Having read all of Kawakami's novels translated into English (just the novella, Ms. Ice Sandwich, to go), I can say that I'm a big fan. I was surprised by the depth of Breasts and Eggs, the level of scrutiny it employs in dissecting age-old norms taken as human truths. But I shouldn't have been surprised; she does the same in Heaven & All the Lovers in the Night. A book that I'll be thinking about for a long time. Brilliant & uncompromising.