So I’m finally also done with this weeks reading. Right on time.
I have to say after saying I feel they handled the situation well last week I came to regret it. The aunt does not stay in the same place so what even was the benefit of him getting attached to her in the first place . Also arriving at the home in the evening and then directly having to learn how to cook so not to starve the next morning doesn’t sound too rosy either. Uff that must have been a real rough transition for him.
It seems I was also off on his age by roughly 1¹/₂ years in my estimation last week. It says he is already 8 years when the whole transition to his grandmas house is hapenning.
I liked his description of the place. Have a pretty strong image of it now in my head with the road and the house with the 茅葺き + トタン板, and the river in front with some nice ススキ and apparently lots of food . Also liked the grandma. At least she is a positive character so lets see how the next weeks develop. He had to grow up fast in this weeks reading…
Quick question: I seem to not be able to wrap my head around this sentence:
今まで自分が使っていた火吹き竹を差し出して言った時も、差し出されるままに受け取って、…
I understand this as “she handed over the blowpipe she used and he receives it”, but what is the 言った時も here supposed to mean and why do we have a passive?
That refers to what she said before: 「どれ、やってみんしゃい」- „when she held it out and said that“
That’s because we are now back to the topic (俺は) from three sentences prior. The grandma parts use が whose scope is limited to its respective sentences, so outside of these sentences, we are back to the topic. And for our boy, we need the passive because the grandma is doing the holding out of the blowpipe.
In English you might say something like „As for me, when Grandma held out the blowpipe and said „Try it“, I took the pipe that was still held out and…“
This chapter was a bit difficult with all the dialect, but the answers in this thread were really helpful. I wonder if I’ll get used to it by the end of the book or what…
It was really interesting reading about how she uses the river. But it’s really concerning too. I kinda expected her to be retired or unable to find a job, but knowing that even though she has a job they can’t even afford food… I guess I can’t even begin to imagine how bad things really were.
. Also arriving at the home in the evening and then directly having to learn how to cook so not to starve the next morning doesn’t sound too rosy either. Uff that must have been a real rough transition for him.
. Also liked the grandma. At least she is a positive character so lets see how the next weeks develop. He had to grow up fast in this weeks reading…