107. (February 2022) Five Decembers, by James Kestrel — The Tabletop Roleplayers' Book Club

Five Decembers Q8: Heroes and villains?

NeilNjae — Thu, 03 Mar 2022 09:31:51 +0000

Is McGrady a good man, a hero, a role model, someone to look up to? What makes you say that? What's admirable about him, how is he flawed or bad?

By the same token, who are the villains? And what is the attitude of Americans towards Japanese as a whole? To what extent are the Japanese portrayed a faceless yellow horde, and to what extent are they humans?

Five Decembers: Description and back cover blurb

RichardAbbott — Mon, 24 Jan 2022 19:10:36 +0000

December 1941. America teeters on the brink of war, and in Honolulu, Hawaii, police detective Joe McGrady is assigned to investigate a homicide that will change his life forever. Because the trail of murder he uncovers will lead him across the Pacific, far from home and the woman he loves; and though the U.S. doesn't know it yet, a Japanese fleet is already steaming toward Pearl Harbor.

This extraordinary novel is so much more than just a gripping crime story—it's a story of survival against all odds, of love and loss and the human cost of war. Spanning the entirety of World War II, FIVE DECEMBERS is a beautiful, masterful, powerful novel that will live in your memory forever.

Five Decembers Q3: Belonging and action

NeilNjae — Thu, 03 Mar 2022 09:28:01 +0000

McGrady is an outsider on the HPD (non-Hawaiian, ex-military), then the nature of his war experience further isolates him from his colleagues. He concludes his quest as a private individual. De Vries changes from an ineffectual coward to a brave and competent man who sidesteps the rigid bureaucracy to help McGrady. Kansei lies to protect McGrady, for Kansei's personal desires. Beamer is both a career policemen and a member of the American Nazi party.

To what extent are great things done by people within organisations, and what is achieved by those outside them (either not members, or sidestepping the rules)? Is that your experience of the world, or is it a genre conceit?

Five Decembers Q0: War

NeilNjae — Thu, 03 Mar 2022 09:23:37 +0000

Not a question, but a place to reflect. This book is dominated by war, what it does to people, and what people will do to further it. Much of this is relevant to what's happening now in Ukraine (and elsewhere). Post your thoughts, if you'd like.

Five Decembers Q2: Duty and promises

NeilNjae — Thu, 03 Mar 2022 09:27:25 +0000

McGrady isn't driven by personal needs and desires, but rather than a sense of duty and fulfilling promises. Kansei tries to serve Japan even when it puts him in danger. John Smith follows orders, and even gets a job in the American consulate in Hong Kong to save his countrymen.

Is anyone driven by base desires? Who betrays ideals of duty for love, greed, or even just survival? When should we pursue duty over self?

How do you balance the emphasis of duty (to a greater whole) with the focus on individuals and individual action?

Five Decembers Q4: Love and sex

NeilNjae — Thu, 03 Mar 2022 09:28:46 +0000

The book makes a very clear division between love an sex, mainly in the prominence of prostitution throughout the book. The prostitutes are portrayed as victims, but their clients are treated as innocent. Despite that, McGrady is almost immune to those base needs, only having sex after knowing someone well.

At the same time, the women in the book only have small, passive parts. The exception is Emily Kam, who identifies Smith and takes drastic action to avenge her father and survive the war.

Is this an accurate reflection of period attitudes? Does it have a place in a modern book?

Five Decembers Q7: Hardboiled, noir, war story, love story?

NeilNjae — Thu, 03 Mar 2022 09:30:09 +0000

What sort of book is this? Is it a hardboiled detective story, an noir novel, a war story, or a love story? What defines those genres? What features of the book fit (or not) into these genres?

(And please, avoid the easy escape of "it's more than one genre" or "genre is irrelevant." My interest in this question comes from seeing how this book does or doesn't fit into the buckets.)

Five Decembers Q1: When is killing justified?

NeilNjae — Thu, 03 Mar 2022 09:26:28 +0000

I think this novel invites us to question when killing (and other violence) is justified. McGrady kills four people in the book: the accomplice at the murder barn, the Kenpeitai boy, Beamer during interrogation, and John Smith. Other killings were the two prisoners in the transport ship, beaten and executed for talking; John Smith's three victims, tortured to death; and Kam's family, killed during the capture of Hong Kong. Bracketing those were Fred Ball's beatings of prisoners (and McGrady's beating of Ball in retaliation), and the death of 100,000 civilians in the firebombing of Tokyo.

Which of those killings were justified? Which would be classed as "legal" in a court? Which were avoidable? What were the costs of those killings, compared to the costs of not killing, or taking other steps to avoid the deaths?

Five Decembers Q9: Gaming and investigations

NeilNjae — Thu, 03 Mar 2022 09:32:23 +0000

Structurally, most of the book is taken up with McGrady's investigations of the murders in the barn and tracking down Smith. It's also a common pattern in many RPGs. How would you translate this book into a game form? How should you handle the boring legwork? After all, McGrady comments that "more often than not, cases were solved in rooms like [the motor records archive]" as he's faced with manually scanning thousands of paper slips.

A controversial topic-starter. My thinking is that investigations are a bad model for RPGs, as they're normally more about the players solving a puzzle than the characters acting. However, the "mystery" frame is a convenient vehicle for keeping players' attention during extended exposition dumps by the GM. The interesting part of play, for me, comes when the players (and PCs) understand the situation, and then decide what they do about it. It's that decision and action that I'm interested in.

Five Decembers Q5: Pace and action

NeilNjae — Thu, 03 Mar 2022 09:29:12 +0000

The framing of the book (the blurb, the cover painting, the setup) are unashamedly drawing on pulp novels. But this book isn't all two-fisted action; it has long periods of reflection and waiting. McGrady spends a lot of time doing unproductive legwork, and even longer trapped in a Japanese house. Was the pace engaging? Did the book hold your interest? Were you surprised by the pacing the book turned out to have?

Five Decembers Q6: Limited third person narration

NeilNjae — Thu, 03 Mar 2022 09:29:34 +0000

I was initially surprised by the choice of third-person narration: a lot of the hardboiled books I've read use first-person narration. I found the difference was jarring until I realised what was happening. Despite that, we only explore the inner thoughts and feelings of McGrady and the book is almost exclusively from his point of view. The prominent exception is the objective account of the firebombing of Tokyo.

What did you think of that stylistic choice of narration?