Welcome to the しろいろの街の、その骨の体温の Informal Reading Club
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I’ve just started and read to the paragraph break on pg 20!
Character list so far
谷沢結佳
たにざわゆか
main character
若葉
わかば
classmate (friend group of 3)
信子
のぶこ
classmate (friend group of 3)
みか
classmate
伊吹陽太
いぶきようた
calligraphy class
I’m really excited to read this and liking it so far. I’ve read Sayaka Murata in English before so it’s exciting to be at a Japanese level where I can read her books in the original language! Feel like I’ve made it
The language is really approachable and I actually haven’t had any trouble following anything on the grammatical/sentence level so far, so it’s just been vocabulary lookups. I feel that her writing is very clear and direct while also conveying atmosphere and meaning!
So far I like the POV of a weird girl who is a little apart from everyone and analyzes their actions and behavior in a way that they themselves don’t. And the conversation with 伊吹 is already showing the theme of girls’ development being faster than boys’, as he came across a little 子供っぽい to her in his straightforward love of school- but she couldn’t actually voice why she didn’t like school other than that it seemed better to be someone who didn’t like school the social layers
I was wondering when the sexual development aspects would start to show up First there was the porno mags in the trash scene, then the kiss scene. The dynamic between ゆか and 伊吹 seems a little… hmm!! I thought it was interesting how she seemed to get pleasure out of embarrassing him and lording over him how he is like a child. And of course there was the ‘he’s like a toy’ line.
What do you all think of the color symbolism in this book? Obviously there’s a lot of white, the white ‘new’ town, which seems to quickly turn to dirty grey. There’s also the black ink and the scene where 伊吹 grabs her wrist with his inky hand, making a black handprint on white. She seems very disgusted by the inky hands in general in that scene. 伊吹 also seems to stand out from the other characters and surroundings because he wears a bright orange sweatshirt, nothing else has been described as orange. Do we think it’s as simple as white = purity and sexual innocence? Or is there some other meaning
I think the colors do work on that obvious level as symbols for innocence versus desire. The town is a symbol for Yuka and her peers growth - it’s not fully developed and is still fresh and white since it hasn’t been lived in yet. The ink is like puberty and sexual desires: he touches her and she perceives him as something different from before (even though the idea of sexual desire isn’t fully developed in her head yet), and that encounter leaves a physical mark. She is quite literally tainted from the encounter, and it’s yucky as something new and unknown.
Ok yeah! I figured it was something like that but then I was like is it really that literal I also remembered this morning that the diggers are also orange. They dig up the abandoned lots where they used to play in childhood. Then Ibuki is also orange, and he’s the most childish one but his innocence is kind of being torn up by the relationship with Yuka?
I finally got around to reading more, and I’m finding all of the setting around this town that is being built up to be really interesting too. Like that the kids are finding amusement and refuge in the wildness, but the adults are coming along and making everything into an orderly, perfect town. Feels like it might tie into the book’s themes a bit
Oh, yes, like the town being built out of the empty lots mirrors the change that they’re going through with puberty where they come into adulthood from a sort of wild and unknowing childhood. I think the idea that children are sort of inherently more connected to wilderness/nature is a theme I’ve seen in a few things, def. getting that vibe here.
The scene where she got her first period was honestly harrowing, I was stressed
Now we’ve got a change in the status quo, uh oh! Poor Nobuko… I think we’ve all known a Nobuko though. The construction in the town stopped, I wonder what significance this will have.
Ok, here’s my grade school story that this book keeps making me think of! When I was in 4th grade, I didn’t really have any friends in my class and a lot of the other girls were the ‘popular’ type. Sometimes they would have me in their group and sometimes not. I sometimes talked to/hung out with another girl in the class who was also left out… pretty clearly because she was black. Children are racist!!
One time one of the popular girls told me that the next day some of the girls were going to wear matching outfits!! And to be sure to wear my white shirt and black skirt (we had a dress code so limited options), because we were going to match together. The next day I wore my white shirt and black skirt, only to find the ‘popular’ girls were all wearing GREEN shirts with KHAKI PANTS. I looked around and noticed that I was only matching with… the other girl who got left out all the time. She was also wearing the white shirt and black skirt. No one mentioned anything about the matching… but I still remember to this day
I barely remember elementary school but I, too, was not one of the popular girls. in hindsight, it’s not the worst place to be - back then. Nowadays with bullying following you home via the internet, it would suck so much more.
That’s very
Although are the diggers orange? I kinda remember them being yellow, but I didn’t go back to check.
結佳’s weird advances at 伊吹 are oddly transparent. I don’t know if I see a metaphor for them, but I find it .. amusing is not the word, but sure, amusing, that she introduces a topic she doesn’t fully know about, calls him a child, and then goads him into doing it. Or not, with the porn magazine. I’m very like, I see you child
I’m super, super slowly making my way through. Maybe I’ll finish by July
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That makes things easier since the book doesn’t have chapters
and liking it so far. I’ve read Sayaka Murata in English before so it’s exciting to be at a Japanese level where I can read her books in the original language! Feel like I’ve made it 
the social layers 
First there was the porno mags in the trash scene, then the kiss scene. The dynamic between ゆか and 伊吹 seems a little… hmm!! I thought it was interesting how she seemed to get pleasure out of embarrassing him and lording over him how he is like a child. And of course there was the ‘he’s like a toy’ line.
but hopefully after I do that and a few other manga reads tomorrow…
The construction in the town stopped, I wonder what significance this will have.
