Please read the guidelines on the first page before adding any words.
Discussion Guidelines
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
Will you be reading along with us this week?
I’m reading along
I have finished this part
I’m still reading the book but I haven’t reached this part yet
I’m reading this book after the club has finished
I’m no longer reading the book
0voters
If you’ve already read this book but are still going to join the discussion, please select “I have finished this part.”
Don’t forget to set this thread to Watching in order to stay abreast of discussion!
I just reached the part where the letter continues. I have to admit I had to go back to reread the first part of the letter because I had completely forgotten what was in it and I even didn’t remember who it was from anymore! I guess all the shocking revelations from last week completely overshadowed it
Thank you, that’s so useful for keeping track of this incest-ridden bunch of nutjobs whose names I keep forgetting.
Minor spoiler from the beginning of the chapter
I’m glad I saw this right at the beginning. The description of Aunt Misaki’s pregnancy made me think it was Youichi at first, and then I got confused when Yoshie called him destined to become the guardian. Without this handy family tree, I might still be stuck rereading that confusing paragraph to find something about the younger brother.
I’m two thirds through this chapter, but my iPad battery gave out in the middle of the most info-dense part of the infodump .
We learn a lot of names of persons who appear only once in the book, but the first name of Yuzuki’s father is never mentioned, although he plays an important role in the story. (Or did I miss something?)
Some of the names are mentioned in hiragana only at first, and only much later in kanji.
It was definitely mentioned somewhere, otherwise I wouldn’t have known how to pronounce it.
Btw, I also don’t think we got the name of Yuzuki’s father yet @2000kanji .
Misaki and Kimihiko
Another thing I kind of expected but didn’t get was family background info on Aunt Misaki. Last week, Yoshie speculated that No Left Hand Syndrome is a recessive genetic condition that appeared because of the incestuous nature of great-grandpa’s relationship. So why is Touya born without a left hand if his parents aren’t related? Idk, it’s not that important, maybe it’s caused by the same thing in the water in the ancient Katabuchi house that also causes the oddly specific crazy.
The...plot...for lack of a better work
Is it just me, or does this story have more holes than a honeycomb? I get fatigued just thinking about listing all the things that didn’t really convince me in this chapter, so maybe I’ll just wait till the end. Maybe some things will be patched over. I really hope next week is not going to be a giant infodump like the last two. Like @simias said last week, it’s not really working for me, either.
I think I must have missed/forgotten it then, because I ended up looking it up and fortunately there seems to be only one common reading for this name:
The first ‘ceremony of the left hand’ takes place in 2016, as we learn in much detail. The rules specify that while the child is between 10 and 13 years old, the ceremony has to be performed every year. So what about 2017 and 2018? In 2017 Hiroto is born, in 2018 the family moves to Tokyo (paid by the greatest fans of the ceremony), but nobody talks about the due ceremonies.
I also found this a confusing hole in the story in Keita’s letter. For a while, I actually suspected that he and Ayano were just trying to lure in Yuziki, because she’s a potential victim. This might have somewhat explained the XXL-sized holes in his story, such as the missing details about the other two victims, and the overly convenient nature of Miyae’s death. But it would raise other questions, like why they are involving Yoshie, and anyway since Keita ended up turning against grandpa in a very proveable way, I guess that’s not it. So, your guess is as good as mine.
And speaking of the ceremony, I still didn’t see an explanation of what exactly happened to the twins. Did they kill the 3 children from the branch family who died suspiciously early, and if so, why wasn’t there a fourth victim? At first, this made me believe that the rules somehow meant the murder kid only had to kill 3 people and could do so at any time during the period between their 10-13th year of age, but I reread the rules, and they seem to specify that there has to be one victim per year, so I’m still stumped.
Yeah this one I don’t think is in the book (unless I missed it too) and there are a bunch of possible readings. I go with きょじ myself because it’s easier to remember…
I really think there are only supposed to be three murders. I think in that part the book was quite specific that 志津子 wanted to get rid of three inconvenient heirs, so three murders makes sense. So I really think we should interpret 十三歳になるまで、一年に一度 as exclusive the thirteenth year. And yes, I do think it was implied that the twins committed those three murders.
However (just to contradict myself ), the book is definitely not clear on it, because in his letter 慶太 says あと三回も繰り返さなくてはいけないのです, so that sounds like three more times…
My impressions
I guess my suspension of disbelief is a lot more flexible than the rest of you, because I actually quite enjoyed reading 慶太’s letter But, yeah, it’s not a plot to take seriously, of course. None of this is even remotely realistic
I thought it had a nice arc to it going from “yay, the young generation has a plan to break the tradition” to “oh no, バレた”. I liked how the “family” was like “we want to specify the floor plan” (with results that demonstrate ever more clearly how much is wrong with these people) and how the nephew was like “Yeah, I was onto you guys the whole time, but as long as I was getting paid I didn’t care. But now you messed up.”
I must admit I completely glossed over the fact that he didn’t say anything at all about the second (and third?) victims that they had to fake, but yeah, there must have been at least one before they moved. Maybe his whole passage about repeating it three times was actually a very short recap to say that they did do it several times and I guess he might not want to go into all the details because it’s not exactly something to be proud of… but then why go into so much detail about the first one
And yeah, I have to admit that I also felt that 宮江’s death was way too convenient. That’s where my disbelief also drew the line
In my bookwalker version it’s at 84% and it’s きよつぐ. It’s where 善江 first mentions his name when she tells them about how he “offered” to marry her wasn’t really married to her. (Edit: I misread that.)
How do I keep missing those? I’ll have to check my paper version to see if they’re actually there. And even if they are I’ll pretend they’re not so that I don’t sound like an idiot.
By the way I don’t think I’m crazy, as far as I recall this is the first time the 兄妹 names are mentioned and there’s no furigana in my edition (this is from last week):
Thanks! I missed it. It is in the kindle at the first mention of him)
actually, I read it that 義江 had told 柚木 that 清次 was her second husband, but actually he was just there to watch over her and make sure she didn’t go to the police. (I hadn’t realised that this was the same guy who watches the 姉 later).
I guess all the shocking revelations from last week completely overshadowed it 
.
