Makiko, an older sister who moved from Osaka to Tokyo, considers breast enhancement surgery, while her daughter, Midoriko, refuses to speak to her mother. Natsuko, who observed that summer of 2008, begins eight years later to explore the possibility of having a child without desiring sexual intercourse. Choices surrounding the body and reproduction cannot be settled with the word "freedom" alone.
This guide organizes the time skip between the two parts and seventeen chapters, the relationship between Makiko and Midoriko, Natsuko's life as a writer, and the voices of multiple parties involved in AID (Artificial Insemination by Donor) and sperm donation. It is not a substitute for medical advice, but a guide to distinguish where desire, ethics, and economic conditions collide. This book is not the original text, but an independent chapter-by-chapter summary guide for organizing and reviewing your reading.
Winner of the 2019 Mainichi Publishing Culture Award. The English version (published as 'Breasts and Eggs') was selected as a New York Times Notable Book of 2020 and one of TIME's 10 Best Books of 2020.
Makiko's breast enhancement, Midoriko's silence, and Natsuko's wish to have a child on her own all lead to the question: "In whose words do you define your own body?" The novel neither affirms nor denies becoming a mother, but simultaneously reveals the poverty, labor, medical systems, and lives of others behind that choice.
It separates the three days in 2008 from 2016 onwards, bridging the mother-daughter relationship of Makiko and Midoriko to Natsuko's process of researching AID, sperm donation, and the voices of those affected. It organizes the differences in experience and arguments among the positions of Aizawa, Zen Yuriko, and Onda without confusing them.
Breasts, menstruation, sex, and reproduction are evaluated by family, medicine, and the market. Read through each generation's process as Makiko, Midoriko, and Natsuko search for words to explain their own bodies.
People born from donor sperm, people who want children, and people who cannot affirm birth itself are placed in the same story. The novel does not provide a single correct answer but asks about the impact of choices on others.
Through childhood in Osaka, Makiko's service industry labor, and Natsuko's life in the literary world, it becomes clear that physical choices are not free from the burdens of money, class, and care.
Suitable for readers interested in contemporary literature dealing with the female body, motherhood, reproductive ethics, and class. It is also ideal for book clubs that want to discuss how the novel arranges conflicting voices without rushing to a conclusion of "pro" or "con."
About this edition: This is not the original novel, but an independent chapter guide and summary. It is intended for review and reading support and is recommended to be read alongside the original work.
Miva: the next reading experience beyond audiobooks
Listen like an audiobook, then ask anything, anytime.
Start Miva's narrationMiva does not just narrate. It keeps explaining based on what you ask.