A well-written (and presumably well-translated), often funny, deeply thoughtful book which unfortunately dragged for the last 200 pages or so. The title refers to the two essentially separate stories which comprise this book, both focusing on the same main character, Natsuko. The first story, which is mainly focused on Natsuko's sister and niece, Makiko and Midoriko, as Makiko visits to get breast implants in the city, is well-paced, often funny, and features various well-considered discussions and ruminations on bodies, sibling relationships, growing up, femininity, and poverty. The second story, which takes up roughly 2/3 of the book, focuses on Natsuko considering fertility treatment and, while this still features some interesting discussions, it really does become a succession of conversations with the same roster of characters, sometimes repeating the same points made earlier, and suffering from the absence (largely) of the very likeable Makiko and Midoriko. Slightly disappointing, but I am still eager to read the author's other, shorter works.