RaveDrizzle ReviewWhile a relatively quiet and straightforward read, Breasts and Eggs left me breathless. Mere sentences or gestures crescendo and transform the entire scene and its characters. Perhaps of all its themes, the novel delves most deeply into the nature of feminism and femininity, questioning what exactly makes a woman a woman. Kawakami describes various facets of the female body, outward and inward. These physical features, of course, are only the beginning of the nuanced depictions of womanhood that the novel explores. Though most of the novel is told through Natsuko’s eyes, Kawakami subtly shifts observations and conversations to women of varying ages which, overall, gives readers a broad scope of a woman’s entire life from puberty to death ... Breasts and Eggs masterfully poses hard truths that women everyday, everywhere wrestle with. Is my body good enough? Am I good enough? What do people think of me? What kind of mother will I be? Am I turning into my mother? While feminism should be, at its core, a fight to prove that women are as valuable as men, we all know the conversation doesn’t and shouldn’t end there. Kawakami stares its female readers in the face and promises that no matter what your journey, it’s a worthy one. For that alone, her novel is well worth the read.
