I also have a quick thought about the breastfeeding thing. I think we're so accustomed to thinking of breasts as sexual that it does come across as a weird sexual fetish. But, I think her point is the opposite of that. We're so uncomfortable as a society with breasts being used for breastfeeding that breastfeeding gets confused as something sexual. That's why women wear coverups as they try to nurse their babies. God forbid they expose their boob to the public because we see that as indecent. Philips is making the point that the breast is for breastfeeding. It's debatable about how successful she was in making this point. Personally, I read it as intending to shock her audience sometimes in order to communicate that the reality of breastfeeding isn't always easy, clean, and certainly not sexy. I think women are also conflicted about their breasts as they experience the early years of motherhood. A mom still wants to be sexy and attractive but her body also has other roles to fulfill.

I actually loved this book. It's a 4/5 star read for me and I've recommended it to many people. In my opinion, the mention of lactating communicated the physical reality of motherhood if a person breastfeeds. It symbolized the main character's connection to her kids and the fact that motherhood was a bodily experience for her. It's not just a role she performs. It's mental, emotional, and physical. The reality of breastfeeding is that it's messy and the body does things on instinct and without conscious decision making. I think that Phillips' main character experiences motherhood similary--messy, instinctual, and not always a conscious choice but rather a primal reaction. This is also true of her double.

I also have a different interpretation of her double's motivations and what happened in that relationship. However, I'm not sure how to hide spoilers so I'm not going to go into that.

I can understand how the book could seem too surrealist for some readers. I think the book Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder plays with some similar themes of motherhood in an even more surrealist and less sci-fi way. I like Helen Phillips take on a doppelganger story and the way she uses that framework to explore modern motherhood.