Breasts and Eggs Audiobook By Mieko Kawakami cover art

Breasts and Eggs

Preview

Try for $0.00
Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
Audible Plus auto-renews for $7.95/mo after 30 days. Upgrade or cancel anytime.

Breasts and Eggs

By: Mieko Kawakami
Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller, Jeena Yi
Try for $0.00

$7.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $17.90

Buy for $17.90

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

The story of three women by a writer hailed by Haruki Murakami as Japan’s most important contemporary novelist.

Challenging every preconception about storytelling and prose style, mixing wry humor and riveting emotional depth, Kawakami is today one of Japan’s most important and best-selling writers. She exploded onto the cultural scene first as a musician, then as a poet and popular blogger, and is now an award-winning novelist.

Breasts & Eggs paints a portrait of contemporary womanhood in Japan and recounts the intimate journeys of three women as they confront oppressive mores and their own uncertainties on the road to finding peace and futures they can truly call their own.

It tells the story of three women: the 30-year-old Natsu, her older sister, Makiko, and Makiko’s daughter, Midoriko. Makiko has traveled to Tokyo in search of an affordable breast enhancement procedure. She is accompanied by Midoriko, who has recently grown silent, finding herself unable to voice the vague yet overwhelming pressures associated with growing up. Her silence proves a catalyst for each woman to confront her fears and frustrations.

On another hot summer’s day 10 years later, Natsu, on a journey back to her native city, struggles with her own indeterminate identity as she confronts anxieties about growing old alone and childless.

©2020 Mieko Kawakami (P)2020 Blackstone Publishing
City Life Fiction Literary Fiction Psychological Urban Women's Fiction City Heartfelt Witty Thought-Provoking Inspiring Thriller
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What listeners say about Breasts and Eggs

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    260
  • 4 Stars
    133
  • 3 Stars
    61
  • 2 Stars
    14
  • 1 Stars
    14
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    287
  • 4 Stars
    88
  • 3 Stars
    29
  • 2 Stars
    9
  • 1 Stars
    4
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    220
  • 4 Stars
    115
  • 3 Stars
    52
  • 2 Stars
    14
  • 1 Stars
    17

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good Story

This was a good story it gets a little drawn out in part 2 but it was good overall.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Compelling and important window

A new view into working class women in Japan, beautifully told An important discussion of the meaning of childbearing.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Honest, thought provoking, deeply engaging

I found parts of myself in these characters I didn’t have a name for. At times i wanted to scream at these characters, other times I wanted to buy them a beer. Absolutely worth the listen.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Remarkable range

Ranges from dark depths to glowing light. Literary but without pretension, she captures both mundane life and poetry in solid everyday language. Moving and emotional yet unsentimental, it’s the most startlingly feminine book I (a man) have ever read. And excellent performance.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great story — very fresh; no rose colored glasses

I loved how the book started with the theme of windows not being a thing you think about when you’re poor. (Yes I listened to the whole book!) Overall wonderful and the narrator was great but I struggled with everything sounding like it was foreshadowing doom., like in a noir film, almost to the point of absurdity. There is a lot of harsh reality in this story. To the point where I had to take breaks. But there is hope, too. And bravo for non-traditional lifestyles!! There is no single formula for happiness and positivity contributing to the world!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Feminine perspective of Japanese femininity

Fabulously detailed story telling, from many different intimate perspectives. More dialogue between characters than I can usually stand, though interesting enough to hold my attention.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Felt like a series of essays

This felt less like a full story and more a series of essays in the form of conversations. Writing was wonderful and I’ll read more from this author but this story didn’t feel fully cooked yet.

Thanks

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

New points of view

I haven’t read a contemporary novel in a long time but keep track of reviews from the New York Times and decided to try this after reading several music biographies In prep for writing my own. I wanted to listen to a novelist’s voice and someone who uses words artistically as opposed to just getting the point across. She definitely has her own voice and writes beautifully. She writes about several things and with a point of view I’ve never encountered before which is a really good reason to read this book. That said the book seems a bit deliberate and like the product of somebody who studied writing as an academic subject, Iike a talented grad school student. There’s always a sense of the tremendous amount of hours that went into crafting this and covering the territory in a way meant to be unique and stand out in the crowd. That’s a shame because it’s something you should never think about when reading a great novel. I will be interested to read a few more well reviewed modern novels and see if I have the same observation.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Unbelievable!

I could not stop listening to this book - so captivating and heartfelt. I will recommend it to all of my friends!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Overwhelming Beautiful

Mieko Kawakami’s novel Breasts and Eggs is bursting with emotional depth and wry humor. Her prose style is so refreshing, I could not put this book down. I constantly thought of my favorite author and Mieko’s mentor, Haruki Murakami, as I devoured these pages. I am thrilled to have more of her novels to read!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!