本当にそうですね！
At first I found it a bit hard to follow because it was so rambly and again I did not know where this would end up - wasn’t he supposed to talk about the case? Why is he talking about his little sister for such a long time? - and then it all fell into place. Sooo interesting to see our initial protagonist from a very different perspective!
For the case, everybody still seems to point to Hisako. Very curious to see how this will continue!
I just finished this chapter. It took me awhile to figure out who was talking. Once he started talking about how his sister mimicked people though, I started to wonder if she would mimic 緋沙子. This also paints the author in a very interesting light - she isn’t really capable of empathy naturally, so she’s trying to learn it by rote, almost? It’s kind of like she’s an empty shell, and by mimicking others and trying to make sense of them she can fill in her own gaps.
I realized who the narrator was the moment he said that he only felt comfortable drinking from cans at home.
Another very intriguing chapter. When the mild poisoning incident was first described, it wasn’t clear to me whether it was before or after the Aozawa murders, but apparently it was after. It would have been awfully suspicious if it was before.
Very well put. I’m now finding her much scarier than Hisako, actually.
I’m a bit confused right now about the weather… So in chapter 5 the detective said it was raining cats and dogs, and I do remember that the delivery man wore a raincoat in chapter 1 or 2, but didn’t everybody else say it was a very hot and humid day? Like, in chapter 3 (which may or may not contain false information as we know) Makiko was sitting outside or on the doorsteps with Hisako who went on an errand, the children were playing in the garden and found the matchbox car; and in the other chapters I don’t remember mention of heavy rain. Although, I tend to believe the detective story the most as of now… Do any of you remember more details?
My impression from when we first learned about the delivery man was that it looked like it was about to rain, so no one wondered about the raincoat. I may be misremembering though. In the altered account in chapter 3, the rain had already started before the sake was delivered. In any case, they all agree that the day was hot and unbearably humid, and it was about to rain. Summer is rainy season in Japan, isn’t it?
(By the way, this is all from earlier chapters, so I don’t think we really need spoiler tags?)
Edit: I looked it up. It was raining in that initial description too by the time the sake was delivered. No contradiction there.
Good point. I think I’ve just become overly cautious with mystery stories in order not to ruin anything…
Thanks for double-checking on the weather! I think that maybe the detective’s report of the strong rain left a particularly vivid impression that I didn’t have with the other chapters.
I realized this chapter is not so long, so that I can finish reading it earlier
Aosawas family are strange right from the start, but now Makikos family are just as weird. But I like the narrator in this chapter although he needs a few canned beer to be relax during the day…
I read in English and every title has a explanation about the speaker in following chapter. It is helpful for me indeed, but I think every reader doesn’t like it…
Is that saying something? The case of murder in Aosawa’s house put Makiko for this mild poisoning with her family?
If she had tried to poison her family before the Aozawa murders, I’d assume it was her poisoning the Aozawa party too, with her experiment being successful this time. Since it is after, I think she was just impressed by the crime and tried, in her own creepy way, to feel like the murderer did.
I finished ch6, and have to say I’m enjoying this book a lot!
Ch6 time 1h44
Given that Makiko wanted to imitate the culprit to know how it feels like to poison people, I think I can take Makiko off the suspect list When she mentioned she was imitating others, I thought of コンビニ人間 (one of my favourite books), Makiko and [redacted] are quite similar in this aspect, though Makiko experimenting on her own family is indeed scary. But still, I find her more fascinating after this chapter!
About Makiko’s parents, outsiders cannot truly know what is going on in a marriage, maybe they were incompatible, loveless marriage etc the father was having an affair. I felt really bad for the mother that with three children together, her husband declared would stop the affair but didn’t, and having someone told her that her husband was seen with the mistress in town, then after the poison incident, he decided he’d rather spend the last moment with the mistress than his wife, it’s really hopeless to try to keep the family together I hope she finds peace and happiness.
At first I thought the poison incident was before the murders and was like ??? everyone is the murderer now and my brain came up with some crazy theories but nope. Still it’s pretty interesting to see how the two main women are slowly being portrayed as some kind of sinister beings.
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Very curious to see how this will continue!
I hope she finds peace and happiness.