Mieko Kawakami’s Breasts and Eggs was the first book by a Japanese author I ever read, and I have been kicking myself for not picking it up sooner.
A little late at the party, but at least I am here now.
For about a month long (slow reader here), I found myself like a stalker along the novel’s three characters: Natsuko “Natsu,” an aspiring writer in Tokyo who is exploring single motherhood and artificial insemination; her older sister, Makiko, whose heart seems set in stone as she searches for affordable breast augmentation; and Makiko’s 12-year-old daughter, Midoriko, who withdraws from her mother while navigating adolescence. They kept me on my toes simply by having conversations over beers. I was biting my lip so I wouldn’t shriek at their subtle yet powerful actions. It was almost as though I didn’t want them to know I was reading their story.
I’ve never had that kind of experience from reading before.
With a title so tender (come on, Breast and Eggs?!), I was blown away finding out the women whom I pictured frail in the first chapters turned out to be strong minded and determined.
Kawakami has said that she did not intend to write a feminist book, but readers have embraced it as one, which I find exhilarating. The novel feels like a subtle exhibit showing how nearly everything in this world revolves around what society expects from women. It is wonderful, sad, sweet, and bitter all at once.
No spoilers here, but I will say this: it is thought-provoking to see how social constructs surrounding women differ depending on where they live in the world, while still feeling deeply familiar. I get them, I really do.
Unlike my experience with Sally Rooney's Normal Poeple (sorry :(), Breasts and Eggs will not be the first or last book I read by Kawakami.
Hands down, it has opened my horizons and inspired me to sink my nose into more Japanese literature.
Suggestions, anyone?
