The police vocab so far is pretty light, but the text itself is very dense with information. Names, dates, background information. I had to stop and reread a sentence or two because I was like ‘wait, what?’. I’m getting into the flow of it, but given I’ve been reading incredibly straight forward material lately it took a bit of adjustment.
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Wait 'till you get to the sentence with 150% politics vocab 
That’s when I gave up…
OK it’s not only me, then 
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Reminder that week 1 starts today!
We’re reading Prologue + Chapter 1, which is 52 pages in my copy.
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Finished the first week’s reading. I’m putting my name notes beneath a detail curtain incase it helps any one. I didn’t spoil any of the notes since nothing seems spoiler-y yet insofar as those go.
Notes
Prologue
片倉信子・かたくらのぶこ・中二
田中翔子・たなかしょうこ・信子のクラスメイト
石川幸司・いしかわこうじ・巡査
片倉宗朗・かたくらむねお・片倉ハウスの創業者（明治時代）
片倉春樹・かたくらはるき・信子の弟
片倉たえ子・かたくらたえこ・信子たちのお祖母さん
石田直澄・いしだなおずみ・４６歳・４人殺しの容疑者
Chapter 1
２０２５号室は殺害現場；６月2日
有吉房雄・ありよしふさお・栄町町会長
佐野利明・さのとしあき・ニューシティ・ウエストタワーの管理人・５５歳
葛西美枝子・かさいみえこ・編集プロダクション勤務・2023号室
葛西一之・かさいかずゆき・恵美子の夫・アパレルメーカー勤務
佐藤義男・さとうよしお・1225号室・救急車を呼んだ家族・金融会社勤務
佐藤秋江・さとうあきえ・義男の妻
佐藤博史・さとうひろし・高校三年生・長男
佐藤彩美・さとうあやみ・中学三年生・長女
島崎昭文・しまざきあきふみ・中央棟の管理人・５０代
島崎房江・しまざきふさえ・昭文の妻・５０代
佐々木茂・ささきしげる・イーストタワーの管理人・32歳
佐々木加奈子・ささきかなこ・茂の妻
佐野昌子・さのまさこ・利明の妻・乳がんで入院中
佐野雪美・さのゆきみ・佐野夫人の娘・２０歳
小糸信治・こいとしんじ・２０２５号室に住む・機械メーカー勤務・４１歳
小糸静子・こいとしずこ・信治の妻・４０歳・衣料品店勤務
小糸孝弘・こいとたかひろ・小糸の長男・１０歳
I wasn’t expecting the twist at the end! Excited to read on, but also sometimes the amount of detail here feels a bit tedious. The section on the building entrances in particular felt like it would never end
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Thank you! I’ve already lost track of who’s who, with how everyone and their family is introduced 
I also did not see that coming. I’ve no idea what’s going to happen next. I wonder what causes the “bad luck”? It got brought up multiple times, so it feels significant.
I can see why it is described as a documentary like writing style. I think I like it, but we’ll see.
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I read the first two chapters before stalling out last year, so this part has been a reread for me.
I had forgotten how much detail the author crammed in to this chapter, but I think that was part of why I put the book down – the book isn’t just long but also feels rather concentrated.
I do like that this is all firmly anchored in a particular place and time, with the post-bubble real estate market collapse. Random side note: it’s mentioned that having a wife is a requirement for the 管理人 job – I wonder if that would still be a legal thing to make a job requirement in Japan today. It certainly wouldn’t be permitted in the UK.
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I wondered about that too! I’m pretty sure it’d be illegal here in America as well (for now anyways 
). I tried googling it but I couldn’t seem to hit on the right combination of search terms because all I was getting was advice columns for people sleeping with their married coworkers and opinion pieces about whether being single made you a better worker…
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About the 管理人
It doesn’t say specifically that it’s a requirement, but I did find this ad for a live in 夫婦管理人 pair here:
Also a couple here:
【11月版】住み込み管理人の求人・仕事・採用｜スタンバイでお仕事探し
So it’s at least not super uncommon and probably legal. I searched for: マンションの管理人求人 for for the first one, later adding 住み込み for the second.
About week one~
That was one jam packed first chapter! After the first ten or so pages I decided to supplement my reading with the audiobook, but even so I had to do quite a few re reads and lookups throughout. I hope the information flood will calm down a bit in later chapters.
I do like the style it’s written in, though! It’s like we’re learning things through the lens of a reporter investigating things after the fact.
I also appreciate the setting. I don’t think I’ve read something set specifically in the post bubble period before. 
I had a bit of fun making sense of the amount of yen when they were talking about the cost of that マンション…
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I think 火車 (same author) is also set in that era? I remember troubled finances were definitely a big theme in any case, and I want to say it was set in the early 90s
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Listened to the prologue with the audiobook; I’m hoping reading + listening will be a good intermediary between speed and looking up words specifically because I can’t remember how they’re pronounced in the moment.
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Some of the more convoluted sections I found it helpful to pause and reread the sentence I just heard. The narration is very much jumping in and out of linear story telling to give you backstory which can be a bit dizzying if you’re not expecting it and trying to keep up with the audio.
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Still making my way through week 1; about halfway through chapter 1. I’m crossing my fingers detailed knowledge of the building’s history and layout isn’t required. 
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Read chapter 2 today. Only one name note!
小糸貴子・こいとたかこ・塾の教師・５３歳・信治の姉
I can vividly picture this family. They sound exhausting to be around…but also Takako seems kind of tiring, too. Very much a ‘there is a single correct way to live’ type of vibe. I don’t disagree with her assessment of the family necessarily, but I also suspect even in a less extreme situation she’d be very judgmental.
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I just noticed I got the page counts muddled up here – this week’s reading is only 34 pages, making it one of our shorter weeks.
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Finished chapter 2.
I hope the kid is doing okay. We only really got Takako’s point of view, but from what she said I have to agree that it looks like Shizuko is more focused on appearance than on what is actually good for her child.
Why did they move? Were they involved in something shady? That money had to come from somewhere, and with how irresponsible with money they were I somehow don’t think they managed to save up for it the regular way.
I feel like so far we got a lot of details, but very little of it sounds relevant to the case. It’s really too early to figure anything out yet, so for the moment my best guess is that some of the victims were criminals or they were in hiding for some other reason and the Koitos had to harbour them to pay back some debt. Maybe. Who knows. I certainly don’t.
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I would not be surprised if we get some organized crime coming in soon. Loan sharks or sketchy rental schemes. Like what if the people in the apartment aren’t Japanese (and are there illegally)?
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Whoops, I just noticed another error in my page counts – next week’s reading (chapters 3+4) adds up to 60 pages, not 50…
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Week three starts today!
We are reading chapters 3 and 4, which together add up to 60 pages in my copy. That makes this the joint-longest week; next week will be shorter again.
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sigh I knew this would happen; I’m still poking at week 1. It’s not the book’s difficulty or anything, I’ve just been slammed elsewhere. Hoping I can wrap up week 1 over the next couple of days now that I’m on break from work, though I’ve got a list of other book club books in similarly behind on. :S Why are the holidays so busy?
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