Over the years, I have read many books about motherhood and enjoyed many of them. I haven't read a book like Swallows before. It is scientific and socially relevant, but there's a fundamental desire to be hopeful at the heart of the story. I loved what Kirino has crafted with the characters and plot. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

An excellent read for any and all readers! Author comes at you with both barrels and knocks you out of your shoes! Great job fleshing out all the characters. I give this book FIVE stars! Definitely recommend!

Swallows by Natsuo Kirino is a fascinating exploration of motherhood, class, and privilege set against the backdrop of modern Tokyo. The story follows a woman who decides to become a surrogate in a society where surrogacy is technically illegal but still navigated through various loopholes. I found the protagonist’s journey especially compelling as she faces judgment not just from the baby’s parents and grandparents, but also from her best friend—a sex worker—who ironically considers surrogacy morally wrong.

Kirino weaves heavy themes throughout the novel with an unflinching gaze, though at times, I felt that some nuance was lost in translation. Certain topics were handled in a way that felt unnecessarily crass, and the novel’s pacing suffered under its length; a tighter edit could have made its impact even stronger.

Natsuo Kirino's novel Swallows explores the commodification of pregnancy and who holds the power when it comes to the lengths people will go to in order to have children.

As we follow the story of Motoi and Yuko, two prospective parents struggling to conceive a child and running out of time, it's clear creating a family sometimes takes a non-traditional approach as they search for a loophole to find a surrogate in Japan. Though Yuko has resigned herself to the fact she may never have a child, Motoi selfishly insists he must find a way to carry on his family line, even if it means leaving Yuko out of it. Their eventual surrogacy agreement with a struggling young woman, Riki, snowballs into a three-way struggle for power as the story explores themes of bodily autonomy, power, and motherhood.

Kirino's writing on class, sex, and agency is refreshingly honest. Pregnancy seems to be one of the only situations where women hold power over men, but it requires women to sacrifice the most in the act of starting a family. They have to carry a new life inside of them, which in itself can be dangerous, only for men to ask them to give up their own desires to raise children once they're born. And what do they men do? Brag about their progeny and continue to live their life as it always was. The idea of having children is presented through the eyes of the women in this story as something uncertain while they go back and forth about whether they see motherhood as being something for themselves or not. The decision to start a family is presented as something serious to be considered instead of an act to be done out of expectation.

The characters crafted by Kirino are all motivated by their own desires and struggle to figure out how those individual desires fit into the bigger picture. They are flawed people who often make questionable decisions out of spite, jealously and selfishness, but they come together to make a believable story about how everything is always more complicated than it seems. Life is messy and we're all just trying to find a way to make it.

I found this story engaging, but there were moments connecting with the characters was frustratingly difficult. I don't know if it's a matter of the writing style or some things have been lost in translation with the cultural divide, but the writing was a bit too dry for me. I also believe this story could have benefitted from being slightly shorter and more concise instead of repeating some of the same issues and discussions.

Swallows is about a struggling 29 year old woman living in Tokyo who is unhappy with her job and lives paycheck to paycheck. A coworker suggests she apply to become an egg donor, and that leads to her agreeing to become a surrogate. She has conflicting feelings about the entire situation, and at the same time the couple who hire her also have their own issues and conflicts.
I felt like there was too much filler dialogue in this book and it was twice as long as it needed to be. This could all be due to translation, but the characters and dialogue fell flat for me.
Thank you NetGalley and Knopf for the ARC!