Reading the Chunksters discussion

I thought I would go ahead and open the thread for last week's reading so people can start posting. I hope you don't mind Dianne! :)

I’ve been surprised by where each chapter goes. I’m finding that I can’t predict anything

I wrote up some comments on these chapters but am not home and won't be for another week. So what I say in meantime will be abbreviated.

I find both our female main characters to be quite strange. Aomame has a very strange profession and is exceedingly good at it for her age. She talks like she's doing everyone a favor, but when she hooks up with the balding guy at the hotel, from the way she treats him, i think it becoms obvious she has deep seeded issues with men. And she's very mechanical.

Our other female main character, sorry don't have her name handy, acts like she's half in this world and half in another. Frankly she's so odd I find it impossible for her to fit into society. I'm having trouble believing this part. She too is very mechanical.

Xan Shadowflutter wrote: "I wrote up some comments on these chapters but am not home and won't be for another week. So what I say in meantime will be abbreviated.

I find both our female main characters to be quite strange...."

I agree that both these female characters are unusual but I wonder if this will end up being due to something strange going on. I thought it strange that Aomame's thought went straight to being in a parallel universe as an answer to why she couldn't remember those few certain events, which explained why the police officer had a different uniform and gun.

Fuka-Eri seems very odd and I agree that with what we know of her so far it would seem she would find it extremely difficult to function in the world.

It will be interesting to see how this continues to unfold.

Hi, Bron.

Yes, I think you are right about the source of their behavior. Fuka-Eri, from what I know of the syndrome, acts like she has Asperger's, but somehow I don't think that's what's going on.

Am enjoying this more than I thought I would. More than Kafka on the Shore.

Fuka-Eri is an interesting character, she seems to be intelligent and has a kind of trust in Tengo, but her way of communicating is not typical. I wonder if the reasons for this are contained somewhere within the Air Chrysalis story.

Oh, so like Tengo is normal? About the most (only?) “normal” person we have met is the slightly bald gentleman who is picked up by Aomame at the hotel bar.

Otherwise, just about all the characters are “off.”

My heart sank a bit when I read “parallel world”

Hmmm.

Bron wrote: "I thought it strange that Aomame's thought went straight to being in a parallel universe as an answer to why she couldn't remember those few certain events"

I thought the same thing, Bron. We'll see how this plays out, but my first thought was that I wished the book had not gone in this direction, or maybe just not so soon. I think I would have preferred more dropped clues for the reader and a longer time for the character to realize that maybe a parallel world was the answer to the puzzle.

Been sick with pneumonia and my mother had a heart attack. I'm so glad to be back and catching up. It was very interesting how Aomame researched to find the history behind the new uniforms and came up with the new date.

Dan wrote: "Oh, so like Tengo is normal? About the most (only?) “normal” person we have met is the slightly bald gentleman who is picked up by Aomame at the hotel bar.

Otherwise, just about all the characters..."

It is so funny to me that you say this because it is so absolutely true!

Tammy Dayton wrote: "Been sick with pneumonia and my mother had a heart attack. I'm so glad to be back and catching up. It was very interesting how Aomame researched to find the history behind the new uniforms and came..."

I'm sorry to hear about your mom Tammy. I hope she is doing okay. I also find Aomame research interesting.

At the end of this section, it feels like the characters are about to jump down the rabbit hole. Aomeme is going to follow some policeman that is going to take her into the Matrix, and Tengo is going to follow Fuki-Eri to the land where the magical goat lives.

It is all so bizarre. I love it, but I also like Murakami's attention to more subtle details like when the dowager is sipping her tea. I thought it was so funny when he says, "At the very least, she took three times as long to accomplish these motions as the ordinary person."

Whenever I have seen people drink tea in movies from different periods of time, that is exactly what I am thinking. Why does it always seem to take so long to drink some tea? People just sit there and play with cups and this or that, and it has always seemed funny to me.

There have been a couple of times already where I have noticed that he has the character thinking something that a lot of people are probably thinking, but no one says these things out loud. I like that.

Lisa wrote: "I’ve been surprised by where each chapter goes. I’m finding that I can’t predict anything"

I was having the same experience and loving it!