By Megan Thomas
This was a brilliant novel, though admittedly a slow burner. Tackling topics of fertility and womanhood in Japan with an unpredictable but enjoyable prose style, the novel tells the story of Natsu and through her primary narrative, of her sister Makiko and Makiko’s daughter Midoriko.
In a stream-of-consciousness style, the novel reads like a transcription of a distracted mind, flitting between the present, retrospective analyses of the events of the past, hopes for the future and observations about the world in which we are all trying to survive. All the while maintaining dry humour, fair but often cutting social commentary, and an interesting perspective of modern Japanese life for women.
Breasts and Eggs reads like someone who you haven’t seen for a while catching you up on their life, allowing for storytelling staples of anecdotes, context and side-stories along the way.
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