✰ Charlotte ✰'s Reviews > 乳と卵 [Chichi to ran]

I read the book in both English and Japanese because when I was trying to compare the English translation with Japanese. Turned out that the two were rather different. Breasts and Eggs, i.e., 乳と卵 is a novella by Kawakami published in 2008 and was awarded the 138th Akutagawa Prize (arguably Japan’s most sought after literary prize). It hasn’t been translated into English.

The English edition is actually translated from Kawakami’s novel Natsumonogatari (tales of a summer), which is a rewritten version of the 2008 novella, featuring the same characters and settings, but it keeps the original title Breasts and Eggs-which I suppose makes sense. The first one is about womanhood, and the protagonist Natsuko contemplates the significance of breasts, the symbol of femininity, and questions societal expectations placed upon women. Another character, Midoriko, who is just one year away from becoming a teenager, is scared of getting her first period and struggles to grapple the meaning of becoming a woman-when you get your period, does it automatically make you a woman? What makes becoming a potential mother so great? Her mother, Makiko, also the bigger sister of Natsuko, is considering getting breast implants because of her job as a hostess at a bar.

The second part jumps 8 years into the future to where Natsuko is now an author. She is still single, has no desire for a relationship, and cannot feel pleasure from sex, so she is researching semen donor options in order to have a child. (To be continued)