Week 7: 傲慢と善良 😤😇 (Advanced Book Club)

Japanese Language Book Clubs
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Week 7

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Start Date: December 23
Previous Part: Week 6
Next Part: Week 8
Home Thread: 傲慢と善良 :triumph::innocent:
Book club: Join the Advanced Book Club here!

Reading

Start date To read Num pages
Week 7 Dec 23 Chapter 5 45

Discussion Guidelines

  • Please use spoiler tags for major events in the current section(s) and any content in future sections.
  • When asking for help, please mention the 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!

Participants

Mark your participation status by voting in this poll.
(Please feel free to update your status whenever you like!)

  • I’m reading along
  • I have finished this part
  • I’m still reading the book but I haven’t reached this part yet
  • I am no longer reading the book
0 voters

Proper Noun Readings

People
Name Reading
西澤 架 にしざわ かける Main character
坂庭 真実 さかにわ まみ Kakeru’s fiancée
坂庭 陽子 さかにわ ようこ Mami’s mom
坂庭 正治 しょうじ Mami’s dad
岩間 希実 いわま のぞみ Mami’s sister
剛志 つよし Nozomi’s husband
桐歌 きりか Nozomi’s daughter (mami’s niece)
大原 おおはら A male friend of Kakeru’s
美奈子 みなこ A female friend of Kakeru’s
梓 あずさ A female friend of Kakeru’s
小野里 おのざと Matchmaker old lady
金居智之 かない ともゆき Mami’s first suitor
Places
Name Reading
阿佐谷 あさがや Where Mami lived
富洲 とよす Where Kakeru lives in Tokyo
小岩 こいわ Where Nozomi lives
群馬 ぐんま Prefecture Mami’s from
前橋 まえばし City Mami’s from
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Quiz answers:

  • They had pasta at an italian restaurant
  • The kids are 2 and 5, and there’s a baby girl on the way
  • Might be debatable but to me it seemed pretty clear that he cried because he felt selfish, because when Mami disappeared, his first though was about himself, how he was going back to square one
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This week’s quiz, hot off the press:

What was written on Mami’s Instagram page?
  • Daily love life
  • Eat pray love
  • Enjoy life everyday
  • Happy love forever
0 voters
Why does Mami not really like that friend she ran into when she was on a date? (probably)
  • Because she feels looked down upon
  • Because the friend moved away and abandoned her
  • Because they didn’t get along in junior high
  • Because she’s jealous that the friend is married and pregnant
0 voters
What is the name of Mami’s second suitor? (the dentist assistant)
  • 花岡 学
  • 花岡 勉
  • 花垣 学
  • 花垣 勉
0 voters
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I’m on my way to catch up! I thought this empty thread (it was around Christmas, after all), was as good a place to comment as any.

As I wrote elsewhere, this book feels to me a bit like the author conducted a series of interviews on the subject of finding a marriage partner, then thought up a story to somehow include them all. I’m very surprised the distressed fiancé will always take the time to ask people how they met their partners, instead of only focusing on information about Mami. He almost feels like a journalist. Would I really be asking strangers these things in his place? Almost certainly not.

I’m shocked about how little he knows about the woman he’s been dating for 2 years and is about to marry. Doesn’t he know any of her friends? Her friends would be the people to ask first, even before her parents. She invited that friend from Gunma to their wedding apparently, and Kakeru had no idea about her existence? He didn’t know about her social media? They never talked about her studies? I mean, it’s normal to not talk about past relationships, but all the other stuff? What on earth did they even talk about?

And on that subject, I must say I’m shocked that it’s apparently a must for a woman to attend a good school and a good university, only to find a temporary job to keep herself busy until she gets married. Why go to the trouble of higher education if the ultimate goal is child rearing and housework? Why does a degree make her a better wife? Because it seems that most women in this novel quit their work after getting married, which seems to be the ultimate goal. I just don’t get it. And especially this university Mami went to, it seems to just be there to produce brides, not scientists. No one even cares what it was you studied. This is for me even harder to grasp than all the marriage=ultimate life goal stuff.

As for Mami, I can’t form a clear picture about her at all, even now. I too thought that the stalker might be a woman, even that she may be gay herself, or asexual. I even initially thought it might have been her father, but it doesn’t look likely. I still have no idea what motivates her or what might have happened.

Bits of the book bore me, I’ll admit. It’s a little more longwinded than I’d like. But right as I’m about to give up, something interesting happens. So onwards to the next chapter! I hope to catch up with you all next week.

Oh, and @miwuc, I’m very much enjoying all the quizzes. What a great idea!