Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami

8 reviews

dizzzybrook's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

Every once in a while, I come across a book that truly just does everything I want it to and Breasts and Eggs certainly did that for me. I often avoid reading about the topics discussed in this book given that I find it difficult to find navigate between the opinions of those who believe women are obligated to have children and those who do not, but this book tackles these arguments in a way that I found extremely profound and ultimately agreeable. My only true criticism is that the ending fell flat for me and felt a little rushed and predictable. It felt as if Kawakami had spent so much time developing this incredibly complex and thought provoking story just to have it end in the most predictable, cliché way. This is obviously a fault of my own personal taste, but I do believe this book to be a 5 star read 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Pregnancy, Fatphobia, Death of parent, Alcohol, Eating disorder, and Cancer

u_0's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

Beautiful, intense, and profoundly human. I'm at a loss for words. It was real.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death of parent, Child abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Infertility, Mental illness, Misogyny, Death, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Terminal illness

pandorasirens's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Mental illness, Grief, and Misogyny

Moderate: Terminal illness, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Rape, Death, Infertility, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Alcohol, and Cancer

Minor: Body shaming, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Classism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, and Pedophilia

nozycozy's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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? No

5.0

So human. So Beautiful. Kawakami’s riveting prose makes you feel like you’re a part of Natsumes life. Her thoughts and interactions with others were at times sad but these are the realities many women face. I learned so much and connected with many of the women in her life. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Infertility, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Trafficking, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Rape, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Mental illness, Cancer, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, and Sexual assault

liv_txt's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, Mental illness, Death, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Rape, Car accident, Cancer, Alcohol, and Abandonment

edgaranjapoe's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Alcohol, and Infertility

Moderate: Cancer, Dysphoria, Pregnancy, Grief, Terminal illness, Addiction, and Alcoholism

Minor: Physical abuse, Child abuse, Abandonment, Blood, Eating disorder, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Rape, Violence, Medical content, Acephobia/Arophobia, Incest, Body shaming, Bullying, Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Infidelity, Suicide attempt, and Death

eunicaa's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

A beautiful and raw depiction of womanhood in Japan. 

Part 1 is a 5/5 - I thought the contrast between Natsu’s narrative and Midoriko’s journal entries was so interesting. And the story way Mieko depicted the complicated relationship between women, sisters and aunts and mothers and grandmothers, was so beautiful yet unflinching.

Part 2 is a 3.75/5 - I wasn’t a fan of the plot. But maybe it’s because I’m still too young to understand? It did made me think about why we have children, the purpose of life, and loneliness. But I wish it was more like Part I, which was a study of womanhood via this complicated, and sometimes toxic, family dynamic. I feel like the romantic plot point in Part II betrayed the feminist spirit of Part I. Wasn’t this book about defying patriarchal expectations? So why write in a romantic interest?? 

Feels like: Getting drunk with your sister for the first time and all of the emotional and mental barriers are washed away. You both talk candidly for the first time, realizing how much of each other’s love you’ve missed from your lives.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, and Mental illness

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Suicide attempt

becks_books's review against another edition

dark 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? It's complicated

4.0

Ultimately, I think this was a really excellent novel, it discusses important topics in a way that's honest and often uncomfortable (there are a lot of content warnings in this book) but it does also have some hope in it.

The book is mainly focused on 2 things: breasts (expectations of women's bodies, especially as they age and have children and how their bodies are perceived, and ultimately how that affects the women and their view of themselves), and eggs (who gets to have children? And the difficulties some people face in having children and accessing services like sperm banks because of their circumstances, specifically in Japan).

Personally, I have absolutely 0 desire to have children and while I've had times where I felt a lot of pressure to look a certain way, I feel like I'm at a place where I can just accept my body for what it is, but reading about people with different circumstances can be really enlightening and I really felt for the women in this story and their circumstances and problems, I think the part about birth and desperately wanting a child was really well done especially, and I just wanted Natsu to find happiness, whatever that looked like for her in the end.

Overall, a really interesting read. Just go in with caution.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Sexism

Moderate: Acephobia/Arophobia, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Body shaming and Infidelity

I found the parts where the characters felt hopeless and depressed triggered my own depression a bit, so something to be mindful of. I can't remember if there's any other content warnings, but I think this gives you an idea of the content anyway.