Mieko Kawakami is something of a celebrity in Japan’s literary community. She originally published Breasts and Eggs as a short novella in 2008. It was well received by critics and fellow writers and won an award. She then took the unusual step of expanding the original work and in its new form it’s her first novel to be published in English.

The narrator of Breasts and Eggs, Natsuko Natsume, has published one novel and is struggling to complete her second. A native of Osaka, but living alone in a small apartment in Tokyo, Natsuko dreams of having a child. With no partner and with a profound distaste for sex, she explores the world of donor insemination. Her sister, Makiko, comes to Tokyo determined to have breast enlargement surgery, accompanied by her teenage daughter, Midoriko, who refuses to speak and who communicates with her mother and aunt only through messages written in notebooks.

Breasts and Eggs is an unusual and powerful novel. Its theme is identity and its determination for a modern, Japanese woman by mores defined by men and tradition. The power of the book comes less from its theme than from the striking and unique voice of its narrator. As I read it, I felt, as I often do, that it should have been edited more aggressively. At 400+ pages it’s too long and its pace drags sometimes as a result, but this is an arresting and unusual novel. Kawakami is a special storyteller and it’s going to be interesting to follow what she does next.