The Lonesome Bodybuilder was a story I liked. This writing style breathes life into the world, and the author writes such interesting main characters. This main character was interesting to me in particular not just because she on one random day decided to pick up bodybuilding as a hobby, but more so because of her emotional arc. Starting as someone she thought was "unremarkable" I loved her journey of self-growth and self-love as the story progressed, as her body began matching her ideals and her vision of what her lifestyle would look like. On this note, this is what makes the ending so enjoyable for me.
The Most Boring Red on Earth story was beautiful. My interpretation of this story was a narrative where the narrator goes on this journey of self-love, where she finds her period to be burdensome and annoying at the beginning, even finding it ugly. However, the more she actually interacts with it and attempts to understand it, she finds many magical traits about it, eventually finding it beautiful, lovely, and full of life. Many young women are made to feel like periods are some taboo, or something that people should be hesitant to speak out loud about, especially when entering conversations regarding women's bodies. This text is important to me because it highlights the beauty in periods, and by extension the beauty of women's bodies and how there is no part to be ashamed of.
Diary of the Void was also interesting to me. I really liked how the main character kind of took advantage of the men in her office's lack of knowledge regarding women, or more specifically pregnancy, especially after her coworkers almost made her clean up the cups through a sense of male entitlement (despite working/looking busy and keeping her head down like everyone else, she was singled out because she was the only woman in the office). It was a euphoric moment to read. It was funny to see how incompetent her coworkers were with simple tasks like making coffee, and it really highlighted how ridiculous gender roles are. It was nice seeing them become competent and self-reliant at the end, showing some kind of step away from said gender roles. I was also completely shocked when she went to get an ultrasound, and there was a baby in her belly---almost like it was a physical manifestation of her lie.
The Woman in the Purple Skirt has an interesting main character who seems to project their insecurities onto the Woman in the Purple Skirt, this popular figure that the main character compares or finds likeness to people in her personal life. I appreciate the Woman in the Purple Skirt's character, and how she is so unmoved by people trying to bother her or get in her way (dodges people who want to crash into her on the street, doesn't react to when the kids are bothering her nor with the reality TV stuff). While reading, I was wondering why the main character was so obsessed with her, as it is an almost stalkerish fashion when the narrator knows her schedule, where she lives, where she works, etcetera (or is she almost like an extreme version of a super fan?). I interpret the narrator's consistent judgement of every single action the Woman in the Purple Skirt (WIPS) has taken nearly the whole story to reflect discontentment she has in her own life, as she seems to be looking for flaws in WIPS life that mirror her own.
In Breasts and Eggs, I hate Naruse with a passion. He blames her for having boundaries, and says cruel things when things don't go his way, even outside of the relationship (when they were not together anymore). It was fascinating to get to know her inner dialogue when it came to her feelings regarding sex and having a baby. There has always been a history of women being expected to have/enjoy sex and make babies with their husbands---this is why I appreciate Natsuko and her resistance to this standard/expectation, and her firm boundaries on the matter. I think she may potentially want a baby of her own without having sex, as she has shown interest in it in addition to the end-of-chapter instance where she found sperm donation was now an option for her.
Although I merely skimmed it, the first half of Dilemmas of a Working Woman was very interesting. I liked the main character, and was interested to see all these relationships of her within this world. I found it interesting about how many people in her life looked down on her in a way, pitying her almost immediately when they heard about her divorce. They immediately assumed she was doing horrible (though we wouldn't know if she really looked sickly/more thin than usual as we are being told the story from her perspective, and I don't know if she is an unreliable narrator). Although some of her thoughts were self-deprecating, it more so seemed people's reactions seemed to bother her rather than the current events in her life. Overall, I liked the story and am curious to learn more about her journey.
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