Week 2: 乳と卵

Japanese Language Reading
#1

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乳と卵 Home Thread

Week 2

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Start Date: Sept 25th
Previous Part: Week 1
Next Part: Week 3

Reading:

Week Start Date Chapter / End Phrase End Page Kindle LOC Kindle % Page Count
Week 2 Sept 25th 完全に見えなくなる。 77 34

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乳と卵 (Advanced Book Club)
Week 3: 乳と卵
#2

So far this is feeling almost as difficult as 人間失格 (maybe a notch below), but not because of the 大阪弁. A lot of the TV personalities in Japan talk like that, so I’m used to it.

I’m not sure what it is. The constantly changing perspectives, the run-on sentences, the meandering 胸 conversations - it just feels like slow going for me. Not to say that I don’t like it… But I did fall asleep during two consecutive attempts at reading the 銭湯 scene. :sweat_smile:

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#3

The bath scene found me unsuccessfully trying to picture various boobs while piecing together the descriptions, which certainly conveyed the slightly uncomfortable voyeuristic aspect of what they’re doing in the scene…

I also really like how the stream-of-consciousness style meshes with the groggily waking up in the middle of the night scene.

And having moved recently, I’m suddenly really glad that in the process I didn’t drop any needles on my foot?!

Small line I kinda liked:

わたしにも今の緑子と同じ年齢やった時があったはずやのに、そのときの自分のことがもうどこを探してもわからない。

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#4

I think she stepped on it rather than dropped it? And then she left it there for a whole day and night o_o

One thing I was confused about is whether the part where 緑子 hurts her lip on the chipped bowl at the restaurant really happened. It starts with a を想像してしまう which made me think it’s all in the main character’s head, but the rest sounds like it’s describing factual things and then it switches to the TV mid-sentence and that part does really happen. But I’d lean on it NOT happening? and the 「とやってると」before talking about the sound of the TV is like “as I was picturing all this in my head”…?

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#5

Ah, I think you’re right! I think I saw the point of impact involving 足の裏 and too hastily assumed it mapped like “back of your hand” would in English but it turns out it’s the opposite! and it means the bottom of the foot. Thanks!

I agree with you on thinking the lip cut is imaginary but not being sure.
I don’t think she’s explicit about it, but I think the sentence flows so seamlessly from 想像してしまう that it’s meant to be taken as her expanding on that imagined scene. And the 消えて、消えて、消えて、とやってると in the next sentence I think is that train of thought fading along with the image until she gets interrupted by the TV and worries about that instead. But I think the style intentionally blurs the lines, not in a hallucinating sort of way just in a poetic sort of way.
I could certainly be wrong though!

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#6

Thanks for your input! I wasn’t sure what that 消えて、消えて was about, and your interpretation does seem to make sense. Or at least I can’t come up with a better one :stuck_out_tongue:

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#7

I was also wondering about that scene, and I like this explanation. :slight_smile:

I’m definitely getting used to the style, which is good. The first 20 or so pages were pretty rough, but this week’s part felt comparatively pleasant. I like the way the thoughts flow into each other. It also makes me really appreciate a good period though. :sweat_smile:

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#8

I thought the way she described breasts in this section was interesting…

胸なんかゆうたら水風船みたいなもんで、ぱんぱんのときはええけども人によってはあのように靴下になるのです。

So breasts are like water balloons, they are great when they bulging out, but over time they become like socks.

あれ見てみ、足入れてない男もんの靴下2枚ぶらさがってるように見えるやろ

“Man’s two socks with no feet in them”

I am wondering here if she is referring to that woman over there’s breasts looking like testicles or male breasts…

#9

I may be wrong but I thought she was just talking about men’s socks, literally. As in, larger ones than socks for women?

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#10

Just managing to catch up after studies. How many hours did they spend doing that at the 銭湯? Lol and how did anyone not say anything to them about staring?

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#11

I’m glad she actually said what was on her mind about her sister’s thoughts. Whenever her sister says something I feel kinda sad for her. That bit about the doctor’s reaction though :sweat_smile:

I also thought the same thing, that she was comparing breasts to socks, especially because of those words. Normally I’d hear them being compared to slippers lol. The next page continued with her imagining how they would be handled (massaged? or kneaded) :rofl:

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