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Read-along Sessions
Come and read from the previous week’s section, join in the chat about this book (also the previous book, possible future books, WK reviews, all things Japan-related, what else you did on the weekend, etc) or just lurk and listen. Readers of all speeds and abilities welcome - we are here to help each other out. Reading sessions will be held every Sunday at 9:30pm JST.
Week 10 session (in your timezone): Sunday, December 15, 2019 12:30 PM TZ
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I’m reading along
I have finished this part
I’m still reading the book but I haven’t reached this part yet
This is when she starts climbing up to his window.
すると、一階と二階の間にある飾り屋根のヘリがぐんと近く見えた。
So ぐんと seems to mean “remarkably”, but what is a roof’s ヘリ? All I get from Jisho is “helicopter”
66 %
This is after she entered his room and gave him the Katsudon.
ふとんは、今雄一が出てきた影のままストップしていた。
I take this to mean that the futon still had the imprint of his body after he got up, but why is “stop” used here?
Still 66 % (but like one page later... hmmm)
After he took the Katsudon.
生命を虫食いのようにむしばむその空気の中、予想もつかなかったなにかが私たちを後押しした。
I think this is another one of her philosophical moments… My general understanding is
“In this space that was spoiled like a moth-eaten life, something unexpected pushed us from behind.”
But what exactly is she referring to? Why is the space spoiled? I think this philosophical nuance is lost on me currently…
For the part at 64%, I believe the へり refers to this,
1. edge (of a river, woods, etc.); shoulder (of a road)Usually written using kana alone, sometimes べり as a suffix
2. rim; brim; hem; margin; fringe; selvageUsually written using kana alone
3. fabric border (of a tatami mat, etc.); edgingUsually written using kana alone
I understood it as being like a snapshot in her mind, a frozen moment in time - the colour of the tatami, the sound of the TV, and this image of the futon.
Also at 66%
I think the 空気 (maybe atmosphere? or situation?) is gnawing holes in her life - she doesn’t know which way Yuuichi will react - but she feels there are larger forces at work, that she couldn’t have predicted or anticipated, which are influencing what happens to them.
多分？
Also, hoorah, another Japanese book 読み終わった!
I really enjoyed this book and its characters, and the quirky plot twists and turns. I definitely hope to read more by the same author at some point in the future.
My best guess is that this another of the abstract analogies Mikage likes to make; I have no idea what it refers to.
So, if I understand correctly, in the first part Mikage is describing how the scratch she made in her arm during her acrobatics is getting tainted red (with blood, I presume). But how does this lead to saying “Certainly, everyone (everything?) is like this” ?
It is probably just my meager japanese skills, but I am not able to follow Mikage’s words here. I may have just missed it, but I don’t feel Mikage ever explains what exactly triggered her to take the trip all the way to the inn Yuuichi is staying in. This seems to be the closest thing to her explaining what kind of premonition or understanding she has about Yuuichi’s mental state.
So, she is saying that she knows Yuuichi doesn’t want to go back; that he wants to separate from his strange life until now and start again? Is this hinting to something deeper (suicide? reincarnation?) or simply to starting a life in a different place?
There are many paths (in life), and everyone thinks that they can choose for themselves. Perhaps more precisely, they envisage the moment when they will make that choice. And so it was for me.
and 67%
She is trying to tell Yuuichi that she understands how he must be feeling, because she has been feeling the same way herself. There is a passage in the previous week’s reading which starts この半年… and finishes with それはひどく悲しいことだけれど、そうなんだと思う which talks about this. Basically it’s all too complicated and she finds it easier just to run away from it than deal with it.
Just speculating here, but I don’t think that みんな is the subject of the sentence, which would then maybe lead to the meaningful utterance “In fact, it is like this for everybody.” i.e. everybody’s freshly scratched wound turns red. Maybe??
hoorah, another Japanese book 読み終わった!
