The Filipino Group discussion

Hello!

Gwaxa, Joy, Lynai, Meliza and I, with eavesdroppers Mommy Louize and Monique, will be buddy reading number9dream by David Mitchell. We start tomorrow, June 10. Holler if you want to join!

Here is the proposed reading plan:

June 10-16 - Chapter 1-2
June 17-23 - Chapter 3-4
June 24-30 - Chapter 5-6
July 01-07 - Chapter 7-8
July 08-11 - Chapter 9

See you in Japan! Happy Reading!

Thanks for creating the thread, Tin. Maybe I'll start reading tonight. Hehe! By the way, does any one of you have an audiobook of this?

You da best, Tin! Hihi. (view spoiler)[ Ang ambitious ko lang, di ko pa tapos ang What I Loved with Tricia, pero eto na naman ako sa buddy reading na ito. Heh. (hide spoiler)]

(Hullo. Makikiusyoso lang po. Hihi.) :D

Thoughts after reading the second "Time to locate my maker.":
Oooh, this book is going to be fun!

Pwede mag-join? Ehehe! Habol ako, will start tonight. :D

Sure, Mawi! Go lang. :)

Monique: Usyoso away!
Mawi: Habol away!
Lynai: Multi-task away!

Meliza: (view spoiler)[ Akala ko nung una mala Grounghog Day, but then as I progressed, it's more on imagination/dreams. :) (hide spoiler)]

Tin: (view spoiler)[Kaya pala “How do you smuggle daydreams into reality?” (hide spoiler)]

Hi buddies! Just finished reading chapter 1. Huli na koooo.

(view spoiler)[O.O
Nakakaloka yung hindi malinaw kung totoo ba yung nangyayari o hindi. Mindfuckery itu. (hide spoiler)]

How's your reading going?

At 9% and already my mind is a wreck. I feel I'm going crazy trying to determine which story is (view spoiler)[ a dream and which is the reality. (hide spoiler)]

Hi, gals!
It will be a bit confusing in the beginning, and DM is not very fond of preambles, hehehe, but hold on a bit longer until the next chapter, you'll get the hang of it. Besides, I want to ask your initial take on Eiji. :)

Hello Buddies!

Mind barf incoming

Guys: *DO NOT Open spoiler tags if you haven't gone past chapter 2!*

Chapter 1-2
(view spoiler)[

Chapter 1: So at first I thought this was like Groundhog Day, with Eiji getting to relive his day over and over. But then I was wrong, they were imaginations, dreams. Entertaining ones. I enjoyed the first one which played like an action film. And the second one (save the girl from the crocodile), which I thought would make an excellent B-movie. The Ganymede Cinema one was pretty intense too. Haha. Anyway, initially, I felt my head reeling too, mostly because nag-eenjoy na ako sa isang dream (and perhaps kinda hoping that there'll be a resolution) then suddenly I get yanked from it to another.

And then there's another storyline, the Voorman-Polonski one. I can see DM being DM and tackling grand themes, similar to what he did in Cloud Atlas and Ghostwritten. Specifically in Night Train, with Zookeeper being an eye in the sky and having the power to enact changes on earth. So yeah, similar to the whole idea behind the panoticon structure: “big brother is watching you”, and with Voorman being an all seeing god. I don't know how this relates to Eiji's story, or if it even does at all.

Chapter 2: So the Lost Property was Anju? :(
I wonder though why the Aoyama story (the suicide story). Is there a bigger meaning to this?
And then “cockroach” keeps popping up ever since chapter one. What can you make of this?
(hide spoiler)]

Mommy L:(view spoiler)[ Initial take on Eiji, I think he is sort of set up to be a lovable loser, a sympathetic protagonist. You kinda want him to succeed and give him hugs. :) (hide spoiler)]

I finished Chapter 3 last Sunday, so I stopped muna. Hehe! Will continue after finishing "The Secret Life of Bees".

So far, I like Eiji, especially in Chapter 2 when I learned about his childhood. He is so imaginative no? Ang sad lang ng life nya. I hope there's something good for him in the next chapters.

(Reason I wanted to eavesdrop: I went crazy reading these first few chapters hehe. Nothing like Cloud Atlas and Ghostwritten, right? And there's more! :D)

When I was reading Chapter One pala, I feel like Eiji is a blend of Satoru and Quasar in Ghostwritten. But that was in Chapter One only, I saw Eiji in his own unique persona in the next chapters.

I just started Chapter 2 today so I must exert much willpower not to open Tin's spoiler tags hehe...

I reaaaaaaallly love Mitchell's writing in this book. Clever, this guy. *thumbs up* *heart beatbeatbeat* XD

MELIZA: Ako naman, I hear Bat (the radio announcer in Ghostwritten) in Eiji's voice.

Finished Chapter 3! Please don't open spoiler tag unless you're finished with Chapter 3.

(view spoiler)[ I loved the skipping timelines in Chapter 2...kind of confusing at first pero I loved how the style built up the suspense.

That Queen of Spades was one crazy (mis)adventure! Do you think this club will play a major role in Eiji's story? Dito ba nya mahahanap Tatay nya?

Also, the role of video games as an escape from reality. Who plays video games? I don't kasi hehe. (hide spoiler)]

Lynai: (view spoiler)[I think Queen of Spades will not play a major role anymore. I think iba naman sa next chapters. But syempre, guess lang yan. Hehe!

Me! I play video games but I haven't played for about 2 years already. I play a lot of RPG before when I was not reading that much yet, that is, before I joined TFG. What I like with role-playing games is that it's also like reading - with characters, stories and histories, and the best part is I'm also there. I can decide what to do next. I have weapons and powers, etc. Hehe! Maybe I should play again soon, maybe next month, when I start to be a bum. Haha. (hide spoiler)]

Lynai re Chapter 3: (view spoiler)[ This was intense! I also cannot make heads or tails of the kitchen scene. Mousseboy? Was Master going to cook Eiji? This nightmare? :) Sabi nga ni Peeta: Real or not Real? Haha. Also I am not a hard core gamer. NES games lang, and nag Playstation din ako. Dance Dance Revolution. Haha. O kaya Sims. :) (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 3: (view spoiler)[Wala namang kakaiba sa kitchen scene. Which part specifically? Everything is real in this chapter. (hide spoiler)]

On chapter 2 and 3:

(view spoiler)[
Chapter 2: The timeline was so confusing. My OC-ness was rearing its head by wanting to know what happened when. The hourly updates on Eiji's insomnia and the scenes that happened in between were making my head spin. What happened first - Cat's "death" or Aoyama's suicide or the receipt of the letter from Eiji's mom? But I let it all go and just enjoyed the story. Question: Is Anju really dead? Baka mag-GRRM mode si DM and biglang mag-rise back from the dead sya.

Chapter 3: Akala ko nakahanap na ng friend si Eiji. His situation is so sad I can't help but wish he gets a break or something. Then all he got was an unpaid love hotel bill. Nak ng... And the kitchen scene was so darkly funny. Evil kitchen overlord to the rescue.
DM even writes weird sex scenes. I cannot even...
WTF! I got so excited when I thought Miriam knew who Eiji's father really was. (hide spoiler)]

Tin: (view spoiler)[Re: the cockroaches, may metaphor siguro somewhere dun. How only they will survive in such a dirty environment like Tokyo adn in luxury pa (may motel eh). Remember the cockroach in Wall-E? Kadiri lang. I can imagine a flying ipis moment. Hahaha. (hide spoiler)]

Lynai:(view spoiler)[I think Eiji will get in a dangerous situation because of that club. Ang grave nung warning Miriam ehh.

I played some RPG when I was in high school and college. Pero nde naman hard core. Sabit lang ako sa mga friends ko. :) (hide spoiler)]

Meliza: (view spoiler)[ I was having doubts, whether the kitchen scene was real or not because of a few things. First I have never heard of a mousse boy, second from among the foodie themed reality shows I have seen, the head chef is the top of the kitchen hierarchy, but here they have this so called "Master". And said master is wearing a blowtorcher's mask, and he has a cleaver, and he stalks weird. Like this part: "Tweak it. Mousse is delicate. Slice it. Oh yes. Mousse is soft. So soft. Mousse will yield. Oh yes. Mousse will yield." Four fat fingers swim towards my face.

So yeah, those things. And I was a bit disoriented yet again when I got to this part because ever since chapter two, there have been less of them dream sequences. (hide spoiler)]

Gwaxa:(view spoiler)[ Ay oo, it could be a metaphor for life in Tokyo. All the dirt amidst all the luxury. My brain is keeps getting snagged on Ghostwritten kasi, and I keep thinking about the spider in Quasar's story, and maybe the cockroach is inhabited by some sort of all seeing being. Lagi tuloy ako naghahanap ng connections. Naparanoid na. LOL. (hide spoiler)]

TIN: (view spoiler)[ Praning na din ako *apir* Sometimes, when things get too unreal or violent or bizarre, I keep thinking, baka panaginip lang to. So, I am with you on thinking the kitchen scene may not be real. Pero yeah, real pala talaga sya haha. (hide spoiler)]

I rarely play video games. Is Farmville considered a video game? HAHA that was the last online game I remember playing and then pinagalitan ako ng boss when he found out, hihi. So I stopped.

Now, on Chapter 4: (Please beware of spoilers)

(view spoiler)[ This was one very violent chapter. That bowling alley scene, UGH. Panaginip din kaya to? Haha. Lahat na lang panaginip. Major spoiler: Is Tsuru really alive? (hide spoiler)]

Started Chapter 5 and:

(view spoiler)[ I can't make heads or tails with the alternate story. What's this Goatwriter? Mrs. Comb? Nakakaloka si DM! (hide spoiler)]

Who really is Eiji's father???? :D

Lynai: (view spoiler)[ The alternate story's source will be revealed, and it will become clearer kung ano sina Goatwriter. Pero ang strange pa din nila tho. Haha. And yeah, sabi nila, Tsuru is still alive daw, altho he is much spent. And I think the bowling alley scene was real..and really gross!

No clue as to Eiji's Dad's identity! Could be anyone, judging from's DM's loony brain. Haha! (hide spoiler)]

SPOILERS AHEAD OPEN AT YOUR OWN PERIL!
Chapter 4: (view spoiler)[ Chap 4 is Quentin Tarantino mode! And question, what is Eiji's main motivation ba in finding his father? I mean why is he hell bent on finding him? To the point na he is endangering his life already. For Anju or something? (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 5: (view spoiler)[DM is going meta here I feel. A story within a story. And lahat talagang genre inuubos ni DM , pati fable/talking animals. Haha. Altho di ko pa tapos itong chapter na ito. (hide spoiler)]

On Chapter 4 and 5:

(view spoiler)[

Chapter 4: Bloody violent. I will never look at bowling pins the same way again. Hahaha. And Subhataar (tama ba spelling?) is here! He's so scary talaga. I thought Tsuru is Eiji's father.

Chapter 5: DM is amazing. New weird naman ang peg nya dito. Just like with China Mieville, I wonder when he will write chick-lit, lol. Aaaaaand Eiji's grandfather is right around the corner. Hmmm... (hide spoiler)]

Tin: (view spoiler)[I think it's some sort of anchor since he's feeling adrift from his twin's death. Tska to validate na hindi lang sya mag-isa sa mundo. Medyo irrational na yung mga ginagawa nya, no? But what if you're in his position? Will you be doing the same thing? Kung ako, di ko yata kayang iinvolve ang sarili ko sa yakuza business. Huhubels. (hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[Metafiction at its finest. :D (hide spoiler)]

Aaaand...I'm done. Two days ago, actually. I'm giving it 4.5 stars for now because I compared (and ranked) it with Cloud Atlas and Ghostwritten, which I gave 5 stars. Still, the writing's very impeccable and delectable, I am smacking my lips in sheer delight, haha. So, this is metafiction, huh? I think I love the genre if DM writes it. Hihi. <3

Anyway, questions (and spoilers):

(view spoiler)[

What is your take on the Goatwriter chapters? Why do you think DM included it in Eiji's story? Sorry, di ko pa din gets and relevance until now.

Ang anticlimactic naman ng death ni Tsuru. Just how anticlimactic Eiji's discovery of his real father was. Yung phone call ba na ginawa noon ng father ni Eiji during the middle of the night when he thought he was calling the pizza store, was that intentional?

Why are Subaru and his mother so kind with Eiji? And how did they know where to pick up Eiji after his run-in with the Yakuza? Ano sila, may magic powers? Si DM kasi, he made me confused which was real and not real. Haha.

Also, about the ending. Why did Eiji run? Run to where? Back to Tokyo?

This book demands a reread, ugh!

(hide spoiler)]

Lynai: This bumped to number one in my list. Only because DM surprised me (or not) with the violence and the sensitivity in his writing here. Narealize kong mas naappreciate ko ang writing nya kapag tuloy-tuloy ang story. Hehehe.

I'll try to answer the questions based on what I remember:

(view spoiler)[

1. Di ko din gets ang relevance sa story and nalito din ako sa mismong story ni Goatwriter, but as for why he included it, tingin ko it's one of his socio-political agenda. The evils of internet and war and kung ano-ano pang nilagay nya dun. Hahaha. Si DM kase....

2. Yes! Super anticlimactic nung sa tatay ni Eiji. But yung kay Tsuru, he didn't have any impact to me so it wasn't that anticlimactic. Dying na kase sya nung chapter 4, di ba? And the phone call? As far as I can remember, Eiji himself concluded that his father intentionally called him but for reasons only known to his father, he did not introduce himself and made it seem like it was a call to a pizza store. Another one of Eiji's conclusions, that his father only confirmed that it was really him on the other line and had no intention of really talking to him.

3. Dahil mabait talaga sila? Hahaha. I think Eiji called Subaru from a restaurant after he walked-run from the scene of the crime to the theme park (yung malapit na establishment na bagong bukas, can't remember the name). Di ba when Subaru came to pick up Eiji he was sitting in a bench outside said resto. Alam ko may mabait na babae na tumulong sa kanya dun sa resto ehh.

4. Ruuuuun, Eiji, run. Maybe back to Tokyo? I think he just wanted to do something so he will not feel so helpless after that earthquake.

(hide spoiler)]

GWAXA: (view spoiler)[ I was hoping that Tsuru was Eiji's real father. And then Eiji will become rich and powerful and inherit his influence and be the next Yakuza father hahaha.

Ah, yes. I guess you're right with respect to Subaru and his mother. Maybe DM wanted to point out that good people still exist in this cruel world. Naks. (hide spoiler)]

On the Goatwriter chapter:

(view spoiler)[It is David Mitchell trying to insert a bit of himself and his personal views into the novel. Did you know that when he was younger, he had a bad stammer? In this book, Goatwriter stutters, right? And so Mitchell tries to show that ghostwriters sometimes need to churn out words for other people and end up "eating" them. There's also his opinion on the rise of the digital books, what writing and reading are for, what fame and awards should mean for writers. This is his metafictional (if there is such a word) take on writers and novels as they stand today, in the literary world. :) (hide spoiler)]

I am done na din! Ang astig naman ng number9! But Cloud Atlas remains to be my favorite.

(view spoiler)[
1. I have the same question regarding the Goatwriter chapters. Pareho sila may hinahanap though, si Goatwriter at si Eiji. Yung untold tales ki goat, yung daddy for Eji. So it's like DM is showing the paralelism between reality and imagination? Pero di ko pa din gets. LOL!

2. I was actually surprised by Tsuru's death. It became climactic for being anti-climactic. Haha. And it has a comedic nature, somehow. Haha. The revelation of the dad however was a bit disappointing because Eiji went through all those dangers only to find a douche bag daddy in Osugi & Bosugi. I think the phone call was coincidental. Eiji mentioned something about the whole thing being a card trick of Tokyo. Parang implying na coincidence lang yun.

3. I think Eiji actually asked this same question kay Mrs. Sasaki (Buntaro's mom). Tapos ang sagot sa kanya ni Mrs. Sasaki:

"Who matters more than why." Eat.

" I don't understand."

"No matter, Miyake-kun."

Ayown. I highlighted this passage because akala ko irereveal sa huli na related sina Mrs. Sasaki and Buntaro kay Eiji or something. E wala naman. Haha. At di ko alam kung pano siya nahanap ni Buntaro. Sabi ni Eiji he will get some sleep after he will walk to Xanadu para mag hanap ng phone to call Shooting Star. Before he could do that andun na yung car with Buntaro. Psychic? Haha. Or baka nanaginip siya, akala nya di siya tumawag pero oo na. Real or not real? XD

4. I don't know din kung saan pupunta si Eiji. Haha. Running from dream state to reality I hope. A reality where Tokyo stands untouched by earthquake. Huhuhuhuhu.

Question: What about yung Voorman-Polonski story though? Sa unang chapter. Yung they did body switcheroo. Para saan yun? Haha.
(hide spoiler)]

Monique: (view spoiler)[ Ah, the goatwriter story doesn't contribute/connect to the main story (Eiji's story)? What do you think about DM inserting his views like this? :) (hide spoiler)]

Sorry, di na ako nakabalik dito sa thread agad. I was really looking forward someone will mention that some chapters are Tarantino-ish. hehehe When I was reading this I actually thought Eiji's narration will lean into Kill Bill or Matrix style. :)

Glad you all enjoyed this!

TIN: (view spoiler)[I think it's become associated with him already, that is, inserting his own views and/or opinions about real-life stuff in his works. If you get to read his most recent novel, The Bone Clocks, there's a character there, Crispin Hershey, who was a writer. A lot of readers (me included) think that Hershey is Mitchell's fictional alter ego (I won't go into details why) although Mitchell denies it. (Of course he would.) Needless to say, Hershey had a lot of opinions about many things there, just as Goatwriter in this book did. :) (hide spoiler)]

TIN & MONIQUE: (view spoiler)[ I was thinking about Goatwriter and how his story seems to be off-tangent from the main story (Eiji's. Pero siguro nga, it's an author's style to inject some of himself in his book.

P.S. Di pa rin ako naka get over sa bowling alley scene. (hide spoiler)]

Mommy L, Monique and Lynai: (view spoiler)[ Haha! Parang si Woody Allen pala. He always puts a character that is a fictional version of himself in his movies. Hmmm...I wonder if he put in an alter ego in Cloud Atlas and/or Ghostwritten
*And the title number9dream pala is a song of John Lennon's

Also, what about the empty Chapter 9? What did you guys think of that? :)
(hide spoiler)]

TIN: (view spoiler)[ Para lang mapangatawanan nya ang number 9 na pinili nya? Haha sabaw ko (hide spoiler)]

Tin: (view spoiler)[ Have you tried summing up numbers in the book? If Cloud Atlas was onto the 6s, number9dream is onto the 9s.

I think, just my huge speculation, chapter 9 is DM's answer to John Lennon's song. Eiji experiences had change him -his perspectives and perceptions- and the world around him. He is done dreaming by this time. I think Eiji decided to fully live in reality in the end. So, it was sort of a coming-of-age book.
(hide spoiler)]

Mommy L: (view spoiler)[ Right, Cloud Atlas was six, for the Cloud Atlas sextet. That is an excellent guess. The blank page could signify that Eiji will now take charge of writing his own story, grounded in reality. :) (hide spoiler)]

Lynai:(view spoiler)[ LOL! Sabaw din ako pagdating dito. Apir! Haha. (hide spoiler)]