A review by loveryoushouldvecomeovermp3
Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami

reflective slow-paced

3.75

one thing I've noticed a lot in books about women is how much the author needs to stress the womans attractiveness. even when it's a book written by a woman, for women. even when it's explicitly about the suffering of women, the author needs you to know that yes she is beautiful. maybe she doesn't notice it because shes so entrenched in her sadness but she is beautiful and she is attractive. her sadness comes from within not from her outsides. it's something I've noticed especially with modern female authors, those who are hailed by booktok as 'sad girl literature'. Which is why i appreciate that natsuko is never subjected to that. she describes her body multiple times but the gaze feels different, noticeably so. i also loved that this book has mainly female characters who have meaningful discussions, who hurt and help each other. but in general i felt the book was a bit meandering. it's a good book, for sure, ive annotated it to death, but sometimes it feels so lost in the narrative of 'womanhood is suffering'. like every page, every monologue continues to drive in that idea, it's very repetitive. midoriko's diary entries especially. all her entries revolve around periods and the female body. it felt like the author saw the entries as an easy way to drive in the point of the book. even with this i did that it had very good prose, and i do think it touched on some important topics. we definitely do need books about the lives of women and i did tear up multiple times. i just feel this book was almost there, just a little less monologues. a little more show dont tell. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia