Overview
My first time reading a book in English! This is sort of a continuation of my journey towards the "Eiken Pre-1 Grade." As part of my English studies, I decided to give it a go.
Here’s my summary, impressions, and thoughts on this first English book challenge.
Summary
- Nakamura Chiori (a former freshman in the Faculty of Literature at K University) dies from a combination of acute alcohol poisoning and a preexisting condition at a New Year’s party.
- In response, her father, Nakamura Seiji, goes insane and commits a double suicide with his wife at The Blue Mansion on Tsunojima Island in Oita Prefecture.
- Van, Chiori’s boyfriend (a third-year student in the Faculty of Science at K University), plots revenge against the New Year’s party attendees.
- Van carefully lures the group to The Decagon House on Tsunojima Island and starts killing them off one by one:
- Orczy (a freshman in the Faculty of Literature) – dark and gloomy, but well-versed in literature. Midori-san’s favorite.
- Carr (a third-year law student) – always stirring up trouble.
- Leroux (a sophomore in the Faculty of Literature) – wears round glasses and has an earnest personality.
- Agatha (a third-year pharmacy student) – the group’s “Madonna.” She constantly complains about being asked to make coffee but still makes it every time.
- Poe (a senior in the Faculty of Medicine) – calm and tends to take charge. Midori-san initially suspects him to be the culprit, but it turns out he’s innocent. Apologies for that!
- Ellery (a third-year law student) – handsome. Although he’s described as “foolish,” I believe he had a caring heart and genuinely looked out for his friends.
- You’d think that being the lone survivor on a remote island would expose Van as the culprit. However, Van meticulously travels between the island and the mainland every night, creating alibis.
- The case seems destined to remain unsolved, but our detective Shimada appears to have figured out the truth.
Impressions
- What is up with this absurd trick? Van manages to travel between the island and the mainland every night, meeting his friends on the mainland to create alibis without anyone noticing. That’s some serious luck and power play.
- The plot prioritizes the idea of inflicting “gradual fear” over a well-structured murder plan, making everything feel rather improvised.
- But the novel still conveys a gripping sense of determination: when an ordinary person, driven only by hatred, carries out a scheme to its bitter end, it feels harrowing.
- Since Van has ordinary emotions, by the end of the book, you get the impression that he actually wanted to be caught.
- "Foolish Ellery" refers to Ellery's insistence on pursuing the possibility of an external culprit. Although Ellery is eerily calm, making him seem emotionally distant, I believe he genuinely cared about his friends. He enjoyed cheering them up with conversation when the mood was down and drew Orczy into discussions about literature to let her shine. He never doubted his friends because he liked them. That’s precisely why he could say things that sounded like accusations – when you’re convinced something’s impossible, you can speak about it easily. Suspicion in moderation makes people reluctant to voice it.
- I liked all six of the murdered characters. Each had a distinct personality, making it hard to believe they were truly involved in Chiori’s death. It felt more like a tragic accident. However, the novel never reveals what really happened that night.
Thoughts on the English Book Challenge
The Decagon House Murders is the English translation of Jukkakukan no Satsujin. My friend and I decided to have some fun with this challenge: I would read the English version while my friend read the Japanese version, and we’d compare our thoughts along the way.
The English edition is about 280 pages long, so I planned to finish it within a month by reading 10 pages a day. However, the book was so engaging that I finished it a few days ahead of schedule.
We didn’t talk much while reading, but sharing our thoughts about the mystery at key points was a lot of fun.
- Me: "I think Poe is the culprit. After all, he’s the only one who saw Orczy’s body. What if Poe is lying, and Orczy is actually alive? Maybe they’re working together."
- Friend: "It’s possible, but I wouldn’t rule out someone else being involved."
- Me: "Yeah, I know. Honestly, I just really want Orczy to be alive because she’s my favorite."
- Friend: laughs
We made sure to read the same chapters at the same time, which was great because my friend could help me with any tricky English sentences in real-time.
- Me: "Oh no, here comes the dreaded English sentence. It’s that part… the one with the ‘…’ thing."
- Friend: "Where exactly? Oh, I see. In the Japanese version, it’s written like ‘…’."
- Me: "No wonder I was lost."
We even found what seemed like a translation error.
- Me: "Wait, isn’t Kawaminami’s kanji 河南?"
- Friend: "In the Japanese version, it’s 江南."
- Me: "But the English version says it’s based on the ‘Yellow River,’ which would be 黄河 (Huang He)."
- Friend: "Meanwhile, this version refers to the Yangtze River."
- Me: "Looks like we caught a translation mistake."
- Friend: "We sure did."
