チュベローズで待ってる AGE22 🌺 - Informal Reading Group

Hello and welcome to

チュベローズで待ってる AGE22 :hibiscus:

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This book is the first in a two-volume series.
For more information on this book, please refer to this club’s home thread: チュベローズで待ってる 🌺 🌼 - Informal Reading Group

Buying this book

Bookwalker

Discussion and Schedule

This is a non-scheduled book club which means that everybody is reading at their own pace. Please feel free to comment on the book or ask questions while you read. All discussions will take in this thread, so please mention which chapter a comment belongs to.
Also, it is crucial that everybody generously applies spoiler tags to avoid leaking out what happens in later chapters that not everybody may have read yet.

This book contains chapters 1 - 19 (208 pages). The chapters are of almost equal length, with the shortest one being ~9 pages and the longest one being ~13 pages, with the majority hovering around ~11 pages. (I calculated this from the ebook pages so there might be some minor discrepancies though).
Because of this and because the chapters are numbered throughout the book, I will not post a detailed table of contents here (unless somebody asks for it).

Who is interested in reading this book?

  • I am interested in reading AGE22.
  • I am currently reading AGE22.
  • I have finished AGE22.
  • I have stopped reading, but I will return at some point.
  • I dropped the book and don’t plan to return.
  • I don’t plan to read this book.

0 voters

Outdated Poll - Please transfer vote!

NOTE: I set up the poll below before we split the club into two threads for the two books. Therefore I would like to retire this poll. Please transfer your vote to the poll above:

  • I am interested in reading these books.
  • I am currently reading AGE22.
  • I am currently reading AGE32.
  • I have finished these books.
  • I have stopped reading, but I will return at some point.
  • I dropped the books and don’t plan to return.
  • I don’t plan to read these books.

0 voters

If so, which version are you planning to read?

  • Hardcover / Paperback
  • eBook

0 voters

7 Likes

This may possibly be the shortest time between first hearing about a book and making a book club for it! :rofl:

So when do we start? I’m fine any time. I think.

9 Likes

Indeed! Quick nomination, short poll, and off we go :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

I currently have 3 clubs going (Eugenia, 半落ち, and 1Q84), which leaves me a bit of space on the side.
In February one book will end (Eugenia) but another one will start (the next ABC pick), plus I want to increase the speed on 1Q84, and there is the Mystery club (which I will only join if it’s a book for adults - don’t know about you though?).
So having said that, it’s probably better for me to start now than in February. I’ll see if I can get my toes wet tomorrow.

3 Likes

I have Eugenia, the Wild Ladies and 半落ち currently. I’ll probably not join the next ABC, but I will the next Mystery Club if it’s an adult book. I also have a couple of my own books on the side, but they can wait if need be. I was planning to start Eugenia tomorrow, but I guess I could push that to Saturday, and start this one tomorrow, see how it goes.
(I never thought I’d have such a busy reading life I’d need to schedule reading appointments. Might need a secretary soon :joy:)

6 Likes

True that! I keep a list of my current and upcoming book clubs in order to not overlook any (especially when I run them myself and need to remember to post new threads etc) :grin:

4 Likes

Waaaaaaiiit, I wanna join in on this one too!

6 Likes

My kindle will be arriving tomorrow, so I’ll use this opportunity to join in on this. This’ll be my first real book in JP.

5 Likes

I literally watched that video last night and wanted to read these :joy: How dare you two create book clubs I cannot resist joining

Don’t hold back on questions if you have any! First book is always a bit of a doozy it seems, but it’s worth the sweat and tears

As for my own scheduling: I have 半落ち, ユージニア followed by この本を盗む者は, レベル7 starting in February, and I’m vaguely reading 死体は語る when I have free time. I will be reading the Mystery book club pick regardless of adult vs youth writing, but there are a few titles nominated I’ve already read so there’s always a chance one of those will win and I’ll just running be the threads without reading it.

4 Likes

I just checked and I had the exact number of kindle points as I needed to get this book free so I am taking that as a sign hahaha.

I currently have a bit of down time between the Saikawa & Moe pick and Bustafellows VN and my other current read (本を守ろうとする猫の話) I’m doing audiobook only so should be space for this!

7 Likes

I’m delighted to see so many people join the club! The more the merrier! :books:

You have? May I ask which ones? And would you recommend them?

2 Likes

Oh no, the premise sounds actually interesting. :scream: :joy:

Guess that means I’m in.

4 Likes

Just checked and I was mistaken - it’s just one I’ve read, and another two I almost started but didn’t because I didn’t want to ruin the club on myself again :sweat_smile: Although one got cut last round so I guess I’m free now :smiley:

I read 変な家 which I didn’t like. It’s a good entry level mystery I guess (level 27?) and it’s aimed at adults, but last ~1/3 of the book just felt muddled to me and I remember being overall dissatisfied with it. I almost started the second スマホを落とした (which is doubtless another pulp thriller) and 赤ずきんちゃん.

2 Likes

Chapter 1:

This book is off to a very good start already :heart_eyes_cat: And yeah, from the first page it becomes pretty clear to me that this is actually geared towards adults.

Summary: Our protag has a hard time finding a job after graduating from school, and today he received the rejection for his last of a series of job applications. Mother is in hospital, father is non-existent, little sister helps with baito but basically he is responsible for the family’s income and cannot provide.
He goes out to drink and gets picked up by a shady dude (who is of course speaking Kansai-ben, classic scheme :roll_eyes:) and gets offered a job as host.

Some questions (with spoilers!)

Pretty much at the start:
空腹では酒が回ると思い、チェーン店の安い牛丼を胃に詰め込んでおいた。なのに数時間で全部吐き出してしまうことになるとは

If I complete this, does it become とは思う (repeating the verb from the previous sentence)?
So the rough meaning would be “Because he thought that drinking on an empty stomach would be bad, he ate something in preparation. Although he figured he would chuck it up again in a few hours’ time.” ?

Next page or so:
入院中の母を訪ねた帰り、。。。

I’m a bit confused about the 帰り here. Is this the ます-stem of 帰る, meaning “he returned home and …”? But how can a verb be qualified by a relative clause?
So it should rather be a noun? But wouldn’t that require a particle like に, meaning “on his return he …”?

Near the middle:
近くにめっちゃうまいとこあんねん

Yay Kansai-ben :rofl:
I think the meaning is “there are delicious places nearby”. But what is the exact construction here? あるね?あるじゃない? :thinking:

Penultimate sentence:
ホスト

Is anybody familiar with what this usually entails? I can imagine everything here from working in a gay(?) bar to stripper club to sex club. Does the word as such give away anything already, or is this equally unclear in Japanese?

Last sentence:
就職留年

This means he deferred his job search, I guess? First I was confused but I guess 就職 refers to a “proper” job in an office, and so it means he stops searching for a “proper” job and instead takes the offer of his new friend, I guess?

4 Likes
Questions

とは思っていなかった, とはおもってもみなかった or some other variety. „But he didn’t expect that he would chuck it up again just a few hours later.“ (this is said after the fact, not „he suspected in advance… would happen“, but „he didn’t expect … would happen“)

It’s a noun meaning „way home“, yes. I don’t think it needs a に necessarily. Like 病院に行く途中、。。。 also no に.

I think most people would imagine a host bar as something where pretty guys work and entertain mainly female guests. You get paid to look cute and entertain the guests and talk to them and drink together with them. I think most hosts don’t have sex with their customers, and if they do, it’s their private business outside of work. I think I’ve seen a YouTube interview before with someone who works as a host, it was quite interesting.

Yes. 就職/就職活動 traditionally happens once a year, when everyone finishes their last year of university, or maybe even earlier. You apply months in advance while studying and get a job offer (内定) while still in university. If you don’t get any offers from the companies you applied for, it’s quite difficult to get a „normal“ office job with career prospects, since all the applications are closed already and the companies have their 新入社員 positions filled.
留年 means trying again and doing the application cycle once again a year later, when everyone one year younger than you is applying.
Hope this helps/fits the context!

For the 関西弁: my guess is あるよ/あるね, but I’m too lazy to google.

6 Likes

Read chapter 1.

Right, it was clear from more or less the first sentence. :sweat_smile:

Thanks for this explanation, it was one of the things that surprised me. So you either get a job before you even graduate, or you go to interviews as a graduate, competing with others with previous work experience, thus making it nearly impossible to get a job? So people actually choose to repeat the last year of university to go through the undergraduate recruiting phase again? Crazy.

My other question would be about the そば屋 at the end of the chapter. There is an actual indoors place where they sit and eat, but they order the food from a 券売機? Or did I misunderstand?

I understood that he’s the one with the baito? Doesn’t he say that increasing his shifts would interfere with preparing for interviews?

5 Likes

:grin:

This is pretty normal in certain Japanese restaurants like noodle places or where you can get set menus for lunch. They have a vending machine at the entrance where you choose your food and buy a ticket, and then you hand the ticket to the waiter and get your food.

Pics

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For the ones without pictures, it can feel indeed a bit like playing the lottery :rofl:
But it’s super convenient especially for people who feel insecure with Japanese as you need not talk to anybody.

Oh, thanks! I guess I confused that.

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Thanks! See, my lack of experience with Japanese-only things seriously gets in the way of comprehension sometimes… I should book a ticket. :joy:

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We could go together :rofl:

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The Dictionary of Advanced Japanese Grammar has an entry for this use of とは if you want more examples.

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The Handbook of Japanese Grammar Patterns has it too. Apparently it means things like “what a surprise/to think that/I never imagined that”.

4 Likes