criticism as of late he was a dear love of mine many moons ago and do value his endorsements).
This novel stands as an examination of womanhood, the expectations of others upon them and the internal dialogue constantly at play in a woman's mind against the stereotypes imposed. The book is essentially split into two sections separated by 8 years, the first mostly exploring the female body through a story involving one of our main characters, Makiko (who happens to be the older sister of our other primary character, Natsuko) and her desire to conform to western beauty standards. She is seeking out breast augmentation and also lightening of her areola. Natsuko is the voice of concern in this story pushing Makiko to really justify the need for this. Makiko's daughter's opinion is captured in journal form during this time and I greatly appreciated the vantage of a young woman on this narrative partnered alongside the view of our primary characters who happen to be in their 30s and 40s.
Our second segment which is cast 8 years later mostly highlights Natsuko, staring at her 40s, childless and without a romantic partner (there are reasons for this that the novel explores which are worth leaving out for spoiler purpose). I didn't particularly love this segment as much largely due to the fact that there was far more dialogue but it was spectacularly delivered, none the less. In the end we meet Natsuko rekindling some of the conversation she had many years before, at a different twilight in her life and the author is superb and rehashing the prior arguments through a new, more mature lens.
Overall, this was a really great read with a perspective I myself do not employ, being an American male, and it was written in such an eloquent way that it's relate-ability was paramount to other novels that have read which try to explore the same topics. I think this is a great book for men to read who are seeking to understand the pressures imposed upon females.
This novel stands as an examination of womanhood, the expectations of others upon them and the internal dialogue constantly at play in a woman's mind against the stereotypes imposed. The book is essentially split into two sections separated by 8 years, the first mostly exploring the female body through a story involving one of our main characters, Makiko (who happens to be the older sister of our other primary character, Natsuko) and her desire to conform to western beauty standards. She is seeking out breast augmentation and also lightening of her areola. Natsuko is the voice of concern in this story pushing Makiko to really justify the need for this. Makiko's daughter's opinion is captured in journal form during this time and I greatly appreciated the vantage of a young woman on this narrative partnered alongside the view of our primary characters who happen to be in their 30s and 40s.
Our second segment which is cast 8 years later mostly highlights Natsuko, staring at her 40s, childless and without a romantic partner (there are reasons for this that the novel explores which are worth leaving out for spoiler purpose). I didn't particularly love this segment as much largely due to the fact that there was far more dialogue but it was spectacularly delivered, none the less. In the end we meet Natsuko rekindling some of the conversation she had many years before, at a different twilight in her life and the author is superb and rehashing the prior arguments through a new, more mature lens.
Overall, this was a really great read with a perspective I myself do not employ, being an American male, and it was written in such an eloquent way that it's relate-ability was paramount to other novels that have read which try to explore the same topics. I think this is a great book for men to read who are seeking to understand the pressures imposed upon females.
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The book clearly portrays the multifaceted pain of womanhood. From the struggles of working-class women and societal expectations of domesticity, to the anxieties surrounding body image and the pressure to conform to beauty standards, the book explores the existential questions of female identity and womanhood. It really raised the questions, "Why am I here?", 'What is the purpose of my existence?", "What was I made for?"
It also painfully narrated experiences unique to women, raising difficult questions: In the aftermath of assault, where does a woman turn? How does society's equation of love and intimacy with heterosexual sex affect women who are unable or unwilling? How do women who don't fit the mold of heterosexual relationships navigate societal expectations? Does refusing motherhood diminish a woman's existence? Does our worth as women hinge on motherhood? Can we redefine motherhood on our own terms, for example, only need a man for his sperm in order for a woman to get pregnant? Can one be a "good" mother while raising a child independently, devoid of any support from a father figure? Is womanhood defined solely by our biology - by our breasts and eggs? Or does this definition makes us even stronger as a being?
This book is a must-read. 💯
It also painfully narrated experiences unique to women, raising difficult questions: In the aftermath of assault, where does a woman turn? How does society's equation of love and intimacy with heterosexual sex affect women who are unable or unwilling? How do women who don't fit the mold of heterosexual relationships navigate societal expectations? Does refusing motherhood diminish a woman's existence? Does our worth as women hinge on motherhood? Can we redefine motherhood on our own terms, for example, only need a man for his sperm in order for a woman to get pregnant? Can one be a "good" mother while raising a child independently, devoid of any support from a father figure? Is womanhood defined solely by our biology - by our breasts and eggs? Or does this definition makes us even stronger as a being?
This book is a must-read. 💯
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes