Oh, I completely forgot this was starting this week. I’ve been kinda low-key considering doing a re-read with the group and I’m still kinda tempted. I’ll see what I can do.
OK, week 1 is done. I was off to a very slow start but then the book picked up speed (at least for me reading it). Still - why on earth does this author know so many words?
My impression so far
As can be expected from a 500+ page book, the start is a bit slow. At least we get to meet our bunch of haughty mystery-club university students who set out to live in an abandoned house that was (part of) a mass murder scene. People do have interesting hobbies
Interestingly enough, there seems no real damage to the house (apart from the kitchenware being mouldy), and even the tab water is running! (Who is paying for that?..) And they even drink from it
At least the electricity and telephone are gone, which gives us at least a small sense of reality.
But then we go to the main murder site, where a house burned down, and they describe it as being covered in ashes I mean, ok we also learn that the event is only 6 months in the past, but don’t they have any wind on the top of this island in the middle of the ocean?
Or maybe I’m misinterpreting what they call “ashes”
OK this probably sounds quite negative compared to how I am actually feeling about it Let’s see how it continues!
I think I mentioned it in my natively review, but the prologue is by far the hardest and slowest part of the book in my opinion. I remember the club over there also noting the big shift. This is said to encourage anyone feeling it’s a bit rough - it gets easier!
Thanks for the encouragement!
For a lot of Japanese books I got the impression that the prologue is much harder to read than the rest of the book, so I was not too worried. (I wonder whether this is the same in German or English books where I just don’t notice because of a different level of command of the language )
Finished this week! My geometry game is weak, haha; I’m glad to see the house diagram again. It’s so interesting looking back at all my old highlights of difficult words/phrases from the first time I read the book; 98% of them so far I understand what’s written easily now. I feel like I’m enjoying this opening part of the book more as well; not sure if it’s because it’s easier reading than the first time, or just because it’s a re-read in general, but I’ll definitely be continuing on with the club.
Haha, I know what you mean. I looked up 垂木 → english translation, no idea → german translation, what is that? → finally had to look at pictures XD.
Mostly setup of the story for now but that was totally expected.
Thoughts
The prologue is interesting, it contains a lot of information: male, revenge plan, slow methodical killing, letter claiming responsibility drifting in ocean.
BUT I’m still not sure what the prologue was referencing. Is it a foreshadowing of what is to come or was it a part of the 四重殺人 that already happened?
Has me intrigued already.
With all their nicknames being related to mystery novel writers I had strong associations with 硝子の塔の殺人. They were always talking about the same stuff all the times, geeking out about the mystery novel greats of history.
I’m sure not being able to tell the rooms apart when standing in the central hall won’t play any role in the story going forward /s.
As far as I understood the side house (十角館) is totally fine and was not damaged in any way. We also don’t exactly know what the side house was used, but since all 4 corpses were found in the main house I suspect the murders only took place there and all staff was living in the main house.
I imagined something like that 瓦礫と灰 maybe that helps?
I just finished the prologue… that was really hard for me. I read a Natively review about the prologue being way harder than the rest (@pocketcat maybe!) and that helped me making through it. Even with constant lookup of words and sentences I feel I missed a lot, but hopefully nothing super important.
Afterwards I read the first pages of the first chapter, with エラリイ dissertation, and it’s true that it seems easier already.
Also is エラリイ from Ellery Queen? If so, ガー might be John Dickson Carr? I like this already
Here’s a question about a sentence I had a lot of trouble wrapping my head around:
In page 15, エラリイさん says
「…中にはやまいだれ付きの奴もいる」I’m not sure I got this meaning. Is this a reference to カー true name having a kanji with a やまいだれ (such as 病、痛) in it? If so, it would explain he being pissed afterwards.
I think it’s more likely it is just an expression, and he’s saying there are some “not quite right in the head” people in their club as well. Carr simply took that personally and thought it was directed at him.
I feel that’s a design choice whether an author uses 言う or 云う; I mostly saw this in older books, so I was also surprised to see it in a relatively modern book like this.
I’ll see what I can do.
Let’s see how it continues!
