I’m reading along (I’ve read no further than the end of this week’s section)
I’ll catch up soon (I haven’t yet finished last week’s section)
I’m reading ahead (I’ve read beyond the end of this week’s section)
I’ve read this book already but I’m here for discussion
I have no intention of catching up or the club has already finished, but I’m using the forums as reference
0voters
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.
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 need to be hidden by spoiler tags and labeled as such.
Discussion Questions
Feel free to use these questions as a framework or a starting point for responses. I also encourage people to post their own discussion questions!
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!
What was your favorite new vocab word from this week’s reading?
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?
It might just be that my mind has come to expect weirdness in 村田 novels, but I think the excerpt in the OP leaves room for interpretation. Is it just me?
Ahhhh, Murata is such a romantic! 恋は、変態であることを引き受ける勇気のことを言うのよ
Also, what the hell did I just read? At first I thought it was a ploy to impregnate herself with his sperm, cause she had said 私は孕まない子宮に、精子の泳がない精液を流し込む earlier. But then I read 本当は別にそんなものは欲しくなかったが、私はお礼を言って受け取った, so I guess that it wasn’t the sperm itself she was after, but rather… how explicit can be we here…? Well, I’m sure you know what I am referring to Though I do feel this is going to head in that former direction nonetheless! How naive of that dude to just give away his sperm like that
so “that” happened. Lol. Wow the book constantly surprises me. Not sure I’ll look at a PET bottle the same for awhile… I thought she was telling him she wanted to taste/drink it. Was that just a lie or did I misunderstand?
… I hope that won’t happen. It seemed like she realized that sex with people who don’t really want to have sex with her isn’t really what she wanted either here. So this wouldn’t really be a better use of his body.
As I understood it, she didn’t expect him to comply - she asked for that because she thought he wouldn’t, couldn’t, do it. Perhaps as a show of how incompatble they are sexually?
While he does the deed, and after she takes the bottle, she thinks to herself how she doesn’t really want it, doesn’t she?
… I thought it was interesting how ‘I want to eat your semen’ translated to him ejaculating into a bottle.
Yeah, I think the idea that she said it as a form of sexual brinkmanship makes the most sense to me, but I do wonder what this empty womb (私は孕まない子宮に、精子の泳がない精液を流し込む) thing is about. When I read it I thought it sounded a bit regretful? But maybe there is a different interpretation that makes more sense.
I thought there were a couple of interesting points this week (before the slightly disturbing, um, ‘climax’)
One was the reference (I think maybe it was in the conversation with Amane’s mother) about marriage vows including a promise not to ?treat the partner as a sexual object. So the suggestion is that there is a contractual element to the norm against sex within marriage. (It is an inversion of the old (implicit but strong) expectation that marriage involves sex, and that both parties ought to be prepared to respect this.)
Another was the suggestion that Amane’s mother had deliberately sought to instill in her the old sexual norms (a kind of indoctrination) - because of some ?premonition that Amane would need this. (I am unsure whether the novel is heading towards the foreshadowed future where Amane is the last copulating human, or alternatively whether she will spearhead a ‘sexual revolution’, with restoration of formerly normal relations)
We have a bit of discussion in the chapter about 本能 and 洗脳, and I was struck by the question that seems to be Murata’s central theme about how much of our sexual behaviour is the former, and how much the latter.
Lastly, we have the rather sad apparent ending of the relationship with 水人さん. I thought it was fascinating (another interesting Murata inversion of a stereotype ) that here we have a male character breaking up with a female because he doesn’t find sex enjoyable, and it seems as though she is using him for her own gratification.
The scene under the bridge is on first read shocking, but on second read I found it lonely and sad. Amane is looking away into the darkness to allow 水人 to do his thing. She has persuaded him to do something that he didn’t want to do, but this is a Pyrrhic success.
I presume it can’t be that, since presumably he also has had the 避妊器具 thing. (If I understood earlier sections correctly, males also do this, though it is not explained just how that is supposed to work (presumably this is reversible, so not a vasectomy))
Good point about the sterilisation being for both sides.
As far as I know, those are reversible up to a certain point. (Up to 90% apparently , sinking with time passed since original operation.) Presumably they have a safely reversible version of that procedure available in-world.
It sounds as thought the female version in-world is a long acting implantable hormonal contraceptive. (Although there is a lot of interest in creating a male version of this, in こっちの世界 there are none that have yet been proven to be effective).
Though I do feel this is going to head in that former direction nonetheless! How naive of that dude to just give away his sperm like that 