In this first week’s reading there isn’t yet any library or librarian, but we learn about the (first chapter’s) narrator’s past in the countryside, her job in Tokyo and how dissatisfied she is with her present life.
Finished this week’s reading in one sitting this morning before my family even woke up
Enjoying it so far. The difficulty seems just right: not too hard that I need to keep stopping to look stuff up, but still some new things. The story kept me interested too. Excited to see what next week brings.
Yeah, I agree about the difficulty. Felt a good level for this bookclub. Enjoyed the first week’s reading.
Kept anticipating that the main character was going to be weird. I’m obviously biased from my other Japanese reading expecting more of the same! I don’t think she is. Actually, quite a nice initial setup - young, fed up with her job, looking to do something to get ahead in life.
ストキングを穿いた - love it when Japanese throws in a random alternative kanji for a word you thought you knew! I’m sure there is some subtlety that is lost on me.
風紀委員 - liked this phrase, might try using it in English!
ワード、エクセル、パワーポイント - not come across these before in Japanese, they look odd seeing them in katakana
卒論 - I see the kanji 卒 often, but always in some variation of 卒業, think this is the first time I’ve seen it in another word
I’m not sure if this counts as a spoiler, since it’s probably in some cover blurb or something…but I wouldn’t call 小町さん the main character. More like a recurring character who has cameos in other people’s short stories.
Pivotal/central character, perhaps ?
I quite like that genre of revolving stories sharing a common, usually benevolent character. Also, short stories that build upon one another, as in 阪急電車 or, slightly differently, ナミヤ雑貨店の奇蹟. I only have examples of that in japanese literature, there’s certainly no such thing in french. I’m wondering : can someone suggest similar, non-japanese books ?
You’re right, it’s a nice genre but seems very Japanese. I can’t think of any English language books in this style. I’ve seen some Korean books in my local bookshop recently that look to be a similar style but can’t remember the name offhand.
These books have become really popular where I live. コーヒーが冷めないうちに was picked by a friend with no Japanese language interest for our English language bookclub, and I often see the book and its sequels for sale.
The Bookshop Woman had a really big promotion in our local shop, with a big cardboard cut out of the main character, and a note from the staff how much they enjoy this type of book.
Ah yes, that one is nice, too. All … six ?.. volumes are seating on my shelf, though I only read the first one. Books by 小川糸, too, those do not have ebooks version, so I guess that more or less puts them out of the running for most japanese langage book clubs.
I know, I unfortunately had to read the second half of the book in German, because my offline bookclub picked it and didn’t give me enough time to read it all in Japanese. Imo German publishers in general have a tendency to pick really weird titles even when a literal translation of the original title would work just fine.
Slightly off-topic, but: Did you read it in German? Switching midway felt super jarring to me, because the style is so different. And some people in my offline bookclub read it in English, where the style was totally different from both the original and the German translation.
No I didn’t. I bought the English kindle version in case I should need it for some name pronunciations and perhaps special expressions. I first read in Japanese, then in English to be sure that I got it right.
I listened to the first section in English today, just to see if I missed anything. Firstly, lovely audiobook in English read by Hanako Footman for chapter one. I just finished listening to her audiobook reading of Butter which was also excellent. She also published her own novel Mongrel last year that caught my interest when it was nominated for a debut novel award.
Going back to those first few paragraphs, where her friend summarises her boyfriend as “a doctor”, our main character thinks about how one can be defined just by their profession, and what image it conjures up when you say someone is a doctor. That really resonates later on when she took the only job that was offered her, doesn’t really think much of herself, and wonders what people think of her when they just know her job title.
Also, there was one moment where the English translation said “gives me the heeby jeebies” - I need to go back and see what the original Japanese was!
I noticed the same thing! The parallel between her hometown friend’s description of her boyfriend as simply “a doctor” (the image it conjures), and her own reflection of the pink-coral blouse (better suited for older part-timer women), and her ill-fitting shoes. Although she succeeded in making it to the big city, her reality of working at Eden feels empty.
It was an interesting first week of reading. I think this kind of genre is called “slice of life”? I heard that term to describe the TV series 深夜食堂 (midnight diner) which has recurring characters that all intersect at a small bar in Tokyo. It’s great to hear 阪急電車 has a similar feel. I have that on my wish list already so I am looking forward to reading it one day.
This is the first time I am reading a physical book. I am gradually losing the impulse to press down on the page on a word I don’t know, expecting a dictionary to pop-up!
I agree with others that I liked the difficulty level of this book!! I realized I’m most nervous/intimidated when starting a novel. But I was pleasantly surprised at how easy this was to read!! But also definitely still new words to learn hehe
Looking forward to reading more!
In the last few pages I read today, page 16 reminded me of your post. Maybe that was it?? The line: 「考えただけでぞっとする。」When she was thinking about what it would be like to have a higher position and have to manage the part timers.
Yeah that’s it! The English translation was “Just the thought of it gives me the heeby jeebies”. Lovely translation. Although, perhaps a bit of an old fashioned word in English - I’m not sure it’s the sort of language 21 year old Tomoka would use.
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