Breasts and Eggs Book Review
Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami
Synopsis:
Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami revolves around a handful of working-class women navigating their experiences living within a patriarchal society. The story is told in two parts, each narrated by the protagonist Natsuko, a struggling writer who lives in Tokyo. In the first section, Makiko and Midoriko, Natsuko’s sister and niece, travel from Osaka to visit her. There, Makiko is obsessed with getting her breasts done to gain more notoriety working in what is ultimately a men’s club. Makiko is also a single parent who is rarely home to raise her teen daughter Midoriko, who feigns silence in the presence of her mother. While Makiko becomes increasingly obsessed with her breasts, Midoriko questions the roles of women as mothers and comes to perceive women’s bodies as belonging to society. She has anxiety about getting older because she sees how other women, her mother included, are treated by men, and she questions some women’s desire to have children. This distinction in perception between Makiko and Midoriko becomes elevated in Part II, as Natsuko considers having a child with the help of a sperm bank, which is highly stigmatized, especially for single women who want to raise children on their own.
“My monolithic expectation of what a woman’s body was supposed to look like had no bearing on what actually happened to my body. The two things were wholly unrelated. I never became the woman I imagined. And what was I expecting?”
Review:
I read this novel a few weeks ago, but the story has stuck with me ever since. Kawakami has written a beautiful narrative about ordinary yet incredibly strong women trying to find their way in a society that expects them to assume traditional roles of motherhood and being a wife. Several conversations between characters involve not only a woman’s choice to raise children but how they go about doing it. For example, there are arguments for and against using sperm banks, especially from the perspectives of children who have been birthed as a result of artificial insemination. Yet, these concerns are woven into a tender story about love where Kawakami allows characters, particularly Natsuko, to have a say in her own happiness with the possibility of raising a child as a single mother without the help of a father figure.
“It feels like I’m trapped inside my body. It decides when I get hungry, and when I’ll get my period. From birth to death, you have to keep eating and making money just to stay alive.”
Breasts and Eggs is a character-driven novel, so the everyday struggles of the narrator, along with her friends and family, are what move the story forward. These daily hardships and quandaries that the protagonist experiences help her to gain confidence and grow as a character. Essentially, despite any struggles that Natsuko, Makiko, and Midoriko face in their lives, the ending is hopeful. I also appreciate Kawakami’s sensitivity to the importance of a woman’s choice in how she experiences life, with or without children and partners.
“Beauty meant that you were good. And being good meant being happy. Happiness can be defined all kinds of ways, but human beings, consciously or unconsciously, are always pulling for their own version of happiness. Even people who want to die see death as a kind of solace, and view ending their lives as the only way to make it there. Happiness is the base unit of consciousness, our single greatest motivator.”
Overall, I am a fan of Mieko’s work; the novel has much to offer, including a look into the subversion of traditional female roles, the importance of independence, and class struggles amidst capitalism, resulting in the use of bodies to fulfill certain societal functions. If you’re into that sort of commentary, I highly recommend Breasts and Eggs!