We all know those splashy headlines “best translated/best Japanese novels of the year”, don’t we? It’s fair chance that in 2020 those headlines were about “Breast and Eggs” by Mieko Kawakami. The book, which came out a bit later than planned due to the pandemic, still managed to make quite a stir in the media, and earned itself several spots in the “best titles of 2020” lists.
What’s interesting – it’s actually two novels in one. The book merges the 2008 novella Breasts and Eggs, which brought Kawakami her Akutagawa Prize (which has since been corrected and edited by the author) with Summer Story from 2019, in which Kawakami revisited the characters from the previous decade. In the first story, Makiko, with her daughter Midoriko, travel from Osaka to Tokio. Makiko has decided on a breast implant treatment. While she studies the options and get herself prepped for the operation, they stay with Natsuko, Makiko’s younger sister and aspiring writer. Natsuko becomes a link between mother and daughter, who – in her form of riot against her mom – doesn’t speak a word. It’s a brief visit, but a very intense time – full of voiced and unspoken regrets, thoughts (about being a woman, but also poverty and social classes) and tensions – that leads to a surprising finale.
We return to their story almost ten years later. Natsuko is now an acclaimed novelist, struggling with a second-novel slump. She’s single, but quite aware that her biological clock is ticking. She starts to wonder if she wants to – and if she should – have a child, before it’s too late? Natsuko considers a sperm donor, but the reaction of her close firends and family, when they hear about her plans, begins to mess with her head.
When compared to the compact part I, part II may seem to you a bit slow-paced. It’s worth making a short break after finishing the first part of the novel, and treat the two as seperate book. Especially since Summer Story can give some much food for thought in terms of motherhood, family planning and every womens right to decide about their won body no matter the circumstances. And that is a hot issue, especially in Poland right now.
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