I will generally copy this information over thread to thread each week for ease of finding - you can always expect the schedule at the top of any weekly thread
Law and Order
Any reveals, for the current chapters must be behind spoilers or detail curtains. When we get further in you don’t need to hide details that were revealed in previous chapters.
Questions on vocab, grammar, nuance, and the like are both welcome and encouraged. If you’re not sure if it’s a spoiler, assume it is and use one of the above options to hide the text.
You are encouraged to speculate and guess wildly
Be kind about other peoples’ wild guesses
Even if you don’t read the chapter(s) in time, you are still encouraged to post in the thread for that reading once you have finished it. I advise not reading ahead in the threads as you may see spoilers.
To gauge participation - a poll!
Are you reading week 4?
Yes, I’m planning to read along/am reading along this week
I’m reading, but not at the same pace as the club
I had no intentions of reading the book, but I desire to click a poll
Well… So the characters are siblings and apparently lovers as well, although I’m not sure if they were lovers before they realised they were siblings? Anyway it’s interesting that they started to wonder if their father committed suicide, and the timing of a phone call straight before his death makes it feel a lot less accidental…
Anyway I like Riku Onda’s writing style, it is very smooth to read so I probably will check out some of her other books in the future!
Ooooh, and another cliffhanger! I really liked this book, such a pleasure to read, and I must say compared to Eugenia with which I struggled a lot, I find this much easier to follow, and I basically realize instantly when a time shift (between their reflections of the past and the narration of the actual „now“) happens.
For the actual story, I‘m once more impressed by @omk3 ability to sense / understand / guess everything correctly! I would never have dreamed that they were raised separately and that they were twins to begin with. And from there everything nicely falls into place. Really quite the unbelievable story so far. And we’re only 30% in! I’m getting ready for more and more unpacking, and I can’t wait to learn what really happened…
Phone call? Didn’t they just talk about ringtones?
On Aki’s side she says that they knew they were siblings before they began living together and it feels like from how she talks about ‘what their parents worried about’ that this had not happened prior to move it, but likely did after.
Also, re: the revealed name with no kanji: that definitely seems to be a male ‘spelling’ of the name. I was admittedly hoping for a woman dating a transman as a plot over incest. This is the third thing I’ve read recently with incest as a plot point
I just finished reading and I’m finally able to open all the spoilers! Hurray!
That’s my impression too. Before they took a break, they were talking about ringtones. I’m thinking we’ll get to hear about another significant song soon.
They did know they were siblings before they began living together, yes. But I’m not sure their parents knew they were siblings too. I don’t know if Aki’s adoptive parents knew where she came from exactly (they probably would?) and we can assume that their mother would recognize her daughter somehow, but we don’t know that side (yet) at all. And didn’t Aki say that if they committed suicide, her parents would think it was because of a broken heart? I was given the impression that they thought it was a normal relationship between young lovers. I may be wrong though.
So yeah, on incest, we don’t yet know whether it actually happened, although it probably did. I don’t consider it incest exactly though, not while they didn’t know they were siblings at least. Incidentally, I have read another (non-Japanese) book many years ago about long-lost twins that became lovers when they found each other, and it felt weirdly natural to me. There’s supposed to be some strange connection between twins, and if they haven’t grown up together, it’s easy for this connection to become sexual, I guess. Or so it seemed to me while I was reading that book, and I get a similar vibe here.
Early days yet, but I’m thinking of maybe starting a Riku Onda book club after we finish this book? I definitely want to read more of hers, and she’s written so much (across several genres too) that we’re not going to be out of material any time soon.
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Early days yet, but I’m thinking of maybe starting a Riku Onda book club after we finish this book? I definitely want to read more of hers, and she’s written so much (across several genres too) that we’re not going to be out of material any time soon.
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I would definitely be up for a Riku Onda book club, I was interested in maybe reading her debut work ‘The 6th Sayoko’ as it looks like school mystery/horror story, which would be a bit different.
Edit: lol I have no idea why the quote formatting broke
I was about to answer here, but thought it’d be better to not derail this thread too much, so I went ahead and made a Riku Onda Book Club thread. Feel free to visit and discuss/nominate her books there!
Just remove the / from the first [/quote]
I’m sure you know that you can quote by just selecting some text and hitting reply, but thought I’d mention it just in case. Easier than typing the quote tags every time.
After Eugenia I would not have been interested, but this book was really a gamechanger So I guess I‘d be interested in at least some of her works!
so many book clubs, so little time
Didn’t she say that one of the reasons they gave their parents to move in together was that they were making up for lost time with each other as siblings? The fact that they had to convince their parents at all made it feel more like the parents knew they were siblings and were worried about romantic feelings. And when she talked about how her parents would react if they killed themselves, she imagined they would infer she died “because of a love that could never be fulfilled”, right? That plus the callback to the look of doubt in their eyes when the siblings moved in together made me think they knew they were siblings but suspected their relationship would be more than that.
I could definitely be wrong though. Maybe their parents were just against cohabitation and thought the relationship would never work out for unrelated reasons. We shall see!
I think you’re right, actually. It’s just that the way everything is phrased leaves some room for interpretation ot twisting, so I’m trying to not take everything at face value (possibly a little too much )
For sure! With the way things have been unfolding, who knows what new details will be revealed that cast a whole new light on the situation. It’s a good exercise in keeping receipts - was this actually explicitly revealed, or is this only one way of looking at all the information so far? The ambiguity is intriguing!
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Law and Order 
I would never have dreamed that 
So I guess I‘d be interested in at least some of her works!
