あなたも殺人犯になれる! ❗ (IBC) - Week 16

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あなたも殺人犯になれる! :exclamation:
Intermediate Book Club
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41GF53P6MAL

Week 16 February 3rd, 2024
Chapter(s) #29 & #Epilogue
Start page 243
End page 270
Page count 27
Previous week week 15

Vocabulary

Discussion Guidelines

Spoiler Courtesy

Please follow these rules to avoid inadvertent ネタバレ. If you’re unsure whether something should have a spoiler tag, err on the side of using one.

  1. Any potential spoiler for the current week’s reading need only be covered by a spoiler tag. Predictions and conjecture made by somebody who has not read ahead still falls into this category.
  2. Any potential spoilers for external sources need to be covered by a spoiler tag and include a label (outside of the spoiler tag) of what might be spoiled. These include but are not limited to: other book club picks, other books, games, movies, anime, etc. I recommend also tagging the severity of the spoiler (for example, I may still look at minor spoilers for something that I don’t intend to read soon).
  3. Any information from later in the book than the current week’s reading (including trigger warnings that haven’t yet manifested) needs to be hidden by spoiler tags and labeled as coming from later sections.
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Name Hiragana reading Notes first mentioned in
赤川次郎 あかがわじろう the author cover
岡本聡美 おかもとさとみ main character, manga course participant chapter 1
箱根 はこね town in Kanagawa chapter 1
戸沢 とざわ secretary general from S Publishing chapter 1
七ツ谷むらさき ななつたにむらさき the female manga teacher chapter 1
菅野尚子 すがのなおこ course participant chapter 1
山名武三 やまなたけぞう the prisoner chapter 2
田所隆 たどころたかし the police officer chapter 2
中島 なかじま local policeman chapter 2
ミキ みき middle school student chapter 3
笠原信二 かさはらしんじ ミキ’s father, course participant chapter 3
百合子 ゆりこ ミキ’s mother chapter 3
宇部果林 うべかりん course participant,『か』of 『カバカ』 chapter 4
馬場しのぶ ばばしのぶ course participant,『ば』of 『カバカ』 chapter 4
加藤ジュン かとうじゅん course participant,『か』of 『カバカ』 chapter 4
富田丈一 とみたじょういち 尚子’s fiancé (full name in chapter 5) chapter 4
堺法行 さかいのりゆき course participant chapter 5
相沢弥生 あいざわやよい course participant chapter 5
宝塚 たからづか Takarazuka Revue chapter 7
長谷川清美 はせがわきよみ lodge keeper/employee? chapter 7
河本さつき かわもとさつき course participant chapter 7
安楽深雪 あんらくみゆき course participant chapter 7
真田万里 さなだまり course participant chapter 7

Participation

Will you be reading along with us this week?

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Just finished reading! It took me just under two hours.

Chapter 29 and epilogue

Wow so much happened. I wrote comments as I was reading.

I still think the dialogs are pretty funny:
「君は不治の病で死ぬんじゃないのか？」
「死ぬのはいいけど、殺されるのはいやよ」

正面に、縛り上げられて転がされているのは、長谷川清美だったのだ。
ソファから、さつきが、万里が、弥生が、笠原が、そして尚子も、じっと山名を見つめている。
Haha that was a cool unexpected turn of events. I also thought it was strange that they were not suspicious of the lemonade. Well played. (though I wonder why 長谷川清美 was helping him and if we’ll ever know? maybe she recognized him from the beginning?)

「畜生……」
Oooh I’m so happy to see this one haha. Just learned it in WK this week (level 48) and was wondering if I would see it in the wild.

カッとなった聡美が、ブックエンドを振り上げて山名の方へ踏み出すと、山名の腕がサッと伸びて聡美の足を抱え込んだ。
By the way that is how JPDB can spoil things for you. When you learn a new word, it tells you how many times it appears in the book. ブックエンド appears 5 times in this book, so I knew it would be relevant at some point.
Had another instance in another book where someone is in a public place and other people are also described, one with a “punk” look. Then JPDB also showed me that the word “punk” was used several times so when the “punk” became involved with the first person, it wasn’t a surprise. I know it’s not big spoilers, but definitely something that bothers me. Maybe that’s good that it bothers me, will force me to make sure that I won’t be needing JPDB for ever :smiley:

山名が聡美の体を後ろから抱きしめて、一方の腕が聡美の首にかかっていた。
Ooops. Now how are they going to get out of that one. Maybe カベカ?

「せーの」 という声が──コーラスのような──して、〈カバカ〉の三人が現われたと思うと、それぞれ手にした太い枝を一斉に山名の頭めがけて振り下ろしたのである。
Called it :smiley:

「──全く、妙な連中だぜ」
Haha, I don’t disagree.

「心臓が……苦しい」
Made sense that 田所 couldn’t any more with his disease and how he was treated. Interesting to see if 聡美 will be the one to put an end to 山名.
I personally don’t think I would run after the guy, I would think “good riddance” and wait for rescue (there’s a bus supposed to come pick them up at some point and family that will worry), but hey that’s just me, they are weird.

仰向けになった山名の体を、折れた枝先が貫いて、数十センチも突き出していた。
Okay, ouch.

「これで安心するなよ……。お前らの所へ化けて……出てやる」
Not sure what he says here? He’ll come back in disguise?

聡美が大声で呼んでも、田所は目を開かなかった。
Yup, I guess we knew from Chapter 2 it would end that way. RIP! I expected that he would go a lot of trouble and even die, but not that he would have basically no role in taking 山名 down. Better stay home next time!

ところが、玄関のドアが開かない。
Haha, I thought there might be more. Every time they turn their backs, something happens. 長谷川清美?

「弟……。山名のお姉さんだったんですか」
Didn’t see that one coming! The author did mention several times that she had a very good poker face, so that explains no reaction when she saw her brother appear.

「弟にそう言われたとき、もうこの子は救われない、と思いました。ですから、弟が罠にかかるのを黙って見ていたんです」
Nice of her.

「生きてる方は、全員そこにいらっしゃいますよね？」
That sounds like a trick question…

あれから後、食事を運んで来た戸沢さんを怒鳴りつけたのは私。
Nice, like several mentioned I also thought at that time that it was very possible that むらさき was already dead there but would be a bit weird that 山名 could fake her voice.

聡美は、ふと気付いた。──煙が窓から流れ出てくる。
Haha, yep, again, she did disappear for a minute, so of course something happened.

「──とんでもない合宿だったわね」
Right, let’s just call it that.

Thoughts on the book

What a book!
Sometimes it was hard for me to accept things that didn’t make sense but were okay because they were funny, but actually I feel like the end brings great explanations for everything. Really enjoyed the reading, as it was my first book, it was awesome with the short chapters and so much action. And really funny to discover this author.
All in all 10/10 would recommend. Thanks for participating everyone!

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Chapter 29

There were lots of loose ends to tie up, so it made for a long chapter

A couple of points that I couldn’t quite translate (they mostly seem to be 山名 talking)

安らかに眠ってくれ。 俺も、それくらいの良心は持ち合わせてるからね。あとで冥福を祈ってやるよ

Sleep peacefully. something about being on 山名’s conscience…pray on the other side… (is he saying that he has killed them quietly so they should pray for him?..

俺ともあろうもんが…
I get the second half of this sentence 山名 didn’t imagine that this group of kids could do such a thing. But what does this bit mean?

俺はそう簡単にやられないぜ
something about, you can’t get rid of me/deal with me that easily?

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I started this week’s reading a bit early, knowing how long it was.

Chapter 29

First, BOOOO 田所 SHOULD HAVE LIVED!

Second, I’m shocked that 山名 actually had an accomplice! I thought that was something he made up to tell other people. The story about it being an unexpected encounter and how she conveniently had the ability to mimic voices is a wild coincidence, to put it mildly.

Third, did I miss the explanation about why 富田 tried to kill 尚子? I understand that he was tricked into it, but… how? I would expect it to be really difficult to bait some normal, non-murdery guy into trying to shoot his fiancee.

化けて出る means “to appear as a spirit​/wandering ghost”. So he’s saying he’s gonna come back and haunt them all, lol. A jerk to the very end.

Overall book thoughts

I’ve been hiding away my critical media lens until the book was finished. Now I can let it loose! Just a little though, otherwise this would be very long :slight_smile:

I have one major, specific gripe: I can’t help but feel that the plot should’ve focused more on infighting among the course participants. We’re told it was 山名’s plan to turn characters against each other and that probably contributes to why the book is called あなたも殺人犯になれる, but mostly he just killed people himself. 山名 succeeded in turning 富田 against 尚子, ok. 尚子 briefly turns against 聡美. I guess 山名’s sister helping out her brother counts, since she felt guilty about it? Everybody hated 田所, but nobody seemed to want him dead— which would’ve been plausible, considering that they thought he could get loose and kill them all. What little serious infighting we did get had no resolution, like the beef between むらさき and 深雪. The poisoned lemonade in particular seemed much like an anticlimactic ’author wants to wrap this up’ kinda development rather than part of any plan.

Overall, I thought the book was ok. The fast pace and silliness of the story made it fun to anticipate what was going to happen next. At the same time, the superficiality of the plot and characters wasn’t really my thing. I wasn’t bothered when implausible developments were smoothed over with jokes, but the jokes were hit or miss.

I’m willing to give the author a second chance because I did vote for セーラー服と機関銃 for the next IBC book, but I’m hoping that his early work has more heart in it. The premise just sounds too fun to pass up, also.

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Epilogue and thoughts on the last chapter

I enjoyed the last chapter - wonderful moments of tension with the lemonade. I laughed out loud at the scene when 山名 came back with the detective
And 山名’s ending… (I wondered if 赤川 had deliberately left his disappearance into the water a little ambiguous in case he wanted to have a sequel. (Though I can’t see that there is one)
And it was really interesting to hear 清美’s confession from the second floor window and her own (more certain) denouement

The epilogue though… seemed a bit of an anticlimax. Maybe epilogues are always that way. But this seemed to add little and was a bit lacking in atmosphere. Even the final sentence lacked 赤川’s usual atmospheric touch at concluding scenes. Shame!

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Chapter 29 and epilogue 感想

I’m quite disappointed with the ending… It’s full of surprises that came out of nowhere.
Surprise! There’s actually an accomplice.
Surprise! It’s actually his sister. Yeah! He has a sister! Bet you didn’t know that!
Surprise! She’s actually very good at voice acting and she impersonated Nanatsudani-sensei when she was talking with Tomita. (This one is really wtf)

And then the author had to force it so that it makes sense that Yamana suddenly met his sister and she agreed to help him killing people. Oh but we need the happy ending, so let’s make it so that she’s actually reluctant to do it and make her regret her action so that we can have a huge thing to close the story (ie the fire).

And I’m sad that with all the unique and interesting characters that we have here, there isn’t much character development. Nanatsudani-sensei was interesting but all she did after she arrived at the lodge was shutting herself inside her room and the next thing we know, she’s found dead. I want to see more confrontation between her and Miyuki. And what will happen to Yayoi? She’s going back to her husband? And Kasahara seems out of place from the start, why did he want to join this camp in the first place? Tomita is Naoko’s fiancee but he was easily convinced that Naoko is Yamana’s accomplice? That doesn’t really make sense, how did that even happen?

The story up to the climax is entertaining, unexpected, funny, and I had huge expectation but the ending is a let-down.

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Chapter 29

俺も、
Even I/I too,
持ち合わせてるからね
Because (I) happen to have
それくらいの良心は
A conscious to that extent.
In less literal words, I think he’s saying that even he’s got morals enough to ask her to die peacefully.

あとで冥福を祈ってやるよ
I’ll pray for your happiness in the afterlife later.
The やる in particular tells you that it’s him doing it for さつき, who he’s talking to in that moment. Not sure if the あとで is “I’m going to pray later” or “for your happiness after (this)” though.

ともあろうもんが
I had to look this up, too. It’s a whole expression. Jisho.org is giving me “1. of all people; a person of …'s standing”. So he’s saying, for ME (who is so clever/important/whatever) to be done in…
This bit gave me Scooby doo vibes. I would have gotten away with it if it weren’t for you meddling kids! :joy:

Pretty much! Although it’s “won’t” rather than “can’t”, since やられない is passive rather than potential.

Thank you for asking all these questions! I hope you haven’t minded me answering so many of them the past several weeks. It’s helped me think about the material more in depth and I’ve learned much more than I would’ve otherwise.

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Thank you!! Really appreciated!

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General book impressions

I enjoyed the book overall and I didn’t feel like the ending was particularly rushed (in comparison to the rest of the story). Did we get a well fleshed out story, with character development and intricate storytelling? No. But was it fun? Yes, and that’s what I was hoping for, tbh - a light read, which doesn’t take itself too seriously.

From a learning perspective, I really enjoyed having a lot of dialogue and I just always felt excited about reading it (compared to books which are just a menacing wall of text).

I think it boils down to expectations - I wasn’t expecting a masterpiece, just an easy read, and that’s what I got. The level was ideal for me to learn new words but also read it relatively easily. Overall a good experience.

Thanks @Akashelia for hosting :slight_smile:

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Final thoughts

This book was a very satisfying reading and learning experience as my first Japanese novel. Once I got into it and got used to the author’s style, I looked forward to each new week and it was fun to speculate with the club. All in all, I’d give it 4/5 with the rose-colored glasses of Japanese honeymooning firmly screwed on.

If it hadn’t been for that, I think I’d be harsher on the book, because all the things @Sasabonsam mentioned also bothered me.

Thank you @Akashelia for finding this pick and organizing!

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Thanks for organizing @Akashelia !

thoughts on the book

I wasn’t able to really get into this one, which is also why I didn’t really participate in the discussions, although I really enjoyed reading through everyone’s thoughts!
This has been the 3rd 赤川 次郎 novel that I read in a short time span and I realized while I was reading this book that I really need a break from this author :laughing: I still think he’s a great author, especially for language learners, but I think since his books are very trope-y he (for me!) gets old quick. This was additionally my least favorite of the 3 I read, mostly because I always find it exhausting to keep track of a huge cast and it didn’t feel like it was really needed to have such a big cast in the first place. Since I need a break from the author, I won’t participate in the next IBC, but I am very curious about the book and how everyone will like it and will probably read it in a few months when I have recovered from the 赤川 次郎 excess :laughing:

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Thanks @Akashelia!

I really enjoyed this book. I second everything @snowwater said here. It wasn’t a super deep book, but it was fun and more than most books I’ve read in Japanese so far, I looked forward to opening this one up each week.

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I second what everyone else said. I really liked the writing style, it felt straight-forward and easy to follow. I liked the setup and character dynamics in the beginning.

Sadly didn’t care much for the execution of the plot in later chapters, but it was still amusing to read at least :grin:

Thank you @Akashelia for the organization! I really enjoyed reading the book with you all.

reading your reactions was very interesting. They are soo different from my own :laughing:

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Just finished reading! And with a day to spare, I’m proud of myself haha.
Good job to everyone for finishing it!!

Ending Thoughts

I agree with a lot of others sentiments that it wasn’t an intricate book that’s meant to be well thought out, just meant to have a fun time :)) So while it wasn’t my new absolute favorite, I’m not a harsh critique. I don’t have any gripes with it because I enjoyed it.

Towards the end when 清美 is laying everything out and confessing, it struck me what the tone reminded me of. I’ve been watching 名探偵コナン (only on like episode 50 something) for the first time, and I don’t know if it stays this way through the whole series, but some of the confessions/motives end up being a bit funny haha. Like, they murdered someone but don’t have a super solid reason, and when they get called out they just immediately spill everything they did, and I’ll get left laughing like “so that led you to MURDER?!” And don’t get me wrong, that’s not a negative at all, I have been loving watching コナン. Maybe I didn’t explain it well, but I thought it was funny that that exact feeling hit me as the lodge was burning and she was confessing. Because they were siblings so… help him murder people I guess? Just one more time haha.

Very enjoyable read! Thanks for the suggestion and discussions. Always a nice feeling to finish a whole novel :smile:

AMEN, that poor man :smiling_face_with_tear: I had kind of forgotten about his condition, and then I felt even worse for him with the 花瓶 incident :sweat_smile:

Congrats, you did it!!! :partying_face: That’s an awesome feeling

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Finished the book! I fell off the club in the first weeks but I finally got around to reading it. It was fun being able to read fast and immediately be able to read the reactions from everyone in the club threads. Too bad I couldn’t follow along.

About the book (Spoilers)

Mostly agree with the general sentiment. It may not be a literary masterpiece but it was a fun read. The short chapters were really motivating and there was always some random shenanigan happening to keep you interested. Some characters weren’t too developed and others didn’t do anything useful after all, but I don’t think they were supposed to either.
From the title and some of the things going on I thought it might end up with everyone becoming a killer in some way but I guess not.

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