A review by thewordsdevourer
Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

 to say that breasts and eggs hits me hard is an understatement. i relate to this book on an unprecendentedly visceral level; never have i felt so seen, my anger, frustrations, and fears as a woman captured so succinctly, like they've been scooped from my deepest inner being then so accurately verbalized. it's wild but it's like this book was written just for me, not merely bc of its main character and themes but also bc of all the lil coincidental things (denmark, osaka ferris wheel, etc.). reading this--esp abt natsuko, tho sans her want of child--was perhaps the very first time a book ever made me go, "oh wow, i'm not the only who thinks that??" and countless times, at that.

this was a slow, melancholic read filled w/ an array of different, multidimensional female characters--honestly so refreshing to see the opposite of the more common occurrence for once--that deals w/ being a woman in a man's world, bodily autonomy, the blurring of memory and reality, and the critical--albeit rarely explored--issue of donor conception that entails its own set of complexities. i could go on more abt the story or structure or the characters or the pacing or the could-be-better translation, but rly, rn im just astonished by how friggin validated this book makes me feel, and how thankful i am for that. mieko kawakami just became one of my fav authors, no questions asked 
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