Reviews

this novel has been on my tbr for a few years now. book one was really interesting and captivating, portraying the complexities of womanhood and working-class struggles in contemporary japan. however, book two felt disjointed and disconnected from the first part of the novel. whilst it covered some important topics and was extremely relatable in exploring the ethics of having children, it was tedious to read. there was tons of irrelevant dialogue and musings that didn’t add anything to the story. i would have much preferred if we also followed the development of the main characters from book one. overall, i thought this novel was thought-provoking and presents an honest portrait of contemporary womanhood, but felt disjointed and could’ve been much shorter!

jenniferthor's review against another edition

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3.25

the novel felt more like a short story collection and i found it a bit slow. the title is suiting since the whole novel is about breasts and eggs. i would only recommend it to an asexual woman that wants a child (for others it’s hard to relate to the mc)

emiiko's review against another edition

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Loan from library ended before I could finish

yourlocal_nychotdog's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional lighthearted tense medium-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

5.0

This book destroyed me yet glued me back together in a very elaborate and cathartic way. This book dives into how it feels to be a woman during a time where their bodies are seen more as symbols and objects and how society still has a hold on them. The book is divided into two parts with both parts delivering both pain, nostalgia, femininity, bodily disgust, but most importantly, motherhood.

In part one, it starts off with the line "If you want to know how poor somebody was growing up, ask them how many windows they had.

Don't ask what was in their fridge or in their closet. The number of windows says it all. It says everything. If they had none, or maybe one or two, that's all you need to know." Our narrator, whose name is Natsuko, tells us how you can only talk about being poor if you've been there yourself, which then she tells us that she has been poor all her life.

We find out that Natsuko's sister, Makiko, and her daughter, Midoriko, are staying over. As you are reading, you see segments of Midoriko's journal. This I find very impressive on how the author helped us get more insight on Midoriko because as we keep reading, We find out that she isn't talking to her mother at all yet with other people such as her friends she talks normally. In her journals, we find out that she seems afraid of menstruation. She seems to want to know everything about this part of a woman's body and writes a lot of facts.

Makiko is obsessed on the thought of getting breast implants. She actually came to stay with Natsuko for a while because she was planning to do surgery near the place Natsuko lives. She tells us how pregnancy ruined her body which Midoriko has overheard before.

Midoriko then writes "Ever since I had my daughter, she says... it's always the same line about breast-feeding me. Idiot. So you want your body to be the same way it used to be? Then why'd you even have me? Your life would have been better if you never had me. Think about how great everything would be if none of us were ever born. No happiness, no sadness. Nothing could ever happen to us then. It's not our fault that we have eggs and sperm, but we can definitely try harder to keep them from meeting." These lines show us how much the thought of eggs is almost ruining Midoriko because it has so much control over her, especially between her and her mother..

At the end of part one, Makiko hasn't come home around the time she said she would. While Natsuko is worried, Midoriko's emotion isn't told. When Makiko makes it back though, she is extremely drunk. When she sees Midoriko, she almost scolds her for not talking to her and implies how selfish she is for that.. It is at that point that Midoriko snaps and slaps her mother. All three seem to be frozen in shock and you can feel the tension just reading. "Mom" is the first word that she says in the entire book. ""Mom," she said, practically coughing on the word. "Just tell me the truth.'" Midoriko then goes to the fridge, takes out the egg carton, and smashes an egg over her head while asking her mother why she did that to herself, referring to giving birth to her. Makiko then snaps out of her stupor and tries to reach out for her daughter but she moves. Then, she grabs an egg then smashes it on her head but misses and as the yolk slides to the ground she gets on her knees and smears her head on the fallen yolk. This part I find it very hard to tell in words but it almost feels sonder, in fact this whole book feels sonder since you see two perspectives in the first part that it makes you realize how complex it truly is to be a woman.

In book two, It is much longer and has many more characters. It turns out that it takes place around 8 years later. The first chapter we see Natsuko hanging out with a few of her friends. They are talking about parenthood and their husbands. This seems as though the author was foreshadowing what was to come. As we progress through the story, we find out that Natsuko seems revolted at the thought of sexual intercourse. She has had it before with a man she was in a relationship with but because she couldn't do it that itself ended their relationship with him saying "He said it wasn't about love, and that it had nothing to do with how he felt about me. He just wanted to have sex with someone. I didn't know how to respond. It was a perfect silence. At that point things weren't physical between us anymore."

The relationship between Natsuko and her ex shows us how many men and even society see women's bodies in more of a sexual way.

As we keep reading, many more women talk about men and how useless they truly are when raising kids or even knowing what a woman wants. Rie, one of Natsuko's friends' talks about how useless her husband is due to his depression. She says "Things need to look a certain way. You need to show everyone you're happily married and all that. Besides, most men can't even talk to their own families without a woman there. It's pathetic. Really. They'll just sit around the room all day and leave everything around the house up to the women." "My husband didn't do anything about it. not anything to help. He was like, what's wrong with you? Having a child is a totally natural part of being a woman. How could it possibly take that much out of you? My mom did it. Every woman does it. Get over it. He just laughed." Although some might disagree that a man needs a woman to do basic things, you cannot disagree that it does not happen since from experience it really is true.

Natsuko, although unable to have sexual intercourse, wants a child.

She looks for people who could help her. She then goes to a convention where she meets a man called Jun Aizawa. He has been searching for his biological father ever since he found out that the man that raised him wasn't his real father. They become good friends and through this Natsuko meets Yuriko. Yuriko plays a large role because her words changed the perception of childbirth for Natsuko (and me to be honest) and tells her '"'There are children," Yuriko said, "who are born into a world of pain and die before knowing anything else, no chance to see what kind of place the world is. With no ability to speak for themselves, they're plunged into the most painful existence only to have it taken away. Their lives are pain."

Even after everything and the "warnings" she gets from multiple people in her life, she still decides to have a child. At the end her and Aizawa meet up and Aizawa tells Natsuko if she would like to have his child. At first we do not know if she said yes or no but in the next chapter it is revealed that Natsuko agreed but decided that she and Aizawa wouldn't have a relationship together. It is through motherhood that she finds peace and happiness. When her daughter is born, she says "I called to her, speaking in a voice that no one else could hear. Where were you? You're here now. I watched her, this new baby girl, letting her cry into my breast."

Breasts and Eggs gave me peace and showed me how other women feel the same too. It gave me a sense of relief and belonging and showed how truly hard it is to be a woman. Mieko Kawakami's way of writing womanhood is intimate and breathtaking, never shying away from showing both the ugly and beauty of having breasts and eggs

nil033's review against another edition

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Zzzzzzzz

lampers_'s review against another edition

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3.0

I was really into the first section of the book, the part about the intersection of class and gender. The second part went on too long and it felt like it was beating around the bush. I felt like the actual exploration of birth via sperm doner wasn’t particularly interesting; felt like I was on WebMD. But I get that those details would be interesting and informative for some readers. Combined with some characters I don’t really care about, the 2nd half really dragged. I would have given this one 4/5 if the 2nd book was about as long as the first one or didn’t exist at all. I recommend to just read the first book for most people.

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