君の膵臓をたべたい (I Want to Eat Your Pancreas) Book Discussion

Anyone know what 草舟 means here? A brief search brings up a chiebukuro question about the word in this book, but the person seems to just be taking their best stab at answering, rather than providing anything concrete.

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Google images seems to suggest it is a type of boat.
image
Also, in context, it seemed to mean that he was a person who was easily pushed into doing what other people want to do. So maybe, it means something pulled around by any passing current, like that boat?

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Yeah I took it to be symbolic as well.

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Well, yeah, that’s easy to see from the kanji.

I just wonder why this word that appears multiple times doesn’t seem to be in any dictionaries.

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Sorry, I forgot you were Leebo, so I answered as though you might not have caught the boat part. But obviously, that is the less interesting part since it is not how it is being used. I think it is just the character using it as a metaphor. It might even be original to the character, i.e. not a common turn of phrase but a linguistic oddity. I have no backing for that, but its not being in a dictionary might support that view of it.

EDIT: Random internet person agrees with me. #provedbeyondareasonabledoubt

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Maybe it’s not an actual word? It just sounds like the character’s self-described noun. He’s literally the only one to use it and I’m pretty sure he only thinks it, he doesn’t say it out loud.

Most of the google results I get are talking about the book itself or the name of a shop.

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Yeah, I suppose. That kind of thing wouldn’t throw me off in English obviously, but accepting answers like that when you’re in “I need to make flashcards for the words I don’t know” mode isn’t something you immediately jump to.

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Oh wait! Here we go.
I found the original use in the book. It is a metaphor that he says once directly and then leaves assumed afterwards.
“草舟のごとく強い力には逆らわず流されることにしている僕は、結局彼女の誘いを断らず、正確には断るタイミングをもらえず、待ち合わせ場所に来てしまっていた。”

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Ah, okay, well that’s what I get for not doing more intermediate checks of words. I usually wait til I’m done with the book unless a word appears so often that it starts to bug me, and this one did, so by the time I wanted to look it up it was appearing with no reference to the metaphor.

EDIT: And presumably it wouldn’t have even stood out to me in that first appearance, because the meaning is so clear there. Then some time goes by and he just goes “I’m a grass boat.” and I’m like… what? With that original sentence not having been memorable to me.

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Yeah, it was bothering me too so I am glad you asked, because I did not bother to make sure my guess was correct until now.

Alright I’m back from vacation and I’m unpacking my thoughts.

End of Chapter 7

I did read that right that Sakura died from the foreshadowed murderer right? Wtf. What a freaking whammy. And here they had us going that she died from her disease! Now that’s a plot twist.

But also what the heck, they barely even talked about it. In fact the actual thing feels more like an innuendo rather than “She was murdered.” What was the phrase they used something like “Got caught in an incident/affair” or something. And then it says that the suspect was caught. So brief.

The PoV (Chapter 8 Spoilers)

When I read the part where the main character finally reads Sakura’s diary in full I realized that this book really should have been in the perspective of Sakura. It’s just like TamanegiNoKame mentioned earlier about the trope of the girl dies so that the boy learns how to live. It’s pretty ridiculous how her entire perspective is crammed into a part of a chapter.
Her story was waaaaay more interesting a story than the main character’s. The main character had the age-old I don’t like people and I don’t want anything to do with them. I loved that Sakura talked about how she also was kind of the same just in a different way. She was a people-pleaser. She never wanted people to see her real life so she “pushed them away” by always trying to satisfy them. I relate to that so much. So now you have someone who tries to please people as best she can, find out that she’s literally dying from a disease, and she is struggling between telling someone to help ease her pain, and continuing to keep it a secret so as not “rock the boat”. That is so much more interesting than the main character’s problem. (Seriously, what problem? Teenage angst???)

The Romance (Book Ending)

Or lack thereof. I’m torn, I really don’t think Sakura loved the main character. She even kind of says that she doesn’t in her diary but then she also gets a little wishy-washy. I don’t know. I wish the author would just plain say that Sakura loved her best friend. Not the “I love you as a best friend”, but like romantic love. It seemed like she really had deep feelings for her (she even wished she would be a man in the next life. Girl, you didn’t have to wait!) But the ending kind of implies that the main character and Chouko get together…as friends? Maybe more? Who knows. I felt like everything was a little too neatly packaged.

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I looked it up the first time it came around, to check the reading (I thought くさぶね, but wasn’t sure, and my IME wasn’t helpful). That’s how I found out it wasn’t a “real” word. Well, one of the links I found mentioned it could be a contraction of two other words, but I forgot which.

Edit: found it

草本で作った舟筏

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It’s a boat made of grass that children sometimes make:
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img_1

I’m pretty sure we used to call them 草舟, 笹舟 , 葉っぱ舟 or whatever else depending on the material we used, but apparently only 笹舟 made it on the dictionary.

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I just had a revelation!

Chapter 5 spoiler

The book is meaningful!

Le petit prince spoiler

Sakura is the fox! :fox_face:

Well, since there was no post in between:

Edit: Chapter 7 spoiler

That Chekhov’s gun. Gdi, I didn’t see it coming. Even though I knew she was going to die, the book still got me.
Gotta stop reading for now, at least until the tears stop.

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Finally got around to finishing Chapter 1! Yay me! :joy:

I was a bit worried at first because it seemed like I struggled with reading it, but it became much better really quickly and I had to barely look anything up by the end of it. And I actually got most of everything that was going on, super chuffed! Fingers crossed it keeps going that way :crossed_fingers:

Chapter 1 ramblings on everything everyone's already touched on

It sure does not. I like the balls to the wall approach on this actually. It’s really out there with all the information from the get go.

It’s a really nice change of pace from other books trying to hide all these super secret secrets I think. It also gives immediate perspective and as a reader you can simply concentrate on what’s happening, which I find really cool.

That. It is so cool to see witty dialogue (especially coming from reading Toki with the beginner’s group. Some of that dialogue is absolutely awful) and a very clear distinction between two characters. It’s interesting how they’re so easily distinguishable (once you get used to them) and not just by what pronouns they use.

It’s the cutest thing. If a bit long winded, but it gives an immediate idea of what both of them think of each other and what especially Sakura is about.

Bottom line is I loved this chapter and it gives me hope for the rest of the book.

I’ve always loved ‘curling up’ with a good book, but I’ve never been able to do that with Japanese (mostly because I just haven’t read anything I would seriously consider a good book) because I kept having to look stuff up to get what was going on, but here’s to hoping that by the end of this one, I’ll actually get to do that. May just re-read it too :wink:

Now on to reading Chapter 2 (hopefully) tomorrow!

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No one is actually saying those though, right? Personally I just find it annoying.

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No, it’s just in the main character’s head. It’s a way to keep is name hidden, and it’s slightly relevant to the plot. There are only two hints about his name in the book (so far, still on chapter 8). I wonder if it’s enough for native to guess it (I am, for one, completely stumped)

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でしょ、でしょ??:sob:

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It’s like, book, why are you doing this to me? I/she/we accepted fate. Do you really have to do that?
I guess you do.
:sob:

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Gotta twist that knife reeeeeal deep. The book is coming for our pancreases! :scream:

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