Spoilers should always be hidden using spoiler blur.
When discussing a specific section, please mention where you are in the book, ideally by chapter so people reading different versions have a clear point of reference.
Feel free to read ahead if it’s exciting, but please refrain from spoiling ahead of the appropriate week.
If you have a question about grammar, vocab, cultural things, etc - ask! That’s a welcome part of the discussion too, and other readers will be happy to help.
As mentioned previously in the home thread, I’m going to go down the route of posting one thread per chapter for the majority of the book, so two weeks’ worth of discussion will live here. I’ll post a reminder here next week when we enter the next week.
Read week 2’s section (and a little bit more since the break is right in the middle of a paragraph I noticed I was supposed to stop at 15%, but I was already at 16…).
Main character sure is having a bad day. I really wish 正路 had stayed at his job. That would have showed them all. Also, seriously, screw the customer comments.
For the rope jumping game in elementary school, they should just make him go first and keep trying until he goes through.
As you can see from the three next sentences, the author just seems to go to the next line and add an indentation after each sentence. In your picture, the highlighted part is in the middle of a block of sentences.
Because of the font size on my phone, all sentences in that group end towards the middle of the line, by the way.
There’s literally no break until the end of the chapter too… The only break was a bit before (13% for me) where there is a transition from the 居酒屋 to the street.
Huh; well, apologies for that. We may have more mid-paragraph breaks in the future, then, since I can’t tell what’s supposed to constitute a single paragraph. I did try to put week breaks by obvious full line breaks or * breaks, but they didn’t happen often.
No worries! (Also, I’m not sure what to call a paragraph here either, since the author is technically making each individual sentence its own paragraph from a typographical standpoint).
On ebooks, it’s easy to look up the last sentence and preemptively highlight it.
Considering everyone is reading the digital version, it should be fine (as long as people are aware of it).
I did some ebook location math and knew that the end of the sentence was coming in the next two “pages” or so, so I was able to find it.
But oof. I know we’re just setting the stage for the rest of the story, but ugh what a bummer. I was going to be surprised that the boss could fire him for bad customer complaints. Like, I know it’s Japan, but still. But then he couldn’t actually, he just pressured him into leaving. So much better
Anyway, I hope the second half of the chapter goes at least a little better for 正路
Agree with the rest that I hope part 2 goes better for 正路… first half was honestly a bit of a pain for me to read, I couldn’t get into it at all! His ex-boss was just a super nasty individual, and honestly, 正路 is just so passive so far that it makes me want to slap him lol. I really hope he gets some character development, I’m not really good with gloomy MCs…
Masamichi and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.
「ごめんね、お母さん。今年も駄目だった……」
My heart broke reading this sentence.
I cannot remember the last time I related so much to a character in something I’m reading. I especially loved the metaphor of every social failure feeling like you’re growing and feeding an internal beast. Him trying his best in his own, only to realize it wasn’t enough…idk it just felt so real and human to me.
On the subject of the boss…at risk of sounding like a pretentious Reddit comment, I wonder if how you perceive that exchange changes depending on if you’ve had experience working in Japan? It at least felt it felt plausible to me (I’ve certainly seen exchanges similar to it). I agree part of it is characterizing Masamichi as somebody who can’t stand up for himself. But I also don’t think it’s as simple as (or even the point) Masamichi could’ve turned things around and stuck it to the 店長. In my experience working in Japan, one bad impression or mistake can easily become your permanent work identity. This is especially true if the person holding the poor opinion of you is in a higher work position. He was already labeled as a burden to the pub and no matter what he did, 店長 was probably going to continue to see him that way. He was more or less saying, “either you quit now, or you wait a month until I can ‘ethically’ fire you,” That and top of having your shortcomings affect others is one of the greatest (non-fireable) work sins, I can see why he felt like quitting was his only option here.
He could not have turned things around, but he would have forced the 店長 to find a reason to fire him with cause, followed by the one month he has ahead of actual termination. I’m sure the boss would have made his life horrible in the meantime, but there are still limits as he can’t outright break the law. So you get one month of salary during which you (1) don’t have to worry about f*cking up (you are already getting terminated) and (2) can more comfortably look for something else.
It does take some backbone to endure the heat, though, which the main character is obviously lacking (sadly).
This week’s reading was much easier. Masamichi is definitely a pitiful character, but that happens to be just my cup of tea. Reading long passages of melancholy introspection would tire me out, but he’s pretty efficient about his sulking at least. I’m feeling more sympathetic than anything else. More important to me is what the dynamic with the vampire guy will be like. If he bullies Masamichi like everyone else does, it will make me hate them both. Overall, I’m still feeling good about everything!
I’m just a touch behind; I haven’t finished last week’s reading yet due to the end of the week being crazy, so I’m hoping to get caught back up early this week.
Well, this is more depressing than I remembered, haha. Poor 正路; I wonder why he doesn’t consider moving back in with his parents? They seem to have a good relationship (or at least he and his mom do, if she cared enough to call about his entrance exam results), so surely having someone who cares waiting for you would be better than trying to stick it out by yourself?
I have to say, that 千円札 tucked away as a 選別 really had me going It’s almost impressive how the 店長 didn’t even bother to care about 正路 giving him the easy way out.
I always really liked how it was 正路’s mom’s words that encouraged him not to give up there at the very end, and how deeply affected he was by them even at his lowest point.
I also constantly wonder over what time period this dying conversation took place, because I can’t imagine 正路 would be able to hold it in real life.
He doesn’t give off the best first impression, does he? Good thing for him 正路 had very few options left at this point.
The glorious beaming light that felt so amazing and then his body feeling more pain than he’s ever felt as soon as he becomes the 下僕 isn’t really doing a lot to improve that impression for me either…
Well the deal certainly happened in a way I wasn’t expecting! That detailed scene of Masamichi getting hit by the car, shortly followed by the graphic description of a part of leg getting slurped up like late night ramen made me remember this book was once a candidate for the 癒し系 book club
「母親の言葉を蜘蛛の糸のようにして縋り、正路は生者の世界に再び顔を向ける」
The healing light is also silver and described as appearing sacred…
I wonder if this is an allusion to the「蜘蛛の糸」story? (A criminal spared the life of a spider he could’ve killed. Buddha is moved by his compassion and offers a second chance of life, by sending down a silver thread down to hell for him to climb up)
If so, it is foreboding about Masamichi’s story moving forward.
I think that was just due to 正路’s brain suddenly being able to process all his broken bones/ripped up body at once. An unfortunate side effect of healing, if you will.
I swear, I had good intentions nominating it. Small spoiler, but things do get better.
Yes, that line you quoted 100% is. I think I read it more as hopeful than foreboding, though. That reminds me, I’m super happy I read that story in one of my JP readers way way back; it gets referenced a surprisingly huge number of times in books. I wonder if there are other good legends/folktales I should read whose references have passed me by…
I noticed I was supposed to stop at 15%, but I was already at 16…).
I checked my copy, and it doesn’t seem to be in the middle of one for me, unless paragraphs are grouped differently in Japanese?
It’s almost impressive how the 店長 didn’t even bother to care about 正路 giving him the easy way out.
