Breasts and Eggs

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Through the endless stream of voices and sounds, I watched a family rushing from the right side of my field of vision to the left, dragging what looked like all of their belongings.

Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami | World Literature Today Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami | World Literature Today

The journal entries written by Natsuko’s niece, Midoriko, in Book One chronicle a teenager’s efforts to grapple with her changing body and the misogyny she encounters in school and life. I had the feeling of listening to someone speaking in the dark: casual intimacies interspersed with fanciful, terrifying and dreamlike interludes.

In describing Natsu’s life as a childless woman at odds with an identity she did not anticipate, the novel highlights the anxieties that accompany contemporary womanhood in aching and wonderfully absurd terms. Kawakami, like Yoshimoto, is more firmly rooted in reality, yet both engage in occasional, brief and controlled descents into fantasy as a technique to further character development. There was always someone somewhere discovering a different life, a different experience than the day before, stepping off into uncharted territory.

Breasts and Eggs: Intense, surprising tale of one woman’s Breasts and Eggs: Intense, surprising tale of one woman’s

It moves in a tightening circle as Natsuko’s sister, Makiko, an ageing hostess, makes a visit to Tokyo: “I’ve been thinking about getting breast implants.Known for their poetic qualities, insights into the female body, and preoccupation with ethics and modern society, her books have been translated into over twenty languages and are available all over the world. Its unobtrusive plot masks a work of remarkable complexity that launches a radical challenge to both the political and literary status quo.