Week 3: 容疑者Xの献身 - The Devotion of Suspect X 🌹

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容疑者Xの献身 - The Devotion of Suspect X :rose: Home Thread

Week 3

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Start Date: Feb 6th
Previous Part: Week 2
Next Part: Week 4

Reading:

Week Start Date End Chapter End Page Page Count
Week 3 Feb 6th [End Chapter 5] 105 39

Discussion Rules

  • Please use spoiler tags for major events in the current chapter(s) and any content in future chapters.
  • When asking for help, please mention the chapter and page number. Also mention what version of the book you are reading.
  • Don’t be afraid of asking questions, even if they seem embarrassing at first. All of us are here to learn.
  • To you lurkers out there: Join the conversation, it’s fun! :durtle:

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Proper Noun Readings

Previous Proper Nouns
Name Reading Notes Proof
石神 いしがみ (Week 1)
新大橋 しんおおはし
隅田川 すみだがわ
清洲橋 きよすばし
靖子 やすこ
米沢 よねざわ
小代子 さよこ
金子 かねこ
錦糸町 きんしちょう
美里 みさと
富樫 慎二 とがし しんじ
赤坂 あかさか
扇屋 おおぎや (Week 2)
湯川 学 ゆかわ まなぶ
草薙 くさなぎ
帝都大学 ていとだいがく
旧江戸川 きゅうえどがわ
岸谷 きしたに
間宮 まみや
篠崎 しのざき
山辺 躍子 やまべ ようこ
亀戸 かめいど
Name Reading Notes Proof
森下駅 もりしたえき
荻窪 おぎくぼ
江東区 こうとうく
錦糸町 きんしちょう
哲哉 てつや

He sure didn’t expect (calculate? seeing) that visitor eh? lol

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Here are the new names for this week:
森下駅 もりしたえき
荻窪 おぎくぼ
江東区 こうとうく
錦糸町 きんしちょう
哲哉 てつや

And as a reminder, the main characters:
石神 哲哉 いしがみ てつや
花岡 靖子 はなおか やすこ
美里 みさと
富樫 慎二 とがし しんじ
草薙 くさなぎ
岸谷 きしたに
湯川 学 ゆかわ まなぶ
間宮 まみや

I was confused with this part on page 97/98:
「そこまですごい人なのに、大学の教授とかになれないってことがあるんですか」岸谷がさらに訊く。「それはまあ、大学というところはいろいろとあるからね」湯川は珍しく歯切れが悪い。彼自身、くだらない人間関係のしがらみにストレスを感じることも多いのだろう、と草薙は想像した
I think Kishitani is asking “does it happen that such an amazing person can’t become a university professor?” and then Yukawa says something like “well, there are all sorts of universities you see”? And then Kusanagi reflects on Yukawa being socially awkward, but I don’t see how that’s related? I must be missing/misunderstanding something.

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I was kinda confused about this as well but since I didn’t think these sentences seemed to be crucial to the main story line I didn’t really try to figure them out. I agree with your translation but there’s obviously something off here so I looked at the English version of the book and it very loosely translates these lines as:

“But wouldn’t someone that gifted automatically get snatched up by a university?” Kishitani asked.
“Well, it takes all types, even at a university,” Yukawa mumbled, sounding uncharacteristically perplexed. Kusanagi didn’t imagine his friend had wasted much time worrying about how old acquaintances were faring in the world.
(Next sentence) As if on cue, Yukawa asked, “How is he doing? Did he seem well?”

Seems a lot different in the English version especially the second sentence.
So I’m guessing that というin 大学というところは is used for emphasis (see Maggie Sensei ) and that’s how the translator came up with “even at a university”. And いろいろとある is likely referring to people.

But maybe someone can give us something more definitive.

By the way, I’m really enjoying this book. Each chapter has got plenty of suspense!

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wow, that is some very loose translation

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Thanks for your help! That is pretty loose, but I guess it’s the translator’s job.

I thought 歯切れが悪い was about the pronunciation (“mumbling”) but on second thought, it must be the last meaning in jisho, “evasive”. Since “it takes all types, even at a university” indeed doesn’t mean much, even in English.

Then the next sentence about Yukawa being stressed out by social stuff is Kusanagi’s attempt at explaining why Yukawa is being so evasive, essentially avoiding the subject. I don’t really agree with the English translation on this one.

In Japanese the next sentence is just 「彼は元気そうだったかい」湯川が草薙を見た。so the “as if on cue” is completely invented.

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Thank you for diligently listing all the names with their readings! I’ve added them to the OP’s of the home thread and the weeks.

Do you think it would be worthwhile to add some remarks? Adding something about who is who might be a bit spoilery?
Also, so far I’ve never encountered such an enormous list of names in any book club book, and so I’m generating all OPs with all the names in them. But since the list is so long, maybe it would be better to split the list into weeks and only include the names up to and including the current week?
If so, what to do about the home thread? Include all names separated by weeks, is what I am currently thinking. What do you think?
(Also, I should use a “hide details” dropdown for the name lists, I think. At least if there are more than, say, 5 names in them…)

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I talked with a native speaker about all this and she said that in this context, いろいろとある does not refer to people as I had thought but is rather like a general statement about various (negative) things that go on in a university, i.e., politics, red tape, bureaucracy, etc. So when Kishitani is asking why Ishigami can’t become a university professor, Yukawa is saying there are various things you gotta deal with at a university. And Kusanagi imagined that Yukawa himself (彼自身) often felt stressed about having to deal with いろいろとある.

Well, I think that makes a lot more sense now. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Amazing! Thanks for following up! It does make sense now. Which means the English translation has it all wrong.

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You’re welcome! I thought maybe the main character names would be enough, but reading week 4, there were a bunch of earlier people/place names that came up so it was useful to have the full list that you added.
Ideally, you’d want just the names that appear in that week, but you don’t know them until you’ve actually read it… I think if you hide them in a dropdown it’s still a manageable list, assuming it doesn’t keep growing too much.

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Caught up! I like how this is also turning into a book about maths, just like 博士の愛した数式 :joy:
I guess that happens when you read books from 工学部 authors (also looking at you, 森 博嗣)

(includes some very general 感想 about the beginning of week 4 as well)This week felt rather removed from the case (towards the end), but I’m liking the backstory so far. 石神 had some real creep vibes in the earlier weeks, but I’m starting to kind of feel sympathetic towards him

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Same… Also, is it bad that I am really rooting for the “bad” people?

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Been thinking about this as well :smiley: You want them to get away with it, but then you think about it and they killed someone… but they’re still just people with their own lives and 事情.
I think I might prefer this kind of crime story to the ones mainly focusing on the detectives. (I don’t mind not being able to „follow along and solve the case on your own“)

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Finally finished Week 3’s reading. Will I ever catch up? Probably not but I’m still trying to not get completely off track.

If it’s bad I’m bad too. Anyway, as far as I’m concerned that was self-defense. But I guess it’s easier to ignore morals in fiction.

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It was, until the moment they decided to hide proofs and lie :frowning:

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Finished week 3’s reading! I still really enjoy 草薙–he’s not a ball of quirks or hiding some huge secret (at least not that I know of), but he has definite personality that comes through. My favorite was when he didn’t ask for coffee and let 岸谷 get some, then laughed at him (internally) when he made the expected face at the dirty cup.

I also enjoy 石神 a lot in a very different way. (no spoilers past this week’s reading–>) He’s doing this huge thing for these people who are basically strangers, and he’s keeping up with it all the time and leading the way, but he’s really good at not … making that an extra burden on 靖子, as much as possible? He’s impersonal and to the point, so she doesn’t have to thank him constantly or wonder how she could ever repay him or think that he’s expecting something in return that’ll come up later. In dealing with her, at least so far, he’s like the opposite of 富樫 (who doesn’t seem to be in our name list…). Also, their phone conversations make me feel weirdly at ease. He’s like a murder cover-up life coach–here’s what to do, what have you done toward your goal today, that’s within expectations, keep moving forward step by step, there’s no need to be afraid.

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I’m really enjoying catching up on the discussion here, what a nice perk to starting late. :smiley:

I’m also rooting for the bad guys, and also rooting for the good guys - the author did a great job making both sides human and relatable imo.

I’m in agreement that the worst thing they did was try to cover up - and weirdly looking forward to when all the carefully build up lies come falling down. Or will they? That’s the outcome I expect at this point at least.

Now I’m wondering how another 100 ish pages changed you people’s opinions and expectations. Looking forward to reading those threads, too! :smiley:

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