A2-20 / CEFR A2 / EPISODE 20

Book Club Meeting

Sharing thoughts about a novel

SceneAt a book club, sharing opinions on the same novel.

Frank and Tina talk with book club members around open books in a cafe. — Select the illustration to view it at full size in a new tab.

Narrator

Frank and Tina are at a book club meeting. They've both read the same novel.

フランクとティナは読書会にいる。二人とも同じ小説を読んだ。

Frank01

So. What did you think of the novel?

それで。あの小説、どう思った？

Tina02

I loved it. But the chapter about the heroine's childhood made me cry.

大好きだったわ。でもヒロインの子供時代の章で泣いちゃった。

Frank03

Same. The author writes about pain very clearly.

僕も。作者はつらさをとてもわかりやすく描いてる。

Tina04

And the new character near the end — she surprised me.

それと終盤の新しい登場人物——あれには驚いた。

Frank05

She sits beside the heroine when everyone else walks away.

ほかのみんなが離れていくときに、彼女はヒロインの隣に座るんだ。

Tina06

Hmm. Shows up out of nowhere, calls the heroine special, gives her courage...

ふうん。どこからともなく現れて、ヒロインを特別だと言って、勇気をくれる…

Frank07

Yes. Exactly.

そう。その通り。

Tina08

Frank. It reminded me of us. Of the night we met.

フランク。私たちを思い出したわ。初めて会った夜のこと。

Frank09

You saw my stitches, called them cool, and asked, "Friends? Yes? Yes?"

君は僕の縫い目を見て、かっこいいと言って、「友達になろう？ね？ね？」と聞いた。

Tina10

You never said no, so I decided that meant yes.

あなた、断らなかったでしょ。だから「イエス」ってことにしたの。

Frank11

Also, the lab clock showed eleven forty-two that night. It was loud, too.

それと、あの夜、ラボの時計は11時42分を指していた。音も大きかった。

Tina12

Okay, okay. Anyway, back to the book. The ending?

はいはい。とにかく、本の話に戻りましょう。結末は？

Frank13

Before we do — that clock was two minutes slow.

その前に——あの時計は2分遅れていた。

WORDS & CONTEXT

Words & context

“Shows up out of nowhere”

Out of nowhere means suddenly, from no obvious place, and show up means to appear, so the phrase means "appears out of nowhere." The subject She at the start is left out, which sounds conversational. The character who calls the heroine special and gives her courage mirrors Tina, who called Frank special in A1-01. Frank is the one who mirrors the heroine.

“It reminded me of us.”

Remind A of B means to make A think of B. Here A is me and B is us: It reminded me of us. means the novel made Tina think of the two of them. The next line, Of the night we met., says what it reminded her of.

“Anyway, back to the book.”

Anyway closes a digression, and back to … returns to the previous topic. Tina tries to move from memories back to the book-club discussion, but Frank continues talking about the details of the clock.

“that clock was two minutes slow”

When a clock is slow, it is not moving slowly; it shows a time earlier than the correct time. The clock showed 11:42 p.m. and was two minutes slow, so it was actually 11:44 p.m. The punchline is that Tina wants to get back to the book, but Frank insists on stating the exact minute they met. This builds on the late-night lab and the ticking clock in A1-01; the specific time is added in this episode.

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