コンビニ人間: Week 11 Discussion

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コンビニ人間 Home Thread

Week 11

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Start Date: September 7th
Previous Thread: Week 10
Next Chapter: Week 12

Reading:

End Page (PB) End Page (HB) End % End Phrase Pages
134 125 79% 見つめていた。 13

Word lists - Learn the vocabulary for コンビニ人間

Discussion Rules

  • Please use spoiler tags for major events in the current chapter(s) and any content in future chapters.
  • When asking for help, please mention the chapter and page number. Also mention what version of the book you are reading.
  • Don’t be afraid of asking questions, even if they seem embarassing at first. All of us are here to learn.
  • To you lurkers out there: Join the conversation, it’s fun! :durtle:

Read-along Sessions

Come and read from the previous week’s section, join in the chat about this book 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 11 session (in your timezone): Sunday, September 15, 2019 12:30 PM TZ

Participants

Mark your participation status by voting in this poll.

  • I’m reading along
  • I’m still reading the but I haven’t reached this part yet
  • I’m skipping this book
  • I’m no longer reading the book

0 voters

4 Likes

well… wow.
I really liked this part, especially when the sister is over (which, granted, is most of this week’s reading) and when she’s like: “so, where’s this guy?” “In the bathroom.” “Eh?” “He lives there.” :joy: loved it.
But the bit towards the end, where her sister starts crying and asking her to go to therapy with her, was … a lot. I really enjoyed reading it and actually, the best part is probably how quickly the mood changes, but how it’s not at all jarring and works amazingly well. So glad we picked this book.

10 Likes

That feeling when you click on a spoiler and it’s actually a spoiler. :joy:

In my mind the week changes after the reading on discord so I didn’t check which week this thread was for.

I really only have myself to blame. :joy: :woman_facepalming:

1 Like

I’m so sorry the spoiler game is ruined for you :joy:
Fair warning here: nobody click on the spoiler in my message above, it’s actually a spoiler :joy:

I never check either and it always takes me second to realise that I don’t actually have a clue what’s going on and then go check the title xD

3 Likes

By the way, I didn’t say anything earlier since I figured you probably were hoping for nobody to notice and quietly fix it on your own… but you forgot the word “book” in the poll :sweat_smile: @Sylph

To be clear, don’t edit this week’s poll, because that would reset the results

2 Likes

I think it can’t be fixed any more because it would reset the poll?

But really not very sure what exactly resets the poll and what would be fine…

Yeah, I know, just figured I’d say something in case they want to fix it for the remaining threads :slight_smile:

2 Likes

Oh wow I can’t believe I never noticed this :see_no_evil:
I checked all the way back to Week 2 and it’s not there. Not even once.
Being always reading along is bad sometimes…
I’ll try to remember to put it in next week :innocent: sorry guys

Sorry I didn’t answer before, I’ve been really busy the past few days and I’m behind on everything :scream:

3 Likes

This is the second time I got caught by 奴等. Grr!

3 Likes

Some questions please, if I may~

At 71%

私は白羽さんが何を言っているのかさっぱりわからなかった。

And me neither >.<

I mean, what exactly is 白羽さん talking about? If I understood correctly, he wants to become a parasite as a sort of revenge, because he thinks it unfair that it is possible for women to be economically dependent on a husband but not the other way around?

He says that if she tries to chase him out, everyone will judge her. I find this really confusing… isn’t it precisely because society will usually look down on a man who is dependent on a woman that they would even encourage her to chase him out?

Did I misunderstand something somewhere?

At 77%

だから何も問題は起きていないのに 「あちら側」にいる姉より、問題だらけでも 「こちら側」に姉がいるほうが、妹はずっと嬉しいのだ。 そのほうがずっと妹に
とって理解可能な、正常な世界なのだ。

I am not sure I understand this correctly… the 「あちら側」refers to the world of “normalcy” and 「こちら側」to the world of “weirdness”? So basically, “she prefers an older sister of that side, even if she’s full of problems, to an older sister of this side, even if nothing is wrong with her” ?

Random commentary on this week's reading

Mind blown when 白羽さん comes out of the bathroom and actually says something that makes sense. I found this totally unexpected, and even still not 100% sure it is not a fluke, considering he doesn’t really seem to care about 恵子 at all, and I can’t think any reason why he’d gone out of his way to get scolded (except, maybe, that he found his life as a parasite somewhat in danger?).

I think 妹 knows that everything 白羽さん said was a lie, and I found it really sad to see her cling to this false sense of normalcy at the first opportunity. I just can’t see this situation ending well for any of the parties involved…

9 Likes

Can’t say anything to the first part, will need to actually open the book for that. :smiley:

77%

It’s the other way around, the あちら側 is where 恵子 is actually at, where she doesn’t have a problem with anything that’s happening, and こちら側 is where the sister can help her with her “problems”. Pretty sure this is, from the sister’s pov.

Didn’t this imagery come up before in the book? Something to look up later. :slight_smile:

I was so blown away when he showed up to her rescue, too! Maybe meeting 恵子 helped him see some things from a different perspective? But yeah, maybe he’s just protecting his habitat… Even so, that kind of goes against his reason for even being there (which was to not have to deal with society’s expectations - which he’s actually confronting as in dealing with now). Nect week can’t come soon enough! :smiley:

I was also pretty sad with how her sister handled this situation. Especially since she was introduced as 恵子’s supporter, who even helps her make excuses and fit in better. Maybe the ‘hope’ that 恵子 was “fixed” now prevented her thinking clearly.

That last scene, where her sister and 白羽 are enacting this… I want to call it a play, almost, and she’s just watching as a spectator felt like a pretty alt description of everyone’s status in society. With her sister as the normal part of it, 白羽 sort of not fitting in and getting scolded, and 恵子 as the actual outsider removed from society, where neither part actually knows what to do with each other.

I might be reading too much into that. :stuck_out_tongue:

9 Likes
Page 125

店長の中で、私がコンビニ店員である以前に、人間メスになってしまったという感覚だった。

What does the の中で actually do here?

Also, I’m not sure I understand how to use/interpret 以前に in general, so it’s making it difficult to understand exactly the meaning of the sentence (even if I get the general idea). Monolingual dictionaries only seem to have 以前, and that hasn’t been particularly helpful.


The section from pages 125 to 128 was pretty brutal. No other specific questions really, but it was hard to get through.

4 Likes

For 以前に, maybe it’s the one described here ?
So not about temporal meaning, but about priority : a human female before / instead of a 店員

6 Likes

I agree about the priority meaning for 以前.

I think it’s pretty straightforwardly describing how his feelings changed inside the 店長.

5 Likes

The section from pages 128 to 134 was much easier than the previous section. It took me a little longer than it should have to realize that the lie about the ex-girlfriend was for the sister’s sake, but I figured it out after a couple minutes.

Comments, hopes, and speculation

First, after the sister is crying her eyes out, this line sums up the main character so perfectly:
私は妹が黙ってしまったので暇になり、冷蔵庫からプリンを取り出して泣いている妹を見ながら食べるが、妹はなかなか泣き止まなかった。

Well, she stopped talking even though she’s still crying, so that means I have time to get pudding! And then eat it in front of her while she’s still crying! :joy:


So, given the lie that was just spun I don’t think it will go this way… But I think it would actually be cool for her to go to therapy again. In the 20-30 years since she went last (I don’t remember how old she was) surely awareness of autism has improved significantly. Having the book end with the other characters gaining some understanding of her condition (since her sister still clearly doesn’t understand) and perhaps some suggestions for 古倉 to cope with how the world works and get better at handling it (rather than “fixing” her), would be kind of nice.

12 Likes
more of that

Oh, that would be good. I personally don’t think 恵子 needs to learn to cope with society, I mean she is self sufficient in it. I think she needs to accept herself and stop trying so hard to fit in.

Rather, I don’t think she should have to do that and in an ideal world blabla. I mean, clearly she wants to fit in so yeah, it would be nice if something/someone enabled her to do that.

I definitely agree therapy would be good for her and her family! They’re all waiting for her to be magically ‘fixed’, and keep being disappointed because it’s just not happening. Even 恵子 herself, which is just. :frowning:

It would be nice if they could go on the way to accepting that 恵子’s differences just are, and they’re okay and no, she doesn’t need to meet your/society’s standards of normal.

Just starting on that road would be lovely. But, well. I think the one who’s most likely to jump start that is 白羽, since he as an outsider can see this less emotionally.

But I can easily see this not happening, too. 白羽 is bringing fresh winds, but they’re all so set in their thinking… :frowning:

In other news, the internet knows too much again.

I got recommended this Youtube Video about a teenage girl living with a form autism. Now, obviously this is a very different person, but I also found quite a bit of overlap! She also mentions how other people just intuitively know how society works and how she tries to wear appropriate clothing, for example.

11 Likes

Done!

I am amazed that we are so close to the end and I still have no idea where this is going. As before, I found some parts of this section funny (specially the コンビニ people getting overexcited over 恵子’s business and 白羽さん being in the bathroom) and others pretty sad. Of course, the bit with the sister. But also how 恵子 is noticing that the コンビニ people are changing and they are not the same anymore even if they still wear the same uniform (or maybe they were always like that but it wasn’t noticeable).
I think all the relevant things were mentioned in this thread already so that’s it from me :stuck_out_tongue:

10 Likes

Repeat Club Discussion Starts Here!

##20 March 2021

End Page (PB): 134
End Page (HB): 125
End Kindle Location: 1294
End Phrase: 見つめていた。

Welcome to Week 11! We’re coming up on the home stretch!

Feel free to use past discussion for reference, but please don’t hesitate to post any questions or comments! The more we discuss the more we all learn, and the more fun it is! Also, I strongly recommend setting each week’s thread to “watching” to stay abreast of the discussion. Please try to mark any spoilers as such.

  • I’m reading along
  • I’ll catch up soon
  • I have no intention of catching up or the club has already finished, but I’m using the forums as reference

0 voters

Live Reading Sessions

The next live reading session will be 2021-01-24T03:00:00Z If you haven’t already, join the Japanese Book Club Discord. When the time comes to start, just enter the コンビニ人間 voice channel.

For live readings, we will take turns reading as much as we feel comfortable with (up to ~1 page), then go back and translate a section of our choosing together. Expect sessions to take anywhere from 1-2 hours, but feel free to join late or leave early as your schedule allows. We will be starting promptly at the designated time. Please post any questions regarding live reading session logistics in the Discord channel or on the home thread.

Vocab Sheet

Anybody should feel free to add to the vocab sheet. Read the guidelines on the first sheet- even if a word is not yet included you can use the spreadsheet as a tool to get help.

Discussion Questions

  1. What sentence/passage gave you the most difficulty? Feel free to request some help, or if you figured it out on your own break it down for the rest of us!

  2. What was your favorite new vocab word from this week’s reading?

  3. Was there any passage that you found particularly intriguing? Did it resonate with you (either positively or negatively)? Was it surprising? Offer any insight or new perspective? Was it just beautifully written?

  4. Does Shiraha’s covering for Keiko indicate any growth for him as a character? Or is it purely selfish manipulation?

  5. Is Mami’s concern for Keiko genuine? Or is it born from embarrassment at having an “abnormal” sister? How could she go about helping Keiko more effectively?

8 Likes

Just hit page 131. Keiko… whyyyy would you show your sister that Shiraha is living in the bath?

12 Likes

Everyone said to her that she should keep a man. Nobody specified where.

17 Likes