Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami

The novel follows Natsuko, an aspiring writer living in Tokyo, and is split into two distinct time periods.

In the first half, Natsuko plays host to her older sister, Makiko, a struggling hostess obsessed with getting breast enhancement surgery and Makiko’s quiet, pre-teen daughter, who has completely stopped speaking as she wrestles with the confusing onset of her own puberty. Years later, the story catches up with an older Natsuko who, now living an independent life, begins to navigate the complex social, legal, and personal hurdles of wanting to become a mother on her own terms. It is a sharp, fiercely honest, and intimate portrait of modern womanhood, bodily autonomy, and class in contemporary Japan.