Everybody should feel free to post and ask questions–it’s what makes book clubs fun! But please do not post until you are familiar with Spoiler Courtesy!
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.
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.
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).
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
When asking for help, please mention the page number, 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!
Participation
Have you reached this part?
Yes
0voters
Don’t forget to set this thread to Watching in order to stay abreast of discussion!
Small chronology question, does anyone remember how long has 尚美 been working at the hotel when the story in the first book happened (not in this book)? Maybe @Malinkal as you’re the one that’s read it most recently?
I don’t remember if it said exactly and I don’t have access to the book right now to check, but I believe she was in her quite early 30s and joined right after graduating at presumably 22, so like 8-10 years?
Nice thanks! I skimmed the first 30 pages of the first book and couldn’t find the info again
In this book, it is said that she has been working at the hotel for 8 years, so I couldn’t pin-point from @Malinkal’s answer if the events of this book are after or before the first one, but now I think I know!
Yes I think that’s it! Then the dates all add up. Because at some point it says that he just turned 30 so that makes more sense that she can be 26 and working for 4 years and not 4 years
(I’m at p.40 now)
Thanks again
I was wondering if it would be the same cast and the same setting than book 1, happy to have partly the answer pretty fast with 山岸尚美 as a hotel clerk already on the first page!
Took me a while to figure out if this happened before or after the first book, thanks to those who helped clear that up! (That’s also what I was assuming as there were no mentions of 新田 anywhere or of the incident.)
Funny to see some other cast members too, her colleague 久我, and 杉下 is a bell-boy now, but he will get promoted to bell-captain by the time the first book happens :))
Was interesting to read about the movie “Grand Hotel”, I have never seen it and don’t think I’ll watch it so I read what’s it about on Wikipedia, apparently it revolves around this quote about hotel life: “People coming, going. Nothing ever happens” and then tons of stuff happens x)
I loved how the story didn’t go where I thought it was going with 宮原. When 尚美 first gets the call from him, she’s all ready to have to turn him down because of course he wants to get back with her, but no, he just goes “you need to save me”, I was just like her, “え？” haha.
Then when he gave the room number, 1105, I had written in my notes 西村美枝子 = 1105 so I again went “???”.
Then while they are chatting in the room of the disappeared lady, I thought it was funny that 尚美 who didn’t really want to see 宮原, can’t help but ask him how did his change of job happen and how long he’s been married haha.
Didn’t see it coming that 宮原 was protecting 大山将弘, though it makes sense given how they described his personality.
Did see it coming that 尚美 found 美枝子 / 園子 from the food order. Also was fun that she gave her back her earring. But I thought she wouldn’t reveal more, to not “remove her mask”. So a bit surprised with her revealing that she knows everything, it feels that it’s for the reader’s benefit but coming from 尚美 I think it’s totally out of character.
Funny with the last sentence, I was also wondering if 宮原 was really married or not after all.
I think I remembered that I struggled a lot with the beginning of マスカレード・ホテル, it was a tough read.
So I’m super surprised and happy that I finished this first story in only a few days! I think my reading has improved from last year, despite not reading any physical novels in between, and also to be fair this one is easier. Not so much time was spent on the setting or on describing people’s jobs and such, it was pretty much directly the action and dialog between people!
All in all I enjoyed the story.
I almost feel like this is the format the first book should have had, a collection of stories happening at a hotel, so in a way it’s nice, “healing” (癒し) almost
That’s one of the positives with short stories! I still prefer his long format, but this story really couldn’t have been anything else. Felt like the perfect length for what it was.
I also wondered when it was going to be set. Maybe they’re all set before the Hotel; I didn’t notice before, but it says 伏線は、ここにある on the cover. If so, I wonder if we’ll also get some pre-Hotel Nitta as well.
I thought this before when we read Hotel, but you really can get Naomi to do anything by appealing to her pride as a hotel clerk. Even when her colleagues and subordinates tell her it might be better to just go home already, she stubbornly persists.
Oh which version do you have? The one with the blue cover? I have the same one that’s in the top post.
Feel free to go on then! The great thing with these unscheduled clubs is that you can go at your own pace; but I do get the impulse. It is more fun to read in a group! I’m planning to read as the fancy strikes me. Today I’m taking a rest day from S&M and I guess I thought a new, lighter mystery might be just what I needes. (It kind of was. I feel a bit refreshed :))
Yes exactly, more fun but also nice to be able to decide with this book especially it feels OK to take a break after this story, we’ll see if it’s the same with the next ones!
I can imagine that you could easily breeze through it!
Finally caught up too ! Just like you, @Akashelia , this is my light-reading of the moment. The weather’s nice, it’s the perfect book to read outside !
and I always forget how nice short stories can be. I usually like my books over 500 pages, but this format is perfect at this time. Thinking forward to our future book clubs, I think the other are novels ?
I was wondering too about room 1105, and deduced pretty early that somehow 宮原 was covering for 大山. It seems precisely like the kind of thing a big-shot celebrity would ask of his manager-driver-fixer; and also about 美枝子／園子 hiding in the presidential suite. I didn’t see the marriage plot coming though, I thought there would be some blackmail going on between 美枝子／園子 and 鴨田 on the one side, 大山 on the other. As for 尚美 being out of character at the end, it is true, but 1) the story needed some kind of explanation, 2) she must have seen 美枝子／園子 as some kind of rival of sorts, even though her relationship with 宮原 ended a long time ago and there never was a real affair between 宮原 and 美枝子／園子; this is sweet, if petty, revenge.
I was expecting her as well to just give the earring back and send her off on her way rather than what happened.
Throughout the whole story it seemed like quite a different 尚美 to book 1, there was a bit of her having to hold her tongue in the previous one, but not as much as this one. Of course she progresses into the role and this is her with more personal stakes in what happens so it makes sense.
All of the events seemed to fit together, it felt quite obvious 宮原 was covering for 大将, and it wasn’t that surprising about 尚美 finding out via the room service either. It felt a bit kind of rushed though, like there wasn’t so much laying down of background, I don’t really know. It was an easy read though, just coming directly off of the thickly-laid down book 1 it was very different. I do like short stories like this though, and looking forward to the next one
Part 1: それぞれの仮面
Didn’t really know what to put for the poll as we are not really “reading along”…
thanks for pointing it out!
The great thing with these unscheduled clubs is that you can go at your own pace; but I do get the impulse. It is more fun to read in a group! I’m planning to read as the fancy strikes me. Today I’m taking a rest day from S&M and I guess I thought a new, lighter mystery might be just what I needes. (It kind of was. I feel a bit refreshed :))