Breasts and Eggs - Mieko Kawakami

Mieko Kawakami, Sam Bett, David Boyd

Category: General Fiction

Tags: General Fiction, Literature

Dont let the title fool you. The long-awaited English translation of Mieko Kawakamis novel Breasts and Eggs is not some elevated, literary piece of Japanese chick lit. Its a novel of humanity, a multifaceted consideration of the fundamental question: What does it mean to exist?, That Kawakami considers the idea and all its implications from a mostly female viewpoint, covering contemporary issues such as sex work, single motherhood, beauty and gender norms, societal isolation and meaningful vocation does not diminish its universality. It heightens it., Catching up with Kawakami over a video call from her office in Tokyo, she says, While its true that this is a story about the life of one woman its ultimately a story of people, living life through tears., Its an attitude Kawakami knows well. Raised in a single-mother household in Osaka, its no wonder she can construct such an abrasively realistic version of Japan in her fiction, a trait she shares with an oft-cited influence, Ichiyo Hig