Breasts and Eggs

Kawakami, one of Japan's most influential and best-selling authors today, defies all preconceived notions about narrative and language style while fusing sardonic humour with intense emotional depth. She burst into the literary scene as a poet and well-liked blogger before becoming an award-winning author. Her career began as a musician.

Intimate travels of three women facing repressive norms and self-doubt as they search for serenity and futures they can really call their own are chronicled in Breasts and Eggs, a book that portrays modern Japanese femininity.

The narrative centres on three women: Natsu, who is thirty years old; Makiko, her elder sister; and Midoriko, Makiko's daughter. Makiko has come to Tokyo in quest of a reasonably priced surgery for breast augmentation. She is joined by Midoriko, who has been quiet lately since she can't articulate the ambiguous yet oppressive constraints of growing up. Her quiet acts as a trigger for every woman to face her worries and annoyances.

Ten years later, on a steamy summer's day, Natsu faces her fears of getting old alone and childless while returning to her home city. She also fights with her own ambiguous identity.