Read-in-Progress Wednesday

[geraineon]

This is your weekly read-in-progress post for you to talk about what you're currently reading and reactions and feelings (if any)!

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Comments

priest - 橋頭樓上 chapter 8

[halfcactus]

I actually didn't get any reading done last week and only got to read chapter 8 yesterday...... I'm scared again lol

Also this book is making me realize that I know nothing about crabs????

Chapter 8 notes

The pop culture/anime character comparisons hit different now that you know that the mom was 15-16 when she gave birth to Tang Guo D: Still unclear what this implies about Uncle Z, other than him being an abuser.

The comforting rose scent is back; two years later, Tang Guo has learned how to spell "sleeve".

Not sure if 水晶宫 is meant to be a thematically relevant name for a place in this book (callbacks to being underwater), or if it's pretty standard. Is this the hotel from last year? A restaurant? Disneyland???? Last year "jiejie" (who at this point you can guess was the mom) gave her a headband from "the new hotel" that Tang Guo "wanted to go back to next year" so it's giving palace-themed place that Tang Guo thinks is a hotel...?????

I really hope this isn't, as the comments suggest, a split-/multiple-personality thing, or a "the sisters are both figments of Tang Guo's imagination", because I'm not very into that kind of storyline...

This chapter seems to have many indicators that the jiejie is the birth mom in the presence of Uncle Z. Kinda interesting that this is the hierarchy that exists in TG’s head but also tragic and sinister in light of circumstances (the birth mom being so young).

The Christmas Eve entry was, once again, terrifying. There's a cop car at the end of the episode so I hope it puts me out of my diary-related misery.

I'm not sure what is going on with the meimei because it seemed like she was just this object and then in one scene she was blinking back at Tang Guo? …I will just assume that either Meimei is one of those creepy blinking dolls, or that the blinking was just figurative and in TG’s child PoV she’s genuinely a living little girl. ... But I also haven't fully let go of the concept of the doll being a supernatural being. 😂

I think QSWXC user Crayon is on to something and I need them to expound on it bc idk how to eat crabs. I never would have guessed there were 8 tools for eating them because normally people just give you a nutcracker.... Somehow this is scarier ;A;

Re: priest - 橋頭樓上 chapter 8

[halfcactus]

Just as I posted this comment, a vendor outside passed by, announcing his wares (crabs) 😭😭😭

Re: priest - 橋頭樓上 chapter 8

[geraineon]

omg you get crabs from travelling vendors?

I am jelly! What kinda crab dish is it?

and it's okay, the novel will still be there so take your time with it and savour ^^d

Re: priest - 橋頭樓上 chapter 8

[halfcactus]

Occasionally, yeah! Maybe because I live near a major bus stop XD

They were live crabs, though I don't know how alive they were at that point haha I'm not a crab person, though. ^^;

Re: priest - 橋頭樓上 chapter 8

[geraineon]

live crabs!! that's awesome (I love crabs XD)

Re: priest - 橋頭樓上 chapter 8

[dayadhvam_triad]

The journal entries are just frightening with their implications ;___; As you get to more of the 楼上 chapters the setup slowly becomes more clear. None of the characters have a split-/multiple-personality thing, but the novel does explain later why the 桥上 entries sound so disjointed.

IKR, 8 tools for eating crabs??? My relatives (who, unlike me, are practiced at eating crabs) just tear them open with their hands 😂

Re: priest - 橋頭樓上 chapter 8

[geraineon]

Re: crabs

I just need a hammer for the more annoying and hard to crack bits.

8 tools feels like an overkill!

Re: priest - 橋頭樓上 chapter 8

[halfcactus]

Omg the way we (or our families) have different weapons of choice haha

Re: priest - 橋頭樓上 chapter 8

[geraineon]

XD what does your family use?

maybe we should test the efficiency of all the different tools

Re: priest - 橋頭樓上 chapter 8

[halfcactus]

Those handheld nut cracker things! My family only ever uses to crack open crabs haha. I think it's just for the claw part and the rest is just torn apart with hands or a knife... In my case, I used to use my parents to pass me an opened claw because it was the only part of the crab I ate. XD Now I've accepted that I don't feel strongly about crabs, I don't take anyone's claw meat anymore lol.

Re: priest - 橋頭樓上 chapter 8

[geraineon]

Oh, yes, I know those! I think restaurants give both the hammer and the nutcracker thing for crabs.

Hahaha, I used to take the claw (or rather, people used to give me the claw, as grandma's favourite grandkid), but I grew to really, really like the shell because of the crab paste? liver? fat? (idek, it just tastes good to me, with the added benefit of no tools needed).