コンビニ人間 🍙 Week 19 (IBC Primer)

Week 19 of コンビニ人間

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コンビニ人間 (IBC Primer) :rice_ball: Home Thread

Previous Part: Week 18

Reading

Week Start Date End Page (PB)* End Kindle Location End Percentage Ebook End Phrase Page Count
#19 Oct 21 161 1587 94% <THE END> 16

If the end phrase is bolded, it means that this week ends in the middle of a section/chapter. So the stopping point might be a bit rough and you need to keep more of an eye out for it.

Proper Noun Readings

Name Reading Notes Proof
古倉 ふるくら Main character’s last name Furigana
恵子 けいこ Main character’s first name English version description
菅原 すがわら Part time employee at コンビニ Common reading
いずみ Supervisor at コンビニ Common reading
ダット ダット Vietnamese, new employee
岩木 いわき Tall university student, employed on day shift, looking for a new job English version description
雪下 ゆきした Day shift employee soon to be leaving for a proper job English version description
ミホ ミホ Keiko’s friend from class reunion, week 6
ユカリ ユカリ Miho’s friend, recently moved back to the area, has a child, week 6
サツキ サツキ Miho’s friend, no children, week 6
白羽 しらは New, tall, skinny store employee, week 8 Furigana
麻美 まみ Keiko’s sister, week 10 Audiobook
悠太郎 ゆうたろう Mami’s baby, week 10 Audiobook

Vocabulary List

Please note that this vocabulary sheet was created for earlier コンビニ人間 clubs. The PB (paperback) pages should correspond with PB page counts in our schedule, but the weeks and schedule table won’t. This was created for the original IBC schedule. Example: the vocabulary for Primer week one, two and a couple of pages of week 3 will all be under original IBC week 1, so in the week one tab.

Please don’t change this sheet to correspond with our schedule, but do feel free to add to the vocabulary sheet if it is missing something, please read the editing guidelines tab before doing so. :slight_smile: If you are unsure how to add something or which page it falls on, post it in the thread instead and we’ll figure it out together!

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.
Instructions for Spoiler Tags

Click the cog above the text box and use either the “Hide Details” or “Blur Spoiler” options. The text which says “This text will be hidden” should be replaced with what you are wishing to write. In the case of “Hide Details”, the section in the brackets that is labelled “Summary” can be replaced with whatever you like also (i.e, [details=”Chapter 1, Pg. 1”]).

Hide Details results in the dropdown box like below:

Example

This is an example of the “Hide Details” option.

The “Blur Spoiler” option will simply blur the text it surrounds.

This is an example of the “Blur Spoiler” option.


Posting Advice

Obs! Do note that the physical version seems to come with zero page numbers (yes, zero, I saw none while flipping through a good portion of the first volume). So alternative means of identifying page might be needed.

  • When asking for help, please mention the page number (if you can), and check before posting that your question hasn’t already been asked. As the threads get longer, it becomes more convenient to use the Search function, which is located in the upper right corner of the forum. It is the magnifying glass which is near your profile picture! The best way to search is usually to type part of the sentence you are confused about, and select “in this topic”. This will show you all posts within the current thread which has that string of text.

  • Be sure to join the conversation! It’s fun, and it’s what keeps these book clubs lively! There’s no such thing as a stupid question! We are all learning here, and if the question has crossed your mind, there’s a very good chance it has crossed somebody else’s also! Asking and answering questions is a great learning opportunity for everyone involved, so never hesitate to do so!

Participants

Mark your participation status by voting in this poll.
(Please feel free to update your status whenever you like!)

  • I’m reading along
  • I have finished this part
  • I’m still reading the book but I haven’t reached this part yet
  • I am no longer reading the book
0 voters

Past IBC Thread Links

This week is covered by week 13.

Don’t feel like you need to look there to see if your question(s) have been answered before posting here. There is no obligation nor expectation that you will look there first.

3 Likes
Ending

So we got a happy ending, I think! Keiko was happy with her live as a convenience store worker. People around her told her she needed to change, and the change made her more and more unhappy. It was great to see her rediscover her joy when she visited a konbini, and the confidence to get rid of Shiraha and go back to the life that made her happy.


This felt like a great choice for an IBC primer group. It was a relatively short read, and apart from certain sections that were more abstract, a lot of it was relatively straightforward to read.

Thanks @MissDagger for pulling this reading group together and everything you did to keep us organised, even when you weren’t reading along yourself.

8 Likes

Whew, what a relief that ending was! After Keiko was through so much during the whole story, I was kind of expecting a sucker-punch ending… but in the end, it was very fitting and I felt very happy for her

So that was it. I had sooooo much joy reading this book. My first real-deal Japanese book <3
Thank you everyone reading along and sharing those moments

And also thank soooo much, @MissDagger ! Taking part in this book club meant the world to me and part of my lifetime dream of learning Japanese. It’s a major milestone for me! <3

See you all in the next book club!!

6 Likes

Kudos to all who managed to read the whole book!

In case you did not know, this book is pretty special as it has won the Akutagawa prize, the most renowned literature prize that Japan has to offer. If you are interested, feel free to participate in The Akutagawa Prize Reading Challenge where you can tick off all prize winning books that you’ve read :tada:

8 Likes

I’ll echo the thanks to @MissDagger for organising this. It was a great book to read together - very helpful to have the structure and incentive of the bookclub, and very useful to be able to pick others’ brains along the way. Nice to observe (and cope with) the increased pace of reading as the book went on.
I read this (quickly) several years ago in English. But it was a much more interesting and thought provoking read at the slower pace required to read it in Japanese.

7 Likes

Finished it on my second attempt, and with the club! I agree, I like the ending.

My Bookwalker version has a 5 page あとがき which I’m going to try to read now, since if I don’t read it now, I never will.

6 Likes

Ok, I’m a little late to the party… but I finally finished! :tada:

It took me a long time to reach the end, but I really enjoyed the story. It made me think a lot more than I expected.
Reaching the end just as I quit my (previously beloved) job made the whole thing more poigniant for me I think.

I’m not 100% decided on whether the ending was happy or sad, but I’m leaning towards happy.

Thanks to everyone for reading along, and of course @MissDagger for organizing.
I may not have kept up, but having the threads to follow kept me motivated, and helped me out with several confusions. :slightly_smiling_face:

8 Likes