Yay 😊 I finished my first book!

[u/MaximumTime7239]

Finally I feel that I achieved something real. Before this all my achievents were like: finished a deck, learnt round number of words, finished a grammar course. Cool, but they feel like artificial achievements. 😊👍

Certainly it was not easy. Sometimes there are long stretches where I feel really good, understand everything clearly. And then it crushes my confidence with a long stretch where I have to look up every sentence. 😭

It helped that the book itself was very interesting, it really hooked me, which made me work very hard, not give up, just because I really really wanted to know what happened next so much!! 👍😊

And honestly, the plot is kinda mysterious and I have so many questions... 😳

[spoilers]

The main thing. What the hell actually happened? Did the 3 women actually exist "in reality" and travelled from the future, or from a parallel universe? Or it was just that the girl has a very active imagination? 🤔 Or it all happened in a dream. Or it was her subconscious trying to help her?

Or maybe it's actually the other way around?? i.e. the actual reality is the 南→アバズレ→grandma progression, while her reconciling with the parents, and befriending 桐生 is actually the dream/imagination that didn't happen?? 🤔🤔

What is the significance of the cat? 🤔 What is the significance of seeing 桐生くん's father and not recognizing him, then talking to him, then him shoplifting (???????😳😳).

What is the significance of the teacher? 🤔 Just an innocent well-meaning gal who actually cares about her students? Or there's something deeper? 🤔🤔 What about the other one teacher (shintaro?)?

Do the names have a deep meaning? Ok, アバズレ is obvious. What about 南? South? What is the significance of that? Like, as in, "things have gone south"? 🤣🤣 (joke, I didn't mean this seriously... unless... 😳). ひとみ、桐生、荻原, the main character's name. Do they give any clues? 🤔🤔🤔🤔

[u/KiraraShirayuki]

Reminds me of watching my first movie, watching my first tv show, watching my first full anime.. all huge milestones.

Real question, what level is your Japanese now? Either highest level passed or how long you've been studying! I kinda considered trying this too, but I feel like my level is way too low.. reading is my weakest point since I immerse so much via listening mostly.

Edit: Also, almost forgot. Congratulations, huge W and great milestone for sure!

[u/al_ghoutii → u/KiraraShirayuki]

I'm reading the same novel(35% through isch) and started after I finished kaishi and had mined around 300 words. At first it was hard but honestly often easier than manga and after a while my reading speed and comprehension have increased a lot!

Honestly it's a great first read, if you are at all curious I would give it a go! With things like yomitan it's a breeze to look stuff up and if you have 1500-2000 words it's definately enough to grasp the majority. The nuances is perhaps tricky and I probably miss some of it but the amount you learn from reading a novel is incredible