Breasts and Eggs

Bogen "Breasts and Eggs" er japanske Mieko Kawakamis gennembrud som forfatter. I den forførende roman, lærer vi tre kvinder at kende i en fattig forstad til Tokyo. Trediveårige Natsukos lejlighed er hjem for hende selv, storesøster Makiko og Makikos teenagedatter Midoriko. Hver især kæmper de for at styre deres egen livsgang. Makiko som har levet af at være værtinde, er fortvivlet over at blive ældre og den måde det påvirker hendes udseende. Hun er kommet til Tokyo for at få en brystforstørrelsesoperation. Hendes datter Midoriko er holdt op med at tale, da hun er overvældet over sin egen foranderlige teenagekrop og moderens selvbesættelse. Midorikos tavshed flyder ud i Natsukos lejlighed og skubber kvinderne, til at kæmpe med hver deres bekymringer og indbyrdes forhold. I "Breasts and Eggs" maler Mieko Kawakami, et på samme tid skarpt og intimt portræt af nutidens kvinder fra arbejderklassens Japan, og fortæller, om de kvindernes rørende vej igennem et samfund, indrettet til alle andre end dem.

Bogen "Breasts and Eggs" er japanske Mieko Kawakamis gennembrud som forfatter. I den forførende roman, lærer vi tre kvinder at kende i en fattig forstad til Tokyo. Trediveårige Natsukos lejlighed er hjem for hende selv, storesøster Makiko og Makikos teenagedatter Midoriko. Hver især kæmper de for at styre deres egen livsgang. Makiko som har levet af at være værtinde, er fortvivlet over at blive ældre og den måde det påvirker hendes udseende. Hun er kommet til Tokyo for at få en brystforstørrelsesoperation. Hendes datter Midoriko er holdt op med at tale, da hun er overvældet over sin egen foranderlige teenagekrop og moderens selvbesættelse. Midorikos tavshed flyder ud i Natsukos lejlighed og skubber kvinderne, til at kæmpe med hver deres bekymringer og indbyrdes forhold. I "Breasts and Eggs" maler Mieko Kawakami, et på samme tid skarpt og intimt portræt af nutidens kvinder fra arbejderklassens Japan, og fortæller, om de kvindernes rørende vej igennem et samfund, indrettet til alle andre end dem.

A BEST BOOK OF 2020 TIME Magazine ・ The Atlantic ・ Book Riot ・ Electric Literature ・ The New York Times (Notable Book of the Year) The story of three women by a writer hailed by Haruki Murakami as Japan's most important contemporary novelist, WINNER OF THE AKUTAGAWA PRIZE. On a sweltering summer day, Makiko travels from Osaka to Tokyo, where her sister Natsu lives. She is in the company of her daughter, Midoriko, who has lately grown silent, finding herself unable to voice the vague yet overwhelming pressures associated with adolescence. The story of these three women reunited in a working-class neighborhood of Tokyo is told through the gaze of Natsu--thirty years old, an aspiring writer, haunted by hardships endured in her youth. Over the course of their few days together in the capital, Midoriko's silence will prove a catalyst for each woman to confront her fears and family secrets. On yet another blistering summer's day eight years later, Natsu, during a journey back to her native city, struggles with her own indeterminate identity as she confronts anxieties about growing old alone and childless. One of Japan's most important and best-selling writers, Mieko Kawakami mixes stylistic inventiveness, wry humor, and riveting emotional depth to tell a story of contemporary womanhood in Japan. Breasts and Eggs recounts the intimate journeys of three women on the path to finding peace and futures they can call their own. "Original and deeply moving...This book is a gift."-- Laura van den Berg

A BEST BOOK OF 2020 TIME Magazine ・ The Atlantic ・ Book Riot ・ Electric Literature ・ The New York Times (Notable Book of the Year) The story of three women by a writer hailed by Haruki Murakami as Japan's most important contemporary novelist, WINNER OF THE AKUTAGAWA PRIZE. On a sweltering summer day, Makiko travels from Osaka to Tokyo, where her sister Natsu lives. She is in the company of her daughter, Midoriko, who has lately grown silent, finding herself unable to voice the vague yet overwhelming pressures associated with adolescence. The story of these three women reunited in a working-class neighborhood of Tokyo is told through the gaze of Natsu--thirty years old, an aspiring writer, haunted by hardships endured in her youth. Over the course of their few days together in the capital, Midoriko's silence will prove a catalyst for each woman to confront her fears and family secrets. On yet another blistering summer's day eight years later, Natsu, during a journey back to her native city, struggles with her own indeterminate identity as she confronts anxieties about growing old alone and childless. One of Japan's most important and best-selling writers, Mieko Kawakami mixes stylistic inventiveness, wry humor, and riveting emotional depth to tell a story of contemporary womanhood in Japan. Breasts and Eggs recounts the intimate journeys of three women on the path to finding peace and futures they can call their own. "Original and deeply moving...This book is a gift."-- Laura van den Berg