3.5 stars
This was a really interesting and relevant book with important commentary on motherhood and capitalism. While I wasn’t the biggest fan of any of the characters, I appreciate how complex and realistic their decisions and emotions were. Some of the conversations felt a little stiff and unrealistic, as did some of the plot points. But still, this was an entertaining read that raised several important questions around the ethics behind surrogacy.

Disappointing.

An interesting premise from an author whose previous works I’ve enjoyed, Swallows is slow paced, repetitive and overly long.

I found the characters to be caricatures with no depth and as a result I wasn’t invested in the story and didn’t particularly care what happened. Pacing was far too slow leaving the ending to be rushed.

Overall, I wouldn’t recommend.

Thanks to NetGalley and Canongate Books for the ARC.

I thought this was really fantastic, brilliantly done, even though obviously could be improved in terms of pacing, structure and dialogues. It felt unnecessarily anticlimactic because the narrative felt sort of bunched up and rushed but also over-explained in the later part of the novel. Characters could be written better as well in my opinion. Would have loved them to have more layers to enable readers to feel more towards them. I felt like because the characters were too boxed-in - into their individual roles, this allowed too much emotional distance between the readers and the writing. It almost felt like the characters were moulded into caricatures or something like that. All that aside, I thought the narrative in general was very well crafted. The sort of story the world needs today. Leaves a lot to think about. Weird thing to say but I miss Natsuo Kirino's voice. The right amount of unhinged if that helps. It's almost like - I know you're about to go off and tell me something wild, but I think it's going to be totally worth my time.

A really emotive book about a subject that I feel is still a bit taboo and doesn't get written about a lot. I found it fascinating to read, although it did get a bit slow at times.

I could title this review: Natsuo Kirino in all her sarcastic splendor. The story of this surrogate mother, of the complicated beginning, of all the varied characters revolving around Riki and the fate of her pregnancy, tell of a Japan and a subject that is very very difficult to frame and even more difficult to judge.

Potrei intitolare questa recensione: Natsuo Kirino in tutto il suo sarcastico splendore. La storia di questa madre surrogata, del suo complicato inizio, di tutti gli svariati personaggi che girano attorno a Riki e al destino della sua gravidanza, raccontano di un Giappone e di un argomento molto molto difficili da inquadrare e ancora di piú da giudicare.

I received from the Publisher a complimentary digital advanced review copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.