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Speaker 1: Welcome to Pod Meets World, where we usually rewatch Boy

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Speaker 1: Meets World episodes and talk about what it was like

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Speaker 1: making the show, But today we're trying something new. We

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Speaker 1: spent a lot of time on here. We're visiting the past,

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Speaker 1: the nineties, our television show and our memories of making it,

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Speaker 1: and so a lot of this podcast is about us

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Speaker 1: as hosts and you as listeners, figuring out who we

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Speaker 1: were back then, But what about who we are now?

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Speaker 1: What stories are we engaging with and how are they

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Speaker 1: helping us meet the world. So today we launch Pod

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Speaker 1: Meets World book Club Edition. We're going to pick a book,

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Speaker 1: read it, come together and talk about it. No scripts,

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Speaker 1: no lessons from Feenie, just the real I wrote, oh okay, please,

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Speaker 1: I didn't read the book. I watched the movie. No scripts,

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Speaker 1: some scripts, I guess maybe, no lessons from Feenie. Just

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Speaker 1: a real conversation about storytelling, literature, and whatever weird tangents

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Speaker 1: we end up on. Welcome to Podmeet's World. I'm Writer Strong,

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Speaker 1: I'm Danielle Fischel, and I'm will Fredell. Wow different order.

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Speaker 1: Love it was going to follow me love it all?

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Speaker 2: Right?

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Speaker 1: So how is this going to work? Well? We are

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Speaker 1: not completely sure, but here's what I'm thinking. Since I

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Speaker 1: picked the book today, I will introduce it and give

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Speaker 1: a brief synopsis of its plot, and then explain why

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Speaker 1: I picked it. And then uh, let's run this book

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Speaker 1: club like we are going back to the classroom. We'll

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Speaker 1: start with roll call, which is our initial overall thoughts

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Speaker 1: of the book. Then we'll move into put it on

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Speaker 1: the Board, which is where we can talk about the

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Speaker 1: themes or the big ideas that we found while we

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Speaker 1: were reading it. Then show your work, which is where

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Speaker 1: we'll talk about the writing itself on a sentence by

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Speaker 1: sentence level, characters, those kinds of things. Then we'll have

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Speaker 1: a pop quiz, we'll get to play a game or

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Speaker 1: ask a fun question about the book. And then finally

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Speaker 1: report card. We'll give our big takeaways and we will

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Speaker 1: give a rating that is based on awarding the book

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Speaker 1: either Feenie's or Turners. So I'll explain, okay, wow. For

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Speaker 1: our first book club pick, we are diving into Blob,

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Speaker 1: a love story by Maggie Sue. And before I get

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Speaker 1: into it, I think I should clarify a few things

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Speaker 1: about book selection, because you know, this is a little

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Speaker 1: different I realized than other book clubs that are out there,

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Speaker 1: like Oprah's or I think Reese Witherspoon has one where

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Speaker 1: they people listen to those and people trust what they

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Speaker 1: trust what they say. Well, you know, the difference is,

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Speaker 1: I think they select a book that they've already read

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Speaker 1: or that they are sort of giving editorial approval to

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Speaker 1: before they have the discussion. So it's usually like, if

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Speaker 1: that book has been selected, it's because they already knew

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Speaker 1: it was going to be good. Where's you know, and

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Speaker 1: we could probably move into that if we want to

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Speaker 1: down the line where each of us could pick a

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Speaker 1: favorite book or something that's you know, impacted us in

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Speaker 1: some way. But in this case, I really felt like

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Speaker 1: exploring something, you know, trying something that maybe will push

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Speaker 1: us out of our comfort zone because I guess fundamentally,

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Speaker 1: I am a literary omnivore. I tend to read about

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Speaker 1: six books at a time, and I'll read anything that

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Speaker 1: somebody recommends to me, but especially if it sounds different

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Speaker 1: than something that I've read before. You know, I like

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Speaker 1: to just try things out, which doesn't mean that I

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Speaker 1: don't have strong opinions. If that anybody's listening to this

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Speaker 1: podcast knows. I'm definitely interested in, you know, deciding whether

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Speaker 1: I like or don't like something and sharing those opinions

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Speaker 1: and debating them, changing them. And I think that my

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Speaker 1: goal is that by having those conversations, we make literature better,

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Speaker 1: we make culture better, right, and that we're not landing

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Speaker 1: on whether the book is ultimately good or bad, or

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Speaker 1: that we have the right or the wrong opinion. I

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Speaker 1: just like keeping the conversation going. But I'm going to

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Speaker 1: probably come down pretty passionately. Okay, So I.

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Speaker 3: Don't know what you're talking about.

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Speaker 1: Well, here's the thing, because I you know, I think

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Speaker 1: when we're assessing Boy Meets World, it's one thing, right,

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Speaker 1: We're talking about a show that we're part of the creation.

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Speaker 1: I think people give us permission to have our opinions.

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Speaker 1: But we're talking about someone else's work, it might feel

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Speaker 1: a little different. So I just wanted to, you know,

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Speaker 1: clarify we're just exploring. Okay. So I picked this book

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Speaker 1: Blob because I think it it just was an excellent

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Speaker 1: hook for a novel. It's something that the second I

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Speaker 1: heard what it was about, I wanted to read it

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Speaker 1: and I wanted to see where it went. I think

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Speaker 1: a lot of books are written and published and bought

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Speaker 1: because you know they fall in line with existing genres,

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Speaker 1: things that you've already read and you want to read

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Speaker 1: more like that, right, So that's where you get romance

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Speaker 1: and fantasy and mystery, and so that's the way. A

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Speaker 1: lot of books that are out there fall into those categories,

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Speaker 1: and I like a lot of them. But then I

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Speaker 1: like to read books that just mashup genres or try

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Speaker 1: to break from precedent. Blob a Love Story is just that,

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Speaker 1: a contemporary romance, maybe coming of age, with a level

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Speaker 1: of realism when it comes to the setting and the characters,

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Speaker 1: and yet we get a magical, mysterious, maybe alien blob

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Speaker 1: PLoP down in the middle, and that becomes the main

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Speaker 1: engine of its plot. Blob a Love Story is written

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Speaker 1: by Maggie Sue. She's a writer whose work has appeared

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Speaker 1: in New England Review, Four Wave Review, tri Quarterly Review,

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Speaker 1: and many more. She received her PhD in fiction from

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Speaker 1: the University of Cincinnati and has an MFA from Indiana University.

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Speaker 1: This is her debut novel. It was published in January

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Speaker 1: of this year, twenty twenty five, and it quickly got

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Speaker 1: a lot of attention for its unique premise. The synopsis

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Speaker 1: V Lou has always felt like an outsider in her

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Speaker 1: Midwestern college town, caught between her Taiwanese father's heritage and

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Speaker 1: her white mother's world. After dropping out of college and

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Speaker 1: still recovering from a recent breakup, she's stuck between her

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Speaker 1: job working at the front desk of a hotel, where

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Speaker 1: she greets guests and dodges the relentless cheer of her coworker, Rachel.

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Speaker 1: The story begins when V, in a rare moment of extraversion,

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Speaker 1: decides to join Rachel for a night out. They attend

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Speaker 1: a drag show, where, stepping into an alley behind the bar,

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Speaker 1: V stumbles upon a peculiar, squishy creature with tiny black

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Speaker 1: eyes on a whim. Equal parts drunk and lonely, she

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Speaker 1: takes the blob home. But this mysterious blob isn't just

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Speaker 1: a stray pet. It begins to grow, take shape, and

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Speaker 1: even follow V's commands. Seeing an opportunity, she decides to

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Speaker 1: mold it into the perfect companion. Fueled by sugary cereals

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Speaker 1: and a steady diet of pop culture, the blob transforms

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Speaker 1: into a strikingly attractive white man seemingly designed to love

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Speaker 1: her without question. All right, let's get into roll call

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Speaker 1: our initial overall thoughts. Guys, who wants to start? What

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Speaker 1: was your initial reaction to this book?

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Speaker 3: You want to go first? Well, or you want me

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Speaker 3: to go first?

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Speaker 1: You go first?

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Speaker 4: Okay, So like you, I love a book that has

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Speaker 4: a real realistic setting but something about it is just

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Speaker 4: fantastical or totally mysterious. I also love a book where,

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Speaker 4: because of that, you would imagine it's the type of

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Speaker 4: feeling where you put it down because you have to

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Speaker 4: go to sleep or because you have to go do

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Speaker 4: something else, and then you just you keep thinking about,

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Speaker 4: like what is going to happen next.

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Speaker 3: It kind of has you on the edge of.

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Speaker 4: Your seat, like I can't because anything could happen, and

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Speaker 4: I can't really envision where it's going. And I was

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Speaker 4: thinking I was going to feel that way about this book.

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Speaker 4: What I will say, although I overall thoughts, I thought.

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Speaker 3: There were very interesting elements.

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Speaker 4: There were very funny elements, although in a very dry,

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Speaker 4: kind of understated way. It's it's not beating you over

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Speaker 4: the head with its humor, but the humor is there, uh.

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Speaker 4: And I loved some of the characters. There's like several

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Speaker 4: things I really liked about it. I will say about

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Speaker 4: halfway through the book, I put it down because I

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Speaker 4: had to go pick up the kids from school, and

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Speaker 4: I didn't get to it later that night and like

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Speaker 4: a couple days past, and I thought, I'm not sure

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Speaker 4: if I didn't have to finish this for book club,

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Speaker 4: I would even care whether or not I finished the book.

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Speaker 4: I'm okay not necessarily knowing what ends up happening with

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Speaker 4: the Blob env So in that sense, it didn't necessarily

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Speaker 4: hook me the way I wanted it to.

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Speaker 3: I also.

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Speaker 4: Am a very like I envision things when you know

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Speaker 4: when when a writer writes something and they give it

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Speaker 4: in detail, and like, definitely the blob is a man.

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Speaker 4: Is something Maggie Sue wants you to envision. She gives

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Speaker 4: you reference points, you know, famous Hollywood men, and she's

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Speaker 4: describing this like hot dude, and like, all right, I'll

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Speaker 4: picture a hot dude. I had a hard time picturing

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Speaker 4: anything other than the water shape man from the movie Elemental.

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Speaker 1: Oh interesting because I haven't seen it, but I.

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Speaker 4: Could so easily picture the gelatinous blob. I could in

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Speaker 4: no way get my imagination to go to a place

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Speaker 4: where that gelatinous blob actually.

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Speaker 3: Became human skin, man and human shape.

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Speaker 4: I thought of him still as kind of a gelatinous man, right,

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Speaker 4: and so that always kept I kept bumping up against that, like, wait,

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Speaker 4: he's he's passable at all as a as a as

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Speaker 4: a man. So that those are I would say, those

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Speaker 4: are kind of my overall thoughts.

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Speaker 1: Yeah good. I also was wondering, like, if I was

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Speaker 1: going to make a movie of this, what would it

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Speaker 1: actually look like? And it was hard. It was hard

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Speaker 1: to pin down, which maybe a strength and you know

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Speaker 1: I'm not a weakness, but I'm not sure. Will How

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Speaker 1: did it compare with your expectations? I had none.

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Speaker 2: I truly had no expectations going in. You know the

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Speaker 2: kind of books I left to read. So if you're

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Speaker 2: gonna have some sort of a magical element, I'm one

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Speaker 2: of those people where I need an explanation of some

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Speaker 2: sort of magical element, the idea of like it can

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Speaker 2: be anything.

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Speaker 1: Just use your imagination. I don't want to use my imagination.

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Speaker 2: I want you to use yours and tell me more

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Speaker 2: about what's going on.

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Speaker 1: Interesting.

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Speaker 2: My favorite fantasy novels are novels where the worlds are

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Speaker 2: so built out that the intricacy is I mean again,

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Speaker 2: the first series of books that I ever found are

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Speaker 2: called the Belgariad series, And after he wrote these fourteen books,

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Speaker 2: he wrote something called the Riven Codex, which was a

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Speaker 2: breakdown of the entire world down to the weights and

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Speaker 2: measures of every country that's involved in this world.

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Speaker 3: Wow.

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Speaker 2: So that's the kind of intricacy I like when you're

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Speaker 2: doing anything fantastical.

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Speaker 1: It was an easy read, very quick.

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Speaker 2: Again, I felt exactly like Danielle, where if I didn't,

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Speaker 2: I'm a completist, so will the second I read one word,

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Speaker 2: I have to finish it. But I wasn't excited to

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Speaker 2: finish it. It wasn't like I can't wait to see

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Speaker 2: what happens next. I had a little trouble connecting with

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Speaker 2: the lead character just because it's you know, it's an

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Speaker 2: Asian woman who's dealing with depression and alcoholism, so seeing

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Speaker 2: anything from her point of view is obviously something that's

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Speaker 2: a very difficult thing for me to do. But I

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Speaker 2: thought at times she described it well. But I also

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Speaker 2: agree with Danielle where a lot of the descriptions and

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Speaker 2: again I'm very used to fourteen hundred page books where

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Speaker 2: there will be five pages on the rug you're standing on,

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Speaker 2: So it gets to be a lot.

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Speaker 1: But you know exactly what the rug look.

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Speaker 2: Likes when you turn the page, if you had had

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Speaker 2: a chapter about or not even a chapter even lines

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Speaker 2: of every time the blob does do a shift, what

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Speaker 2: does it sound like?

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Speaker 1: What is you know? What does the skin feel like?

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Speaker 1: What is it look like?

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Speaker 2: What does the transformation taking place feel like it? I

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Speaker 2: thought she could have gone into more depth with that.

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Speaker 2: I loved the pop culture references. I loved how she

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Speaker 2: used the pop culture references. There's a lot of pop

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Speaker 2: culture references. I'm guessing most readers, including the two of you,

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Speaker 2: probably did not pick up. There are direct lines in

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Speaker 2: here from Seinfeld, direct lines in here from friends.

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Speaker 1: She named her best friends named is Rachel. I'm telling you, with.

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Speaker 2: All her pop culture stuff, that is a take off

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Speaker 2: of Rachel from Friends. And her building manager is Jerry,

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Speaker 2: and I'm guessing that's Jerry Seinfeld. I mean, she loves

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Speaker 2: the pop culture stuff so much, so I like that stuff.

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Speaker 2: I also love an occasional good cringey moment. And there

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Speaker 2: were a couple in here that were so cringing that

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Speaker 2: you want to drop the book, which again I dig that.

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Speaker 1: I kind of like that.

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Speaker 2: So yeah, with no expectations going in, I finished and

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Speaker 2: I was like, Okay, I read it.

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Speaker 1: You're right.

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Speaker 4: Well, there are definitely references I did not pick up on.

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Speaker 4: But so much of the the book could very easily

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Speaker 4: fall into a category that would be like op culture commentary.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: So much of it is commenting on who we are

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Speaker 4: because of the media or because of the things we consume.

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Speaker 1: Yep.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, like what is our output because of what we input?

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Speaker 1: Ye?

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Speaker 2: A lot of it is also I think a lot

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Speaker 2: of it has to do with Maggie Sue, the author,

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Speaker 2: trying to She makes so many references to America and Americana.

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Speaker 2: It's almost like she grew up in her life as

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Speaker 2: a Taiwanese American in the Midwest having to prove she

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Speaker 2: was an American. So in this book, it's like I

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Speaker 2: wrote down the names that she used for the characters Rachel, Walter, Luke, Alex, Mary, Bob, Stephanie, Doug, Matt,

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Speaker 2: Paul Tony. These are all like the easiest American names.

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Speaker 2: She's constantly talking about eating I got my chicken sandwich

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Speaker 2: at McDonald.

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Speaker 1: She's like, I'm an American. I'm an American. It's almost

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Speaker 1: seemed like the restaurants, it's.

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Speaker 2: Had to constantly prove to herself because she was a

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Speaker 2: Taiwanese American that she was as American as everybody else.

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Speaker 2: And I don't know if that was deliberate or that's

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Speaker 2: led into her writing because she's I want everyone I'm

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Speaker 2: an American.

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Speaker 1: No, I think that's that's very much what this book is, right,

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Speaker 1: Let's put it on the board because I think I think, yeah, like,

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Speaker 1: let's get into the big themes or the ideas that

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Speaker 1: we can really pull out from from this book. And

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Speaker 1: I let's start with exactly what you're saying. It seems

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Speaker 1: like a lot of this book is about identity, right

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Speaker 1: like how we beforem who we are and in these

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Speaker 1: case that it has to do with race, gender, and job.

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Speaker 1: So do you guys, could you isolate? Could you say

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Speaker 1: one theme that you think that this book is definitely about.

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Speaker 4: It would be hard, but I think if I were

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Speaker 4: to pick one thing, I would think I would say

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Speaker 4: it is about these realization that she is capable.

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Speaker 1: Of self determination.

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Speaker 4: Well, yes, in deciding who she is without needing external

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Speaker 4: validation or external like a sounding board. She's like, who

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Speaker 4: do you think I am? And then that's maybe that

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Speaker 4: will to help me define myself. She can define herself

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Speaker 4: without input from an external source. If I had those,

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Speaker 4: if I had to say one sentence, it would be that.

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Speaker 1: I felt the same way. It's like almost like she

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Speaker 1: finds a blob, and then we get these chapters describing her,

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Speaker 1: like basically memoir chapters, going back into her history and

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Speaker 1: time and time again, it seems like, oh, she's the blob, right,

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Speaker 1: she has let herself be amorphous and let herself be

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Speaker 1: determined by her classmates, her crushes, whatever. And so by

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Speaker 1: the process of making taking this blob and making it

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Speaker 1: into her perfect boyfriend, she's actually discovering that she has

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Speaker 1: been allowed herself to be molded by her job, by

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Speaker 1: her family, family friends.

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Speaker 4: And also that her perfect boyfriend she thinks is a

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Speaker 4: white man, the same people she's been getting a lot

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Speaker 4: of feedback from her entire life, right, right.

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Speaker 1: So where do you think that lands?

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Speaker 2: Then?

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Speaker 1: When she doesn't end up with Bob.

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Speaker 2: But that's the thing, is I think that that's the

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Speaker 2: the the also a theme of the it's it's an idealism.

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Speaker 2: It's the idea that perfection is unattainable, even if you're

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Speaker 2: the one creating it. Yes, So it's like, oh, I've

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Speaker 2: got the perfect idea if I just get this is

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Speaker 2: this is.

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Speaker 1: Unfortunately, what the American dream is becoming.

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Speaker 2: And when you you mix that with the mass amounts

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Speaker 2: of anxiety and depression that are going on in our

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Speaker 2: culture right now, the idea of if I just get this,

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Speaker 2: I'll then be happy, right, And then when you attain

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Speaker 2: that and you're still not happy, you're like, well, then

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Speaker 2: what the hell do I do? So I think in

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Speaker 2: her mind, she's building the perfect man, and then when

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Speaker 2: he eventually up and leaves her for her perfect white

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Speaker 2: toothed best friend, it's like, oh, I can't even build

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Speaker 2: my ideal person right.

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Speaker 1: Because she figured out he's person right exactly.

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Speaker 2: I just wish she didn't. I wish the author didn't

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Speaker 2: spell that out. And there is a specific line there

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Speaker 2: where she's like, and that's when I realized I had

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Speaker 2: become the blob. And it's like, Okay, you didn't need

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Speaker 2: to write like let us figure that out.

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Speaker 4: You don't.

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Speaker 2: You don't need to put that in there. It's like,

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Speaker 2: I got where you were going with that. I didn't

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Speaker 2: need it thrown thrown at me.

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Speaker 1: Well, but I think I think the bigger, the bigger

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Speaker 1: thought that I like jotted down. I think we tend

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Speaker 1: to think as a culture and as individuals, we tend

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Speaker 1: to think of our identity as as something that is

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Speaker 1: self contained, that it's ours, right, Like I am this

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Speaker 1: type of person, I come from this type of family,

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Speaker 1: and if I'm going to change my identity, I have

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Speaker 1: to change me. I have to work on myself, right.

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Speaker 1: But it seems to me, actually, so much of the

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Speaker 1: notion of identity gets broken down. So it's more about

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Speaker 1: how other people perceive you, so that when you change

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Speaker 1: your identity, it changes everyone around you. So when she's

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Speaker 1: pretending to be Elliott's boy girlfriend for a night right,

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Speaker 1: that destabilizes her and everybody around It's like, whatever choices

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Speaker 1: you make about yourself, they don't just determine who you are,

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Speaker 1: they also determine who everybody else is. Right, everybody else

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Speaker 1: has to potentially change their pronouns based on your gender.

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Speaker 1: Everybody else is affected, and so it's like this sort

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Speaker 1: of interconnectedness of identity. Ultimately, more where the book lands,

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Speaker 1: which I thought was pretty cool and kind of revolutionary. Like,

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Speaker 1: you know a lot of these sort of coming of

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Speaker 1: age stories that I would put this in, you know,

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Speaker 1: they tend to land where somebody's like and then I

355
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Speaker 1: changed who I am and I became my true self.

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Speaker 1: This book kind of ends with her just saying I'm

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Speaker 1: going to keep trying. I'm gonna photography might be my thing,

358
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Speaker 1: but yeah, but she's gonna She's going to look at

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Speaker 1: the people around her and engage with them in a

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Speaker 1: new way.

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Speaker 2: The king that's also interesting, and they have a couple

362
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Speaker 2: a couple of the characters literally do this is everybody

363
00:19:01,040 --> 00:19:03,800
Speaker 2: at one point or another is playing a role, right,

364
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Speaker 2: So it's like her parents are playing the role of

365
00:19:06,119 --> 00:19:09,280
Speaker 2: looking like the perfect American family, her friend is playing

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Speaker 2: the role of being the good friend, but is also

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Speaker 2: actually an actor. Elliott is playing the role of being straight.

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Speaker 2: The blob is trying to play a role of then

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Speaker 2: what is his role?

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Speaker 1: And it's a human being?

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Speaker 2: And he literally becomes an actor at the end because

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Speaker 2: he's absorbed so much. He's me in a way in

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Speaker 2: that he just sat there absorbing so much TV that

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Speaker 2: now he's got to go be TV.

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Speaker 1: So there's you know there, but everybody was playing a role.

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Speaker 2: And I think at the end she realized she was like,

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Speaker 2: I'm just not going to play anymore, and I'm just

378
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Speaker 2: going to kind of try to figure out what the

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Speaker 2: hell my next steps are.

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Speaker 4: Right well, to combine the things you two said, it's

381
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Speaker 4: really she comes to terms with realizing like, oh, I

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Speaker 4: have played a role in society. I've played a role

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Speaker 4: in my family and the way they react to me,

384
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Speaker 4: the way she often describes the way her mom tenses

385
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Speaker 4: up when she says or does something, and she knows

386
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Speaker 4: like they're so used to me being reactionary or they

387
00:20:00,119 --> 00:20:02,399
Speaker 4: are so used to me being this way that it

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Speaker 4: affects the way they talk about me, It affects where

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Speaker 4: we go, it affects and like, instead of just putting

390
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Speaker 4: that on them, she goes, I also am contributing to this.

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Speaker 3: We're all feeding off of each other.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's part of what I love. When she

393
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Speaker 1: brings the blob home for Bob as a man home

394
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Speaker 1: is when she finally starts noticing things about her family

395
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Speaker 1: but she's never noticed did my mom always cook this? Well?

396
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Speaker 1: Not always. It's like she's finally able to see her

397
00:20:32,480 --> 00:20:36,960
Speaker 1: relationships or see other people because she's brought through Bob's

398
00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:40,399
Speaker 1: eyes and it helps her be like, oh, I've also

399
00:20:40,680 --> 00:20:44,240
Speaker 1: I've also been an asshole. Like that's what's so funny

400
00:20:44,240 --> 00:20:46,560
Speaker 1: that the book begins from a kind of defensive place

401
00:20:46,600 --> 00:20:49,159
Speaker 1: of like, I'm just a wallflower. Everybody else has so

402
00:20:49,359 --> 00:20:52,080
Speaker 1: strong opinions and I just sort of am passive. Like

403
00:20:52,119 --> 00:20:54,280
Speaker 1: that's the way she kind of introduces herself. And then

404
00:20:54,320 --> 00:20:56,840
Speaker 1: throughout the course of the book, you're like, she's a drunk,

405
00:20:57,160 --> 00:21:00,440
Speaker 1: she's kind of a she's mean to people, she's terrible,

406
00:21:00,640 --> 00:21:02,680
Speaker 1: and you know, it's like it's like the slow realization

407
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Speaker 1: that she is actually affecting everybody around her house and

408
00:21:06,080 --> 00:21:08,480
Speaker 1: that she's kind of made her own bed, like she's

409
00:21:08,520 --> 00:21:11,160
Speaker 1: put herself in this position. I thought that was really effective,

410
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Speaker 1: you know.

411
00:21:11,640 --> 00:21:14,120
Speaker 2: Did you also notice that her journey as a character

412
00:21:14,400 --> 00:21:19,119
Speaker 2: mimicked Bob growing meaning, meaning when Bob was just eyes,

413
00:21:19,240 --> 00:21:22,840
Speaker 2: she started to see everything around. When Bob began a hand,

414
00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:25,680
Speaker 2: she started to get out and actually physically touch people.

415
00:21:25,720 --> 00:21:27,800
Speaker 2: She had her doing that. When Bob grew legs, she

416
00:21:27,960 --> 00:21:30,760
Speaker 2: was going out more. So it was like everything that

417
00:21:30,840 --> 00:21:33,520
Speaker 2: happened with Bob was almost mirrored in kind of her

418
00:21:33,600 --> 00:21:36,639
Speaker 2: journey as a person, which I thought was again and

419
00:21:36,680 --> 00:21:38,880
Speaker 2: then that's again her first reaction when he grew legs

420
00:21:38,960 --> 00:21:40,879
Speaker 2: was like, Okay, do I chain him up? How do

421
00:21:40,960 --> 00:21:44,120
Speaker 2: I keep him here to? I mean, it's just yeah,

422
00:21:44,119 --> 00:21:46,560
Speaker 2: it's really kind of amazing. And again, that's one of

423
00:21:46,600 --> 00:21:48,960
Speaker 2: the first tropes you talked about her parents them selling

424
00:21:48,960 --> 00:21:50,280
Speaker 2: the house right out from under her.

425
00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:51,879
Speaker 1: That's a storyline in Friends.

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Speaker 2: That's what That's what Monica's parents do, is they sell

427
00:21:54,840 --> 00:21:56,760
Speaker 2: her house out from So there's a couple things that

428
00:21:56,800 --> 00:21:58,760
Speaker 2: happen here that are straight from pop culture.

429
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Speaker 1: Okay, well, let's let's move into the next section, which

430
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Speaker 1: I'm calling show your work and get into the writing itself,

431
00:22:04,760 --> 00:22:08,040
Speaker 1: her voice as a character and as a narrator. What

432
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Speaker 1: did you guys think of it? How would you describe it?

433
00:22:10,400 --> 00:22:15,919
Speaker 4: I would say it is dead pan comedy. Yes, it's

434
00:22:16,080 --> 00:22:26,000
Speaker 4: ry y, Yes, it's ry. It's self deprecating. It's also yeah,

435
00:22:26,040 --> 00:22:33,200
Speaker 4: she's right hard on herself, hard on herself constantly. Yeah, yeah, incriminating, deprecating, uh,

436
00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:40,159
Speaker 4: and also casual. There's nothing there's nothing pretentious or formal.

437
00:22:40,920 --> 00:22:43,119
Speaker 1: Read it is very easy.

438
00:22:43,200 --> 00:22:47,119
Speaker 2: This this to me, and you know, we always do this.

439
00:22:47,119 --> 00:22:48,480
Speaker 2: We do this all the episodes of Boying th World.

440
00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:49,440
Speaker 1: Here's what I would have done.

441
00:22:49,640 --> 00:22:51,440
Speaker 2: And it's like, it's like, oh yeah, when I write

442
00:22:51,440 --> 00:22:54,520
Speaker 2: my novel, but this to me seem like what would

443
00:22:54,520 --> 00:22:54,920
Speaker 2: have been cool?

444
00:22:54,960 --> 00:22:56,479
Speaker 1: I would love to have seen this. And again, it's

445
00:22:56,520 --> 00:22:57,440
Speaker 1: just the way my mind works.

446
00:22:57,600 --> 00:22:59,960
Speaker 2: If say I was fourteen and it was a while

447
00:23:00,920 --> 00:23:03,000
Speaker 2: and she finds the blob and the first half of

448
00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:04,640
Speaker 2: the book she's raising the blob. In the second half

449
00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:06,719
Speaker 2: of the book, it joins her in high school. Like,

450
00:23:06,800 --> 00:23:10,080
Speaker 2: that's kind of where the tone of this was for me,

451
00:23:10,359 --> 00:23:13,439
Speaker 2: which then thrown in kind of it threw me then

452
00:23:13,440 --> 00:23:14,920
Speaker 2: because then you turn the page and she'd be talking

453
00:23:14,920 --> 00:23:18,000
Speaker 2: about masturbating and it was like, oh, oh that came Okay.

454
00:23:17,760 --> 00:23:20,159
Speaker 1: That's right. It's not a young not like it's you

455
00:23:20,240 --> 00:23:22,080
Speaker 1: know what I mean, it's right. Well, I do think

456
00:23:22,080 --> 00:23:26,119
Speaker 1: that the book, you know, it makes this transition I

457
00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:28,280
Speaker 1: would say, what fifty or sixty pages in where we

458
00:23:28,320 --> 00:23:31,080
Speaker 1: get our first sort of flashback sequence. Yeah, and it does.

459
00:23:31,359 --> 00:23:33,359
Speaker 1: The book ends up spending a lot of time in

460
00:23:33,400 --> 00:23:38,240
Speaker 1: her youth. And I found those transitions a little hard.

461
00:23:38,560 --> 00:23:41,320
Speaker 1: I was every time I was like, wait, why are

462
00:23:41,320 --> 00:23:44,600
Speaker 1: we getting this this flashback of this scene. I could

463
00:23:44,640 --> 00:23:47,919
Speaker 1: have almost done without them entirely. I because when we

464
00:23:47,920 --> 00:23:50,520
Speaker 1: were in the present tense, when we were with with V,

465
00:23:50,760 --> 00:23:52,399
Speaker 1: are we going with V or V? Which was I

466
00:23:52,480 --> 00:23:55,280
Speaker 1: thought it was V? I thought it was very like

467
00:23:55,640 --> 00:23:57,760
Speaker 1: I thought V I. I thought it was short for

468
00:23:57,840 --> 00:23:59,800
Speaker 1: violet or something I was. I would say, you.

469
00:23:59,760 --> 00:24:02,159
Speaker 3: Say, we're saying the but you said that.

470
00:24:01,880 --> 00:24:04,639
Speaker 2: That's what you say Potatoe else in the world.

471
00:24:04,920 --> 00:24:08,720
Speaker 1: Yeah, I found those flashbacks. I think that they they

472
00:24:08,760 --> 00:24:11,479
Speaker 1: helped develop some of the conflicts that you know, we've

473
00:24:11,520 --> 00:24:14,960
Speaker 1: already talked about, you know, cultural conflicts and racial and

474
00:24:15,040 --> 00:24:18,320
Speaker 1: gender identity and all that, but they were not nearly

475
00:24:18,359 --> 00:24:21,280
Speaker 1: as entertaining and and I'm not sure that they contributed

476
00:24:21,400 --> 00:24:25,520
Speaker 1: much to the current story. And you know, my experience

477
00:24:25,880 --> 00:24:29,600
Speaker 1: going back to Danielle's first overall impression was where you

478
00:24:29,720 --> 00:24:30,960
Speaker 1: had to put you put the book down and you

479
00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:33,000
Speaker 1: were like, do I want to go back? I definitely

480
00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:35,159
Speaker 1: went on a similar journey. And I think this is

481
00:24:35,240 --> 00:24:38,520
Speaker 1: why is because I think that middle section of the book,

482
00:24:38,520 --> 00:24:41,480
Speaker 1: once we get the plot of Bob Blob, anytime that

483
00:24:41,560 --> 00:24:44,320
Speaker 1: we take a pause, go back to being eleven years old,

484
00:24:44,480 --> 00:24:47,080
Speaker 1: I'm like, where's this that doesn't I don't know if

485
00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:51,000
Speaker 1: I need that. But then when the book picked back

486
00:24:51,080 --> 00:24:53,720
Speaker 1: up again with the current plot of Bob getting out,

487
00:24:53,880 --> 00:25:00,239
Speaker 1: Bob leaving her, her being Elliott's date, and that so

488
00:25:00,320 --> 00:25:03,080
Speaker 1: much energy, and then then I really tore through the

489
00:25:03,119 --> 00:25:05,160
Speaker 1: rest of the book because that picked it back up.

490
00:25:05,320 --> 00:25:09,280
Speaker 3: You're exactly right. I felt exactly the same way.

491
00:25:09,320 --> 00:25:11,840
Speaker 4: There was like a midway point before we got into

492
00:25:11,840 --> 00:25:13,320
Speaker 4: all of that where I was like, I don't know

493
00:25:13,359 --> 00:25:15,880
Speaker 4: that I would normally finish this, But once I got

494
00:25:15,880 --> 00:25:16,679
Speaker 4: back into it, I was like.

495
00:25:16,720 --> 00:25:17,640
Speaker 3: Oh, I'm so glad I did.

496
00:25:18,080 --> 00:25:21,360
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I literally I I yelled at one point

497
00:25:21,400 --> 00:25:23,280
Speaker 2: where with the whole party scene where where she was

498
00:25:24,040 --> 00:25:26,679
Speaker 2: everyone looks over and everyone's watching or kiss. The guy

499
00:25:26,760 --> 00:25:28,919
Speaker 2: was like, oh, you want to drop the book at

500
00:25:28,920 --> 00:25:31,159
Speaker 2: that point. So, I mean there were moments in it

501
00:25:31,200 --> 00:25:32,960
Speaker 2: that were absolutely chef's kiss.

502
00:25:33,160 --> 00:25:36,080
Speaker 1: And I think that that's you know, that's an accomplishment,

503
00:25:36,200 --> 00:25:38,840
Speaker 1: you know, like that that we we we did lose

504
00:25:39,080 --> 00:25:41,000
Speaker 1: she lost us a little bit, you know, it slowed

505
00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:42,639
Speaker 1: down a little bit, but the fact that it picks

506
00:25:42,680 --> 00:25:45,159
Speaker 1: back up, and I do think that, you know, and

507
00:25:45,280 --> 00:25:47,119
Speaker 1: the book is short we're not talking too long. So

508
00:25:47,160 --> 00:25:49,800
Speaker 1: even when we're talking about like it's slowing down, we're

509
00:25:49,840 --> 00:25:56,159
Speaker 1: really only talking about twenty Yeah. So I but I

510
00:25:56,200 --> 00:26:01,000
Speaker 1: do think that the writing, you know, an editorial like slicing,

511
00:26:01,080 --> 00:26:02,840
Speaker 1: it could have been shorter, It could have been a

512
00:26:02,880 --> 00:26:18,200
Speaker 1: little just just a little bit. All right, let's pop quiz.

513
00:26:18,720 --> 00:26:21,960
Speaker 1: This is the section where we're gonna ask a question

514
00:26:22,080 --> 00:26:25,080
Speaker 1: or play get a buzzer or there's We're not gonna

515
00:26:25,080 --> 00:26:26,760
Speaker 1: play a game with this one. This is a question

516
00:26:26,840 --> 00:26:30,920
Speaker 1: that Jensen carp Our, lovely producer, came up with podcast.

517
00:26:31,200 --> 00:26:32,920
Speaker 2: Oh god, I bet you I know what the question

518
00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:36,240
Speaker 2: is going to be. Really yeah, it's gonna be something

519
00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:37,480
Speaker 2: like if you had a blob of your.

520
00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:42,400
Speaker 1: Own, your own blob? There you go? Which body part

521
00:26:42,760 --> 00:26:45,800
Speaker 1: from a Boy Meets World character? Are you picking? First?

522
00:26:47,720 --> 00:26:49,719
Speaker 3: Wait? Am I supposed to want to have sex with

523
00:26:49,760 --> 00:26:50,200
Speaker 3: this blob?

524
00:26:51,560 --> 00:26:54,960
Speaker 1: It's your ultimate or your ultimate partner?

525
00:26:58,400 --> 00:27:01,800
Speaker 2: Oh gosh, is like Mary f kill my god.

526
00:27:03,280 --> 00:27:06,159
Speaker 1: This is tough. Let's see you do you give do

527
00:27:06,200 --> 00:27:10,240
Speaker 1: you give it? Phoene's brain do you give it? Writer

528
00:27:10,359 --> 00:27:13,080
Speaker 1: Strong's hair? Do you give it? I don't want to

529
00:27:13,080 --> 00:27:13,679
Speaker 1: bang Daniel.

530
00:27:19,640 --> 00:27:22,600
Speaker 2: Okay, not to sound creepy, but Daniel Fisher lips is

531
00:27:22,600 --> 00:27:23,800
Speaker 2: not a bad place to start.

532
00:27:23,840 --> 00:27:25,960
Speaker 1: But I don't want to start with the lips.

533
00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:32,000
Speaker 3: I might go Ben Savage washboard apps.

534
00:27:32,880 --> 00:27:36,600
Speaker 2: Okay, I might go Amy Matthew's Compassion.

535
00:27:37,040 --> 00:27:40,720
Speaker 3: Oh well, it's true.

536
00:27:40,720 --> 00:27:43,680
Speaker 1: I mean if you start there, right, did you love

537
00:27:43,680 --> 00:27:44,159
Speaker 1: a mommy?

538
00:27:44,800 --> 00:27:48,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's so creepy.

539
00:27:48,920 --> 00:27:51,200
Speaker 1: That is so creepy. No, I would go the girl

540
00:27:51,240 --> 00:27:54,880
Speaker 1: like Tushy danced with No right, right right? I don't

541
00:27:54,880 --> 00:27:58,480
Speaker 1: know what about you writer? You have one? I don't actually, yeah,

542
00:27:58,480 --> 00:28:01,320
Speaker 1: I'm trying to think, Uh, there was with such with

543
00:28:01,480 --> 00:28:03,960
Speaker 1: such good hair in general, and boy, it's kind of

544
00:28:03,960 --> 00:28:04,720
Speaker 1: hard to avoid that.

545
00:28:04,840 --> 00:28:07,600
Speaker 2: We also don't have We only have like two real girls,

546
00:28:07,680 --> 00:28:08,880
Speaker 2: our own idea to pick from.

547
00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:11,080
Speaker 1: So it's like I want Danielle Like, that's not gonna

548
00:28:11,320 --> 00:28:15,240
Speaker 1: as a word, right, you can't do that. I watched that,

549
00:28:15,760 --> 00:28:17,800
Speaker 1: which I hadn't even thought about was Phoene's brain, right,

550
00:28:17,880 --> 00:28:21,520
Speaker 1: Like brain's a good one. It's like, really if you can, Yeah,

551
00:28:21,640 --> 00:28:23,320
Speaker 1: I don't know how I would get the blob to

552
00:28:23,359 --> 00:28:26,960
Speaker 1: form that way? I can question? Can I switch up

553
00:28:26,960 --> 00:28:29,680
Speaker 1: the question? Please? If each of us could pick.

554
00:28:29,520 --> 00:28:35,080
Speaker 2: One body part for another person, like writer, if you

555
00:28:35,160 --> 00:28:38,240
Speaker 2: had to build the perfect partner for Danielle, what's the

556
00:28:38,280 --> 00:28:41,320
Speaker 2: first body part from a Boy Meets World cast member

557
00:28:41,320 --> 00:28:43,240
Speaker 2: you would put on Danielle's partner.

558
00:28:43,360 --> 00:28:49,760
Speaker 1: Just Matt Lawrence. When we talked about him coming to

559
00:28:49,760 --> 00:28:51,640
Speaker 1: the set, she was like, Wow, we had some good

560
00:28:51,680 --> 00:28:53,440
Speaker 1: looking guys on the show, but now we have.

561
00:28:56,200 --> 00:28:57,080
Speaker 3: You guys were good looking.

562
00:28:58,640 --> 00:29:04,440
Speaker 1: Your liver lab Matt Lawrence became blobs. Matt Lawrence took over.

563
00:29:06,880 --> 00:29:08,719
Speaker 3: That's pretty funny.

564
00:29:08,920 --> 00:29:12,400
Speaker 4: I just would like to point out that YouTube picked

565
00:29:12,480 --> 00:29:19,680
Speaker 4: compassion and Brains and I picked.

566
00:29:19,440 --> 00:29:23,160
Speaker 1: So you're more like the we take it nice, very sweet,

567
00:29:24,640 --> 00:29:27,720
Speaker 1: all right, report card? Okay, any of the sort of

568
00:29:27,960 --> 00:29:31,880
Speaker 1: or any other coming of age or maybe Redemption story books?

569
00:29:32,520 --> 00:29:34,040
Speaker 1: Is there another book that you would compare this to.

570
00:29:35,440 --> 00:29:40,320
Speaker 4: You know, for me, I have a very hard time

571
00:29:40,880 --> 00:29:46,640
Speaker 4: relating to this modern a modern coming of age?

572
00:29:47,080 --> 00:29:49,240
Speaker 1: Me too, I found it. That's for me. That was

573
00:29:49,240 --> 00:29:52,200
Speaker 1: the problem, the pop cultural references that I was like,

574
00:29:52,320 --> 00:29:55,960
Speaker 1: I am so old. This is your pop culture.

575
00:29:56,080 --> 00:29:59,320
Speaker 2: No, your pop culture alliterate because the references that she's

576
00:29:59,440 --> 00:30:02,200
Speaker 2: using are references from when we were She did a

577
00:30:02,240 --> 00:30:04,920
Speaker 2: ton of ninety stuff. I mean, it was friends and

578
00:30:04,960 --> 00:30:06,320
Speaker 2: Seinfeld I will.

579
00:30:06,120 --> 00:30:09,520
Speaker 3: Say it didn't make me feel old. I didn't feel

580
00:30:09,520 --> 00:30:10,440
Speaker 3: old reading it.

581
00:30:10,840 --> 00:30:17,760
Speaker 4: What I felt was coming of age for millennials or

582
00:30:18,680 --> 00:30:19,240
Speaker 4: gen X.

583
00:30:20,800 --> 00:30:22,360
Speaker 3: There's a lot more.

584
00:30:23,960 --> 00:30:31,680
Speaker 4: Commitment to work ethic rat Race like six, like classic

585
00:30:31,760 --> 00:30:34,360
Speaker 4: success in the sense of like I had to go

586
00:30:34,400 --> 00:30:37,080
Speaker 4: to college. My school is very important to my family.

587
00:30:37,200 --> 00:30:39,360
Speaker 4: I don't want to let them down. I finished school.

588
00:30:39,400 --> 00:30:43,960
Speaker 4: I have to get a job. And then finding yourself going,

589
00:30:44,040 --> 00:30:46,560
Speaker 4: oh my gosh, I'm exhausted and how did I get here?

590
00:30:46,600 --> 00:30:47,680
Speaker 4: And I don't know that this is the life I

591
00:30:47,680 --> 00:30:49,920
Speaker 4: would have chosen for myself. But look at what I've built.

592
00:30:51,040 --> 00:30:53,719
Speaker 4: It seems like a lot of modern coming of age

593
00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:57,320
Speaker 4: is like I don't want to get out of bed today.

594
00:30:57,560 --> 00:30:58,840
Speaker 3: I'm just going to show up late.

595
00:30:58,720 --> 00:31:02,360
Speaker 1: To my job on a Tuesday. Yeah, I get I.

596
00:31:02,320 --> 00:31:03,440
Speaker 3: Get drunk every night.

597
00:31:03,920 --> 00:31:08,440
Speaker 4: I'm like, and I was just like, I can't I do.

598
00:31:08,520 --> 00:31:11,200
Speaker 4: I don't hide. This is giving me edge, aed like

599
00:31:12,360 --> 00:31:14,920
Speaker 4: I've never heard of anybody be worse.

600
00:31:14,640 --> 00:31:15,320
Speaker 3: At their job.

601
00:31:15,640 --> 00:31:18,320
Speaker 4: Yeah, this is I know that this is what gen

602
00:31:18,440 --> 00:31:22,680
Speaker 4: Z experiences and I just have you know, like Will

603
00:31:22,800 --> 00:31:25,280
Speaker 4: saying he's not Asian, and so he does he doesn't

604
00:31:25,280 --> 00:31:27,200
Speaker 4: pretend to be able to know what it feels like.

605
00:31:27,720 --> 00:31:29,920
Speaker 3: Similarly, I don't.

606
00:31:29,960 --> 00:31:34,600
Speaker 4: I cannot relate to that feeling, and so I I

607
00:31:34,680 --> 00:31:36,320
Speaker 4: just know it's not for me.

608
00:31:36,960 --> 00:31:40,280
Speaker 3: It doesn't mean it's bad. It's just I'm not the demo.

609
00:31:40,440 --> 00:31:42,760
Speaker 4: I'm not the I'm not the person who's supposed to

610
00:31:42,840 --> 00:31:44,560
Speaker 4: go got it relate?

611
00:31:44,760 --> 00:31:46,360
Speaker 3: You're speaking my language, right.

612
00:31:47,480 --> 00:31:50,640
Speaker 2: So if she's was gonna do flashbacks flashing back to

613
00:31:51,640 --> 00:31:55,000
Speaker 2: right before the breakup, yeah, even more than we did,

614
00:31:55,040 --> 00:31:57,240
Speaker 2: because we we see.

615
00:31:57,120 --> 00:31:57,680
Speaker 1: What she's like.

616
00:31:57,760 --> 00:32:00,400
Speaker 2: I mean, we're coming up on this, this in mid

617
00:32:00,440 --> 00:32:03,720
Speaker 2: depression where she cannot get over this break even though

618
00:32:03,720 --> 00:32:05,560
Speaker 2: it's this breakup, even though it happened I think she

619
00:32:05,560 --> 00:32:08,680
Speaker 2: said eight months ago, it's been very rough on her.

620
00:32:09,040 --> 00:32:11,720
Speaker 2: If we saw a couple of flashbacks from before that

621
00:32:11,760 --> 00:32:14,600
Speaker 2: where she was actually very good at her job, she

622
00:32:14,720 --> 00:32:17,160
Speaker 2: was attentive, she was not maybe not climbing the ladder,

623
00:32:17,160 --> 00:32:19,560
Speaker 2: but was cleaning up her apartment, was doing you know,

624
00:32:19,840 --> 00:32:22,520
Speaker 2: and it's the breakup that made her like this, I

625
00:32:22,560 --> 00:32:25,160
Speaker 2: think I would have had more compassion for the character

626
00:32:25,920 --> 00:32:27,880
Speaker 2: than I do, where it's just kind of like, oh,

627
00:32:27,960 --> 00:32:29,920
Speaker 2: you are the blob, which I get was kind of

628
00:32:30,240 --> 00:32:31,880
Speaker 2: what it was supposed to be, but it's like you

629
00:32:31,880 --> 00:32:34,440
Speaker 2: don't care about your job. You're rude to your friends

630
00:32:34,480 --> 00:32:35,960
Speaker 2: a lot of the times, if you even have any,

631
00:32:36,400 --> 00:32:39,000
Speaker 2: You're very selfish at times, you're a raging alcoholic.

632
00:32:39,040 --> 00:32:40,800
Speaker 1: I mean, it's like, did all of that.

633
00:32:40,800 --> 00:32:43,800
Speaker 2: Happen because of the breakup, because then that's one character,

634
00:32:43,880 --> 00:32:45,520
Speaker 2: and I would think about the character a certain way,

635
00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:47,440
Speaker 2: or was she like that?

636
00:32:47,600 --> 00:32:50,520
Speaker 1: And just it's been exacerbated by the break I think

637
00:32:50,600 --> 00:32:53,240
Speaker 1: she was like that. I think. So that's the takeaway.

638
00:32:53,320 --> 00:32:55,320
Speaker 1: And so I think you guys are both kind of

639
00:32:55,320 --> 00:32:58,320
Speaker 1: saying the same thing differently, which is that this is

640
00:32:58,440 --> 00:33:02,120
Speaker 1: really a specifically an eel on we this sort of

641
00:33:02,400 --> 00:33:06,120
Speaker 1: like we have all the opportunities, right, Like we have

642
00:33:06,200 --> 00:33:08,280
Speaker 1: all the avenues open to us. I could be a

643
00:33:08,400 --> 00:33:11,719
Speaker 1: doctor like my brother, I could be, you know, married

644
00:33:11,800 --> 00:33:13,840
Speaker 1: at this age like my parents were. I could be

645
00:33:14,120 --> 00:33:17,240
Speaker 1: everybody else seems to have like content with their paths,

646
00:33:17,440 --> 00:33:20,640
Speaker 1: and yet she just shuts down and has never been able.

647
00:33:20,920 --> 00:33:23,320
Speaker 1: And I think that is specifically something you know, like

648
00:33:23,520 --> 00:33:26,320
Speaker 1: at this age for me, like I was just so

649
00:33:26,480 --> 00:33:28,800
Speaker 1: driven in too many directions right. If anything, it was

650
00:33:28,840 --> 00:33:32,000
Speaker 1: like I didn't take enough time to just relax and enjoy,

651
00:33:32,280 --> 00:33:35,680
Speaker 1: and I think that that speaks to something that the

652
00:33:36,080 --> 00:33:38,960
Speaker 1: younger general, the younger generation for whom I think this

653
00:33:38,960 --> 00:33:40,520
Speaker 1: book is written. You know, I think this book is

654
00:33:40,560 --> 00:33:44,360
Speaker 1: clearly aimed at people thirty five and under or maybe

655
00:33:44,400 --> 00:33:46,320
Speaker 1: forty and under, and we're just on the other side

656
00:33:46,360 --> 00:33:50,520
Speaker 1: of that. I think part of the problem generationally is

657
00:33:50,920 --> 00:33:54,080
Speaker 1: that they do have so much comfort. They can just

658
00:33:54,600 --> 00:33:57,000
Speaker 1: sit at home and get everything on their screen. They

659
00:33:57,080 --> 00:34:01,680
Speaker 1: can't have entirely developed social life without leaving their computer.

660
00:34:01,840 --> 00:34:04,280
Speaker 1: You know that that is that's new. That's not something

661
00:34:04,280 --> 00:34:05,760
Speaker 1: we We had to get out of the house. We

662
00:34:05,840 --> 00:34:08,200
Speaker 1: had to have jobs just to have a life. That's

663
00:34:08,239 --> 00:34:12,400
Speaker 1: not true anymore. And so why work? Why why go

664
00:34:12,600 --> 00:34:14,480
Speaker 1: to college? Why do you any you know, just so

665
00:34:14,560 --> 00:34:17,520
Speaker 1: you can get more money, you know, like to sit

666
00:34:17,560 --> 00:34:19,640
Speaker 1: at home and flip through Instagram anyway.

667
00:34:19,520 --> 00:34:22,840
Speaker 4: And think that's a very right problem anyone else's life

668
00:34:23,040 --> 00:34:25,200
Speaker 4: as being so good, Like it's not like she looked

669
00:34:25,239 --> 00:34:27,360
Speaker 4: at her brother. Her brother was also super stressed and

670
00:34:27,360 --> 00:34:30,200
Speaker 4: always and her parents didn't seem like they were thrilled

671
00:34:30,239 --> 00:34:32,439
Speaker 4: with their lives either, So she kind of was looking around,

672
00:34:32,560 --> 00:34:34,640
Speaker 4: like all these paths lead to me.

673
00:34:35,800 --> 00:34:37,560
Speaker 1: The only the only one. I think it was truly

674
00:34:37,600 --> 00:34:41,600
Speaker 1: happy in the entire book. Was her boss walters like,

675
00:34:42,400 --> 00:34:45,759
Speaker 1: I'm pathetic in her eyes exactly because it assaults her

676
00:34:45,840 --> 00:34:49,440
Speaker 1: when she points that out. Yeah, so I think that

677
00:34:49,440 --> 00:34:52,600
Speaker 1: that's what we're meant to feel, that everybody's kind of

678
00:34:52,960 --> 00:34:55,160
Speaker 1: a sucker if they pick a path, right, Like, no

679
00:34:55,160 --> 00:34:58,960
Speaker 1: matter what path you choose, you're kind of either you're

680
00:34:59,200 --> 00:35:01,560
Speaker 1: falling for somebody else's narrative that's not going to make

681
00:35:01,600 --> 00:35:04,920
Speaker 1: you happy. So it's Ethan Hawk again in reality bites.

682
00:35:04,960 --> 00:35:07,520
Speaker 2: It's the kind of you pick a path, you're a sellout,

683
00:35:07,560 --> 00:35:10,480
Speaker 2: or where it's not even sellout, because.

684
00:35:10,239 --> 00:35:12,160
Speaker 1: I think I think this book is smarter than that.

685
00:35:12,239 --> 00:35:15,960
Speaker 1: I think it's describing the problem. And also, you know

686
00:35:16,080 --> 00:35:19,160
Speaker 1: it's not it's certainly not celebrating v like it's you know,

687
00:35:19,200 --> 00:35:21,200
Speaker 1: it's not saying that she's doing the right things by

688
00:35:21,560 --> 00:35:24,960
Speaker 1: succumbing to this perfect man her exactly.

689
00:35:25,080 --> 00:35:26,680
Speaker 2: So I mean, yeah, that's the whole point is that

690
00:35:26,719 --> 00:35:29,720
Speaker 2: she is this is you know, well it's not supposed

691
00:35:29,760 --> 00:35:29,920
Speaker 2: to be.

692
00:35:29,960 --> 00:35:31,520
Speaker 1: Well, what what do you think about the end? Then?

693
00:35:31,560 --> 00:35:34,440
Speaker 1: What does the ending give you? Is there hope? Is

694
00:35:34,480 --> 00:35:38,080
Speaker 1: this a is this ultimately a hope filled novel about

695
00:35:38,160 --> 00:35:40,840
Speaker 1: she does find a path or does it? What do

696
00:35:40,880 --> 00:35:41,640
Speaker 1: you guys think of?

697
00:35:41,760 --> 00:35:44,400
Speaker 3: Where do you think it landed and ended very hopefully.

698
00:35:44,520 --> 00:35:46,920
Speaker 4: I thought it landed in a place that I really

699
00:35:47,719 --> 00:35:51,279
Speaker 4: did think there was enough of a realization, enough of

700
00:35:51,280 --> 00:35:54,760
Speaker 4: a self awareness that came to her throughout the course

701
00:35:54,800 --> 00:35:58,279
Speaker 4: of this experience, and men all the experiences that this

702
00:35:58,360 --> 00:36:01,799
Speaker 4: experience brought into her life that did actually make her

703
00:36:02,000 --> 00:36:05,080
Speaker 4: decide that she needed to be an active participant in

704
00:36:05,120 --> 00:36:07,520
Speaker 4: her life and that decisions needed to be made, and

705
00:36:07,560 --> 00:36:10,960
Speaker 4: that she couldn't just keep like letting life passer by.

706
00:36:11,880 --> 00:36:13,960
Speaker 4: So whether or not she's going to get it all right,

707
00:36:14,200 --> 00:36:16,880
Speaker 4: there's no real right. I didn't feel like she's now

708
00:36:16,880 --> 00:36:19,440
Speaker 4: going to have a great life, but I felt hopeful

709
00:36:19,719 --> 00:36:22,760
Speaker 4: that there was going to be a change, a positive change,

710
00:36:23,320 --> 00:36:24,920
Speaker 4: that she was at least going to start in acting,

711
00:36:25,080 --> 00:36:27,080
Speaker 4: And so I felt very hopeful at the end.

712
00:36:27,360 --> 00:36:30,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, me too, will I felt kind of the same

713
00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:31,279
Speaker 2: way I felt her life was.

714
00:36:31,640 --> 00:36:33,240
Speaker 1: It's weird. I had a strange combination.

715
00:36:33,280 --> 00:36:35,360
Speaker 2: I felt her life was definitely on the upswing, and

716
00:36:35,400 --> 00:36:38,200
Speaker 2: there is certainly hope, and I don't need to check

717
00:36:38,239 --> 00:36:38,560
Speaker 2: back on.

718
00:36:38,520 --> 00:36:40,399
Speaker 1: Her to make sure her life is doing okay. It's

719
00:36:40,400 --> 00:36:44,279
Speaker 1: interesting because I think story wise, plot wise, there's this

720
00:36:44,800 --> 00:36:47,319
Speaker 1: potential boyfriend, the new guy that she hands up with,

721
00:36:47,440 --> 00:36:50,279
Speaker 1: and there's the photography and going back to school. But

722
00:36:50,680 --> 00:36:53,040
Speaker 1: it didn't feel like either one of those things is

723
00:36:53,080 --> 00:36:55,839
Speaker 1: the definite solution. It just felt like those were sort

724
00:36:55,840 --> 00:36:59,239
Speaker 1: of the engines too for her to realize, I get

725
00:36:59,239 --> 00:37:01,919
Speaker 1: to pick my own path and I no longer need

726
00:37:01,960 --> 00:37:05,759
Speaker 1: to succumb to somebody else's pressure of who I should be,

727
00:37:06,800 --> 00:37:10,000
Speaker 1: nor just sit around and think it's gonna happen. I'm

728
00:37:10,040 --> 00:37:12,680
Speaker 1: going to have to just do it, and whatever I do,

729
00:37:13,320 --> 00:37:15,520
Speaker 1: I should be happy with, you know, just you know,

730
00:37:15,680 --> 00:37:19,719
Speaker 1: kind of a weird paradoxical zen you know, maybe nonsensical,

731
00:37:19,719 --> 00:37:22,080
Speaker 1: but it's true, right, Like by just making a decision,

732
00:37:22,360 --> 00:37:24,840
Speaker 1: she's going to feel better, and then that decision is

733
00:37:24,880 --> 00:37:27,600
Speaker 1: going to give her meaning and a sense of purpose.

734
00:37:28,000 --> 00:37:30,280
Speaker 4: It reminds me of a friend of mine who once said,

735
00:37:31,160 --> 00:37:35,800
Speaker 4: all right, I've decided I am going to join online

736
00:37:35,880 --> 00:37:36,759
Speaker 4: dating and I.

737
00:37:36,680 --> 00:37:38,640
Speaker 3: Was like, wow, really you're going to do it?

738
00:37:38,680 --> 00:37:42,440
Speaker 4: And he was like yeah, but only because I realized

739
00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:45,279
Speaker 4: girls don't just knock into your apartment door and we're

740
00:37:45,320 --> 00:37:49,719
Speaker 4: to go out with you, right, you have you've realized

741
00:37:49,840 --> 00:37:53,840
Speaker 4: that if a relationship is something you want, you cannot

742
00:37:53,840 --> 00:37:57,399
Speaker 4: sit on your couch every single day and wait for that.

743
00:37:57,920 --> 00:37:59,560
Speaker 1: But you can't tell somebody that they got to kind

744
00:37:59,600 --> 00:38:01,840
Speaker 1: of discover it themselves, right, Yeah, we all have to

745
00:38:01,880 --> 00:38:02,440
Speaker 1: live through it.

746
00:38:02,560 --> 00:38:04,919
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I love how she was standing right next

747
00:38:04,920 --> 00:38:07,359
Speaker 2: to Rachel behind this counter because essentially you have two

748
00:38:07,360 --> 00:38:09,400
Speaker 2: people in exactly the same place in their life, literally

749
00:38:09,440 --> 00:38:11,400
Speaker 2: exactly in the same place in your life. You have

750
00:38:11,480 --> 00:38:14,400
Speaker 2: one who can fake it when she needs to and

751
00:38:14,480 --> 00:38:17,600
Speaker 2: one who can't. And sometimes you need to fake happiness

752
00:38:17,960 --> 00:38:20,000
Speaker 2: until you can actually find happiness.

753
00:38:20,280 --> 00:38:20,480
Speaker 3: Yeah.

754
00:38:20,520 --> 00:38:22,359
Speaker 2: And it's the people that don't know how to fake

755
00:38:22,400 --> 00:38:25,880
Speaker 2: it ever, who are like five, You know, when you

756
00:38:25,920 --> 00:38:28,520
Speaker 2: had Rachel, who was you could tell was also depressed

757
00:38:28,560 --> 00:38:31,239
Speaker 2: and upset, and her life is exactly where Vice is,

758
00:38:31,600 --> 00:38:33,080
Speaker 2: but could just fake it.

759
00:38:33,560 --> 00:38:36,480
Speaker 1: And where Rachel ends up is way sadder than where

760
00:38:36,560 --> 00:38:39,439
Speaker 1: v ends up, right, because Rachel and the blobber they're

761
00:38:39,520 --> 00:38:42,000
Speaker 1: they're so they're making their dreams come true, but it

762
00:38:42,040 --> 00:38:43,560
Speaker 1: feels way worse.

763
00:38:43,880 --> 00:38:47,080
Speaker 2: It's fake and vapid, and it is two big toothy

764
00:38:47,200 --> 00:38:48,560
Speaker 2: smiles out in Hollywood.

765
00:38:48,800 --> 00:38:53,640
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, Okay, let's let's rate this book by giving

766
00:38:53,680 --> 00:38:58,879
Speaker 1: it Phoeni's or Turners, now a turner one through five,

767
00:38:58,960 --> 00:39:03,200
Speaker 1: one through five of each. Uh. Turner, as we all remember,

768
00:39:03,400 --> 00:39:08,640
Speaker 1: is the hip, cool teacher who makes reading fun. Okay,

769
00:39:08,760 --> 00:39:11,560
Speaker 1: makes it makes it a fun easy read.

770
00:39:12,160 --> 00:39:12,359
Speaker 4: Uh.

771
00:39:12,400 --> 00:39:14,560
Speaker 1: And you maybe are absorbing a lot, but that's not

772
00:39:14,640 --> 00:39:19,839
Speaker 1: the point. The point is to enjoy the process. Until taught,

773
00:39:21,120 --> 00:39:27,320
Speaker 1: Phoenie was a stodgy, old fashioned card to understand classic

774
00:39:27,560 --> 00:39:31,000
Speaker 1: ultimately good for you. He taught you the life lesson,

775
00:39:31,120 --> 00:39:33,960
Speaker 1: gave you the value. So the amount of Phoenies one

776
00:39:34,000 --> 00:39:36,319
Speaker 1: through five is how much is this book good for you?

777
00:39:36,320 --> 00:39:38,200
Speaker 1: How much did it teach you? Did you take away?

778
00:39:38,239 --> 00:39:40,840
Speaker 1: As the actual I'm going to carry this forward in

779
00:39:40,880 --> 00:39:41,480
Speaker 1: my life.

780
00:39:41,920 --> 00:39:45,960
Speaker 3: Being the most educational one being okay, right.

781
00:39:46,960 --> 00:39:49,160
Speaker 1: Who wants to go first? I'll go first?

782
00:39:49,360 --> 00:39:53,399
Speaker 2: Should we do Turners and then Phoenie' or should Phoene? However, well,

783
00:39:53,440 --> 00:39:56,240
Speaker 2: then starting with Turner. If you're talking about hip easy

784
00:39:56,239 --> 00:40:00,960
Speaker 2: to read, then it'll score high on the Turner scale

785
00:40:00,960 --> 00:40:03,120
Speaker 2: for me. You know, I would say, between are we

786
00:40:03,160 --> 00:40:05,239
Speaker 2: allowed points? Can I do like a three point five?

787
00:40:05,719 --> 00:40:05,919
Speaker 4: Yeah?

788
00:40:05,960 --> 00:40:06,560
Speaker 3: Like at you pa?

789
00:40:06,920 --> 00:40:07,520
Speaker 1: Yeah?

790
00:40:07,560 --> 00:40:10,800
Speaker 2: If I would give this a three point five Turners

791
00:40:10,800 --> 00:40:13,439
Speaker 2: and that you know, again it is a fast read.

792
00:40:14,760 --> 00:40:15,720
Speaker 1: The pros is good.

793
00:40:16,080 --> 00:40:19,960
Speaker 2: You know, it's well written, So yeah, I would as

794
00:40:20,080 --> 00:40:25,040
Speaker 2: as it's got great pop culture references. There's you know,

795
00:40:25,080 --> 00:40:27,640
Speaker 2: they're throwing in She's being texted and you've got which

796
00:40:27,760 --> 00:40:29,520
Speaker 2: again is going to be a whole new part of literature,

797
00:40:29,640 --> 00:40:32,319
Speaker 2: or how texting comes into play and when you.

798
00:40:32,280 --> 00:40:33,120
Speaker 1: Text and why you text.

799
00:40:33,160 --> 00:40:36,080
Speaker 2: There's a whole culture behind that, so you know, in

800
00:40:36,080 --> 00:40:38,160
Speaker 2: that sense, I think it will score higher on the

801
00:40:38,160 --> 00:40:39,440
Speaker 2: Turner scale for me, and I'm going to give it

802
00:40:39,440 --> 00:40:40,160
Speaker 2: three point five.

803
00:40:40,719 --> 00:40:42,160
Speaker 1: Holding your helmet, Turners.

804
00:40:42,360 --> 00:40:45,560
Speaker 2: Okay, my Feenie's of what I learned again exactly like

805
00:40:45,600 --> 00:40:48,200
Speaker 2: what Danielle was saying, I think I just missed my

806
00:40:48,320 --> 00:40:51,520
Speaker 2: window for a lot of what this book means because

807
00:40:51,520 --> 00:40:55,399
Speaker 2: I'm from a different generation, so it while it might

808
00:40:55,440 --> 00:40:58,160
Speaker 2: resonate with somebody thirty who dealt with just lying on

809
00:40:58,200 --> 00:41:00,279
Speaker 2: their couch and drinking on a Tuesday night and not

810
00:41:00,320 --> 00:41:03,320
Speaker 2: really having any motivation and not cleaning up after themselves

811
00:41:03,360 --> 00:41:05,399
Speaker 2: and being a dick to their boss and not being

812
00:41:05,400 --> 00:41:08,359
Speaker 2: good at their job, in that sense, I didn't learn

813
00:41:08,480 --> 00:41:12,000
Speaker 2: much other than I'm glad I'm not part of that generation,

814
00:41:12,080 --> 00:41:14,040
Speaker 2: if that, if that's what that generation is like.

815
00:41:14,080 --> 00:41:16,839
Speaker 1: And again that's a huge generalization, of.

816
00:41:16,800 --> 00:41:19,560
Speaker 2: Course, but for the most part, I would say I

817
00:41:19,840 --> 00:41:22,799
Speaker 2: didn't learn a whole lot, so I would say.

818
00:41:22,760 --> 00:41:24,240
Speaker 1: Two point five Phoenies.

819
00:41:24,920 --> 00:41:27,600
Speaker 2: So two point five Pheenies and three point five turners

820
00:41:27,600 --> 00:41:28,160
Speaker 2: I would.

821
00:41:27,960 --> 00:41:32,200
Speaker 1: Say for for this book. No, no, I take that back.

822
00:41:32,200 --> 00:41:34,400
Speaker 2: I'm gonna say three Phoenies and three point five turners

823
00:41:34,480 --> 00:41:37,480
Speaker 2: is what I would say for this book. I did

824
00:41:37,480 --> 00:41:39,080
Speaker 2: I raise it. I think I was being a little harsh. Yeah,

825
00:41:39,080 --> 00:41:41,400
Speaker 2: I'll do three point five turners and three Phoenies.

826
00:41:42,840 --> 00:41:46,640
Speaker 4: For the turners. I think I would give this a

827
00:41:47,560 --> 00:41:49,360
Speaker 4: three out of five turners.

828
00:41:49,640 --> 00:41:50,160
Speaker 3: I think.

829
00:41:51,760 --> 00:41:55,719
Speaker 4: Right right around three is it feels good for me? Definitely,

830
00:41:55,760 --> 00:41:58,880
Speaker 4: a lot of cool references like Will said, lots of

831
00:41:58,920 --> 00:42:01,760
Speaker 4: things I liked, I love I love some dead pan humor.

832
00:42:03,440 --> 00:42:05,840
Speaker 4: And as far as the Phoenies go, I think for

833
00:42:07,440 --> 00:42:12,960
Speaker 4: a younger generation, I'll say for someone under thirty, I

834
00:42:13,040 --> 00:42:20,239
Speaker 4: think this struggle and this realization about the active role

835
00:42:20,280 --> 00:42:22,160
Speaker 4: you have to play in your own life and the

836
00:42:22,200 --> 00:42:24,600
Speaker 4: active role the people you have in your life, how

837
00:42:24,640 --> 00:42:27,319
Speaker 4: they affect you and how you affect them.

838
00:42:27,440 --> 00:42:29,120
Speaker 3: If you if you are just.

839
00:42:29,160 --> 00:42:31,680
Speaker 4: Now starting to your brain's starting to turn on and

840
00:42:31,719 --> 00:42:34,000
Speaker 4: recognize those things and see that.

841
00:42:34,160 --> 00:42:37,880
Speaker 3: I could see this book being very helpful and very enlightening.

842
00:42:37,960 --> 00:42:40,759
Speaker 4: So I think if you are under thirty, I could

843
00:42:40,840 --> 00:42:43,560
Speaker 4: see how this could be a three or a four

844
00:42:43,960 --> 00:42:47,960
Speaker 4: out of five Feenies for you. For me, I would

845
00:42:47,960 --> 00:42:49,840
Speaker 4: say it was about a one and a half Phoenies,

846
00:42:50,640 --> 00:42:53,560
Speaker 4: so mind on the scale, low on the Phoenie scale

847
00:42:53,560 --> 00:42:56,719
Speaker 4: for me, but I could see how for I'm, like

848
00:42:56,760 --> 00:42:58,839
Speaker 4: I said, I am not trying to pretend that I'm

849
00:42:58,880 --> 00:43:01,319
Speaker 4: who this book is written for. I still enjoyed it.

850
00:43:01,480 --> 00:43:04,080
Speaker 4: I still it was, like you said, so easy. It's

851
00:43:04,080 --> 00:43:05,719
Speaker 4: not like I look back on it and I think, oh,

852
00:43:05,719 --> 00:43:07,600
Speaker 4: I wish I didn't read that. I'm happy that I

853
00:43:07,640 --> 00:43:10,480
Speaker 4: read it. Isn't isn't going to change my life. But

854
00:43:10,520 --> 00:43:12,920
Speaker 4: I do think for a younger generation it could be.

855
00:43:13,040 --> 00:43:14,080
Speaker 4: It could be very helpful.

856
00:43:14,400 --> 00:43:17,399
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm right with you, Danielle. I'm I'm same exact

857
00:43:17,480 --> 00:43:20,320
Speaker 1: thinking I give it higher marks on the Turner scale.

858
00:43:20,320 --> 00:43:22,080
Speaker 1: I'm actually going to give this like a four point

859
00:43:22,120 --> 00:43:27,399
Speaker 1: five because I really I just like, I think we're

860
00:43:27,480 --> 00:43:30,480
Speaker 1: kind of taking for granted just the idea, just the concept,

861
00:43:31,000 --> 00:43:34,359
Speaker 1: if you think about if you think about this, this

862
00:43:34,400 --> 00:43:40,440
Speaker 1: book in the tradition of stories about romance, like, especially

863
00:43:40,440 --> 00:43:43,440
Speaker 1: for younger generation, romance with a monster, like the Twilight

864
00:43:43,560 --> 00:43:49,799
Speaker 1: books or or Shape of Water as a movie, did

865
00:43:49,840 --> 00:43:51,520
Speaker 1: you I'm trying to. I mean, even going back to

866
00:43:51,560 --> 00:43:53,880
Speaker 1: like Beauty and the Beast, there is a tradition of like,

867
00:43:54,400 --> 00:43:57,120
Speaker 1: uh oh, there was a movie called Warm Bodies about

868
00:43:57,120 --> 00:43:59,720
Speaker 1: falling in love with the zombie. I think this book

869
00:43:59,840 --> 00:44:02,520
Speaker 1: is really a clever like to do the blob or

870
00:44:02,560 --> 00:44:05,680
Speaker 1: a blob as like the monster that you fall in

871
00:44:05,760 --> 00:44:08,799
Speaker 1: love with. That's super cool, and I think she does

872
00:44:08,800 --> 00:44:13,080
Speaker 1: a really good job of taking that metaphor or surreal

873
00:44:13,080 --> 00:44:17,520
Speaker 1: element and pulling a lot out of it. Actually, so

874
00:44:18,040 --> 00:44:21,000
Speaker 1: it's super fun. I think it's an easy, easy read

875
00:44:21,120 --> 00:44:23,920
Speaker 1: for anybody, and like, this would be a good gift

876
00:44:23,920 --> 00:44:26,000
Speaker 1: book because I feel like you hand this to somebody

877
00:44:26,000 --> 00:44:28,120
Speaker 1: and they're going to be like what, and that just

878
00:44:28,160 --> 00:44:31,200
Speaker 1: that question of like what, and then it's not a

879
00:44:31,239 --> 00:44:33,799
Speaker 1: slog like you get through it so fast. Yeah, she

880
00:44:33,880 --> 00:44:36,680
Speaker 1: nailed it. So to me, it's it's short enough and

881
00:44:36,719 --> 00:44:39,879
Speaker 1: fun enough to read, especially for younger people. It's really

882
00:44:39,880 --> 00:44:42,680
Speaker 1: an accomplishment to pull that off, so four point five turners.

883
00:44:42,960 --> 00:44:45,640
Speaker 1: Poene's exactly like you, Danielle, if I'm thinking about for

884
00:44:45,760 --> 00:44:49,600
Speaker 1: me too at most, But if I think about the

885
00:44:49,640 --> 00:44:52,319
Speaker 1: way that young people think about the world, I mean

886
00:44:52,360 --> 00:44:54,120
Speaker 1: even just looking at my son Indy and how he

887
00:44:54,160 --> 00:44:57,600
Speaker 1: communicates with his friends, I think this book could really

888
00:44:57,640 --> 00:45:01,360
Speaker 1: get under their skin in a way that Phoene could

889
00:45:02,000 --> 00:45:03,640
Speaker 1: and teach them a lot. So I'm going to give

890
00:45:03,680 --> 00:45:30,080
Speaker 1: it three phoenies ultimately, Yeah.

891
00:45:18,040 --> 00:45:19,479
Speaker 3: Can I I want I have one other question.

892
00:45:19,520 --> 00:45:22,000
Speaker 4: I have one other question that because I and I

893
00:45:22,000 --> 00:45:23,360
Speaker 4: wonder if Will thought of it at all, or if

894
00:45:23,400 --> 00:45:24,120
Speaker 4: it's just because I'm a.

895
00:45:24,080 --> 00:45:26,719
Speaker 3: Parent, did it bump any of you or did at

896
00:45:26,719 --> 00:45:27,400
Speaker 3: any point.

897
00:45:27,640 --> 00:45:30,080
Speaker 4: You wonder why she didn't think of the Blob more

898
00:45:30,120 --> 00:45:32,400
Speaker 4: as a child than as a as a partner.

899
00:45:32,840 --> 00:45:35,800
Speaker 1: That's exactly what I Yeah, I forgot that the title

900
00:45:35,920 --> 00:45:38,960
Speaker 1: was actually Blob a love story, So at a certain

901
00:45:38,960 --> 00:45:41,880
Speaker 1: point I started thinking right early on, I started thinking, oh,

902
00:45:41,920 --> 00:45:44,080
Speaker 1: this is going to be about raise, and she makes

903
00:45:44,120 --> 00:45:46,120
Speaker 1: references to this is how my mom must have felt

904
00:45:46,120 --> 00:45:48,360
Speaker 1: when she's taking care of the Blob, and I thought

905
00:45:48,360 --> 00:45:50,960
Speaker 1: that that that was going to and I think maybe

906
00:45:51,000 --> 00:45:55,279
Speaker 1: even Maggie Sue as a writer started it and didn't know,

907
00:45:55,520 --> 00:45:57,480
Speaker 1: Like I think it kind of evolved the same way

908
00:45:57,520 --> 00:45:59,759
Speaker 1: that Bob evolved. When I first heard about this book,

909
00:45:59,760 --> 00:46:02,520
Speaker 1: I thought it was going to be more surreal and

910
00:46:02,680 --> 00:46:05,960
Speaker 1: more Actually my brain went darker, I guess because I

911
00:46:06,000 --> 00:46:07,840
Speaker 1: thought of like the Blob as a monster, as a

912
00:46:07,840 --> 00:46:10,640
Speaker 1: horror thing or an alien. Like some of my favorite

913
00:46:10,680 --> 00:46:14,640
Speaker 1: authors in this wheelhouse of like surreal touches is this

914
00:46:14,680 --> 00:46:19,000
Speaker 1: woman Amy Bender, and then this other woman Carmen Maria Machada,

915
00:46:19,640 --> 00:46:21,719
Speaker 1: and they both write short stories, which I think is

916
00:46:21,760 --> 00:46:24,239
Speaker 1: important to note, like they do similar things, but they

917
00:46:24,320 --> 00:46:27,279
Speaker 1: keep it very short. And like Amy Bender has this

918
00:46:27,520 --> 00:46:30,680
Speaker 1: incredible short story about I think it's called the Potato People,

919
00:46:30,880 --> 00:46:34,239
Speaker 1: and it's about her or this woman carving people out

920
00:46:34,280 --> 00:46:36,120
Speaker 1: of potatoes and then they start to come to life

921
00:46:36,400 --> 00:46:38,200
Speaker 1: and then she has to take care of them and

922
00:46:38,200 --> 00:46:40,799
Speaker 1: they keep multiplying. You know. This book had to like

923
00:46:41,239 --> 00:46:43,880
Speaker 1: stay in the real world, have actual consequences. It was

924
00:46:43,960 --> 00:46:48,359
Speaker 1: pop culturally connected, so it's very different tones. But yeah,

925
00:46:48,440 --> 00:46:50,120
Speaker 1: I thought that I thought it was going to go

926
00:46:50,160 --> 00:46:52,960
Speaker 1: the motherhood route. I was convinced that was going to

927
00:46:53,000 --> 00:46:54,839
Speaker 1: be the point of this This also is a kind

928
00:46:54,840 --> 00:46:57,399
Speaker 1: of a generational thing, right, Yes, I think for our

929
00:46:57,440 --> 00:47:00,400
Speaker 1: generation finding purpose in life. For a lot of people,

930
00:47:00,600 --> 00:47:02,600
Speaker 1: for better or worse, became well, I'll have kids and

931
00:47:02,640 --> 00:47:04,560
Speaker 1: that'll fix all my problems. Yeah, which I don't think

932
00:47:04,600 --> 00:47:06,839
Speaker 1: that even occurs to people under thirty five these days.

933
00:47:06,880 --> 00:47:08,759
Speaker 1: I think their first thought is if I just found

934
00:47:08,760 --> 00:47:11,479
Speaker 1: the perfect partner that would fix all my problems. Both

935
00:47:11,480 --> 00:47:14,840
Speaker 1: are you know, probably bad ideas, and this book explored

936
00:47:14,920 --> 00:47:17,319
Speaker 1: the one that I think concerns their generation. One. I

937
00:47:17,320 --> 00:47:18,719
Speaker 1: do too, but I don't think VI knows either.

938
00:47:18,760 --> 00:47:20,960
Speaker 2: And I think that's what Maggie Sue did that's very

939
00:47:21,000 --> 00:47:24,160
Speaker 2: interesting is at the end, because of the Blob, because

940
00:47:24,160 --> 00:47:27,040
Speaker 2: of Bob, she has a better relationship with both her

941
00:47:27,080 --> 00:47:30,279
Speaker 2: parents and a potential mate. Yeah, so it worked on

942
00:47:30,400 --> 00:47:33,719
Speaker 2: both levels where she did see him at times like wow,

943
00:47:33,840 --> 00:47:35,120
Speaker 2: maybe my mom felt like this and.

944
00:47:35,120 --> 00:47:37,719
Speaker 1: Their relationship got better. Well, well my ex boyfriend what

945
00:47:37,760 --> 00:47:40,319
Speaker 1: Alan was an Alex r ex boyfriend was Luke? What

946
00:47:40,400 --> 00:47:41,120
Speaker 1: Luke thought about that?

947
00:47:41,600 --> 00:47:43,439
Speaker 2: And maybe she used some of that and so she's

948
00:47:43,440 --> 00:47:45,520
Speaker 2: maybe starting to date a new guy. So it kind

949
00:47:45,520 --> 00:47:48,520
Speaker 2: of taught her a little bit about both. But yeah,

950
00:47:48,520 --> 00:47:50,720
Speaker 2: she didn't seem particularly maternal.

951
00:47:53,920 --> 00:47:55,600
Speaker 3: Do we have a book that we're going to pick next.

952
00:47:55,600 --> 00:47:57,000
Speaker 3: Will do you want to pick the next one?

953
00:47:57,040 --> 00:47:58,080
Speaker 1: I would love to if we can.

954
00:47:58,320 --> 00:47:59,920
Speaker 3: Okay, let's do it. Do you have one?

955
00:48:00,080 --> 00:48:00,319
Speaker 1: I do?

956
00:48:00,360 --> 00:48:01,840
Speaker 2: I was going to pick one, but now I'm going

957
00:48:01,880 --> 00:48:03,640
Speaker 2: to switch it up. Song okay, okay, cool.

958
00:48:04,000 --> 00:48:05,480
Speaker 3: Oh wow, I'm going to get it right now. This

959
00:48:05,520 --> 00:48:06,000
Speaker 3: is exciting.

960
00:48:06,360 --> 00:48:08,520
Speaker 2: So I was going to start with the first book

961
00:48:08,520 --> 00:48:10,200
Speaker 2: that ever got me into fantasy, which is a much

962
00:48:10,239 --> 00:48:11,680
Speaker 2: younger book called The Pawn of Prophecy.

963
00:48:11,719 --> 00:48:13,760
Speaker 1: We will do that eventually. It's wonderful and amazing.

964
00:48:14,000 --> 00:48:16,120
Speaker 2: But what I want to keep with more of the

965
00:48:16,960 --> 00:48:18,440
Speaker 2: I want to get writer.

966
00:48:18,640 --> 00:48:21,879
Speaker 1: I can kind of figure out how to get there.

967
00:48:22,360 --> 00:48:24,840
Speaker 2: I think if with Danielle and fantasy, if I go

968
00:48:24,960 --> 00:48:28,480
Speaker 2: something that smacks a little bit of Harry Potter m hmm,

969
00:48:28,719 --> 00:48:32,839
Speaker 2: without it being Harry Potter, that if I hit on

970
00:48:32,880 --> 00:48:34,439
Speaker 2: some of those tropes, I think I might be able

971
00:48:34,440 --> 00:48:36,480
Speaker 2: to hook Danielle into the world of fantasy. So we

972
00:48:36,520 --> 00:48:40,040
Speaker 2: were going with an absolutely phenomenal author. Her name is

973
00:48:40,120 --> 00:48:42,800
Speaker 2: Nao Minovic, and she just came out with a trilogy

974
00:48:42,880 --> 00:48:45,880
Speaker 2: that's called A Deadly Education. It's less than one of

975
00:48:45,920 --> 00:48:48,400
Speaker 2: the School Elements books.

976
00:48:48,520 --> 00:48:50,920
Speaker 1: Great and have you already read this book. I have

977
00:48:51,120 --> 00:48:52,960
Speaker 1: read this book. I have wrote this book. Yes, and

978
00:48:53,000 --> 00:48:55,400
Speaker 1: I will be reading it in different mode, dude, slightly

979
00:48:55,440 --> 00:48:57,720
Speaker 1: different mode.

980
00:48:57,840 --> 00:49:00,879
Speaker 2: No, well, it's this is a Deadly Education is the first.

981
00:49:01,960 --> 00:49:05,480
Speaker 2: It's less than one of the school emans. So this

982
00:49:05,560 --> 00:49:09,640
Speaker 2: is an absolutely wonderful, dark kind of take it is.

983
00:49:10,080 --> 00:49:13,120
Speaker 2: I mean, should we read the No, I'm not even

984
00:49:13,239 --> 00:49:14,520
Speaker 2: to let you guys figure everything out.

985
00:49:14,600 --> 00:49:16,960
Speaker 1: Let everybody go check it out.

986
00:49:17,040 --> 00:49:17,880
Speaker 3: Deadly Education.

987
00:49:19,160 --> 00:49:23,960
Speaker 2: She's an absolutely wonderful and incredible writer. It's a great,

988
00:49:24,360 --> 00:49:25,560
Speaker 2: a great fantasy series.

989
00:49:25,600 --> 00:49:26,120
Speaker 1: It really is.

990
00:49:26,160 --> 00:49:28,000
Speaker 2: So this is and it's relatively new, this is this

991
00:49:28,080 --> 00:49:29,520
Speaker 2: is I think the first one came out in like

992
00:49:29,640 --> 00:49:30,880
Speaker 2: twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen.

993
00:49:31,600 --> 00:49:33,520
Speaker 1: So yeah, you're gonna like this one.

994
00:49:33,560 --> 00:49:37,400
Speaker 2: I think anybody who likes the idea of a magical

995
00:49:37,440 --> 00:49:43,520
Speaker 2: school or a school where there's murder and death coupled

996
00:49:43,520 --> 00:49:46,000
Speaker 2: with magic, this is absolutely going to be your jam.

997
00:49:46,040 --> 00:49:47,040
Speaker 1: You're going to do it all right.

998
00:49:47,200 --> 00:49:49,680
Speaker 3: Awesome, So you have about one month to read it.

999
00:49:49,880 --> 00:49:52,040
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us for this episode of Pod meets

1000
00:49:52,040 --> 00:49:54,880
Speaker 1: World Book Club Edition. As always, you can follow us

1001
00:49:54,920 --> 00:49:57,520
Speaker 1: on Instagram pod meets World Show. You can send us

1002
00:49:57,560 --> 00:50:01,200
Speaker 1: your emails pod Meets World Show at gmail dot com.

1003
00:50:01,239 --> 00:50:05,359
Speaker 1: And we've got merch, But what does the merch mean?

1004
00:50:05,760 --> 00:50:11,239
Speaker 1: If you really dissect it? Podmeetsworldshow dot com. Danielle send

1005
00:50:11,320 --> 00:50:11,680
Speaker 1: us out.

1006
00:50:12,080 --> 00:50:14,040
Speaker 3: We love you all, pod dismissed.

1007
00:50:15,480 --> 00:50:18,280
Speaker 4: Pod Meets World is an iHeart podcast produced and hosted

1008
00:50:18,280 --> 00:50:22,240
Speaker 4: by Danielle Fischel Wilfridell and writer Strong Executive producers Jensen

1009
00:50:22,320 --> 00:50:25,880
Speaker 4: Karp and Amy Sugarman, Executive in charge of production, Danielle Romo,

1010
00:50:26,120 --> 00:50:30,400
Speaker 4: producer and editor, Tara sudbachsch producer, Maddy Moore, engineer and

1011
00:50:30,480 --> 00:50:33,880
Speaker 4: Boy Meets World superfan Easton Allen. Our theme song is

1012
00:50:33,920 --> 00:50:36,920
Speaker 4: by Kyle Morton of Typhoon. Follow us on Instagram at

1013
00:50:36,960 --> 00:50:40,040
Speaker 4: podmeets World Show or email us at Podmeets Worldshow at

1014
00:50:40,040 --> 00:50:41,080
Speaker 4: gmail dot com