Ep. 20 - Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Was your mom in a book club in the early 2010s? Or maybe you know the 2016 movie with Emilia Clarke. Regardless of how you know this book, join us as we dig into disabled boners, who exactly has the right to die, and when its time to put someone in time out. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

I'm sorry, what?

SPEAKER_02 0:10

What's up, everybody? We're back. I'm Chloe. I'm JC. And we're here with another episode of Cliterature. It's a JC episode, but that's okay. He's got a fun one. One for all of the girlies from what was it from? 2000 something?

SPEAKER_00 0:26

Oh, it came out in 2012.

SPEAKER_02 0:27

2012, the year I graduated high school. I'm old.

SPEAKER_00 0:32

Are you?

SPEAKER_02 0:33

I don't know. That's a long time ago. That's not that long. It's pretty long ago. Um, yeah, very excited. Uh, we've been talking about this book because I just I've been talking with someone on Instagram from a romanticy uh Discord I'm on. Um, and she was saying, It's really cool that I managed to bully you into uh listening to me talk about my romance books.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 0:55

And I responded back being like, no, actually, it's to force JC to focus all of his book energy on one time slot rather than throughout weeks at a time. Because like, love you, love you to death.

SPEAKER_00 1:08

I love you.

SPEAKER_02 1:09

You love to yap about a book.

SPEAKER_00 1:11

Always.

SPEAKER_02 1:12

I travel for work, of course. You know about it. Uh, I travel like every three weeks, and whenever I get back, I'm exhausted because I leave super early in the morning and I'm always flying across the country, so I'm like losing time. I haven't slept, I'm always sick. I trundle to the car.

SPEAKER_01 1:27

Yeah, you do.

SPEAKER_02 1:28

And I get into the car and JC says, Hi, I missed you. I said, Hi, I missed you. And he goes, So I've been reading this book lately. And for the two-hour drive home, it's all book.

SPEAKER_00 1:37

It's all book.

SPEAKER_02 1:38

It's all book. Plot point, uh, history of the writing, history of the author, yes, uh, political leanings, the country in which it was written and their history, yeah, every single plot point, the metaphors, the similes, the themes. C C the characters, the names. It's you love to yap about a book.

SPEAKER_00 1:55

Big fan.

SPEAKER_02 1:56

So actually, this podcast, despite what you think is not really for me, this is actually like mostly for him.

SPEAKER_00 2:01

This will all shut up.

SPEAKER_02 2:03

Hmm?

SPEAKER_00 2:03

This will all shut up.

SPEAKER_02 2:04

Kind of, yeah, it is for you'll shut up. I mean, like, I love you and I love hearing about your thoughts.

SPEAKER_00 2:09

I love you and I love hearing your thoughts.

SPEAKER_02 2:10

Um, but sometimes there's look, there's only so much Carl Ovikanowskard thoughts I can take in a sitting week. There are multiple times where I have to tell you, like, you get two more statements about a book.

SPEAKER_00 2:21

Three more sentences.

SPEAKER_02 2:22

Three more sentences and you are done. If JC's, we also have this thing, we love to read in bed. I have my little Kindle, you have your little paper books, and I'll be reading, and I'm having a great fucking time of getting into my story, and you'll whip your head to me and go, You'll never believe what I just read. And it's like every single time I was like, oh my god, what what? But okay, I want you to know if I interrupt him by even playing with the dogs while he's reading, JC whips his head around and goes, Oh my god, are you serious?

SPEAKER_00 2:47

I've never done that.

SPEAKER_02 2:48

You are so dramatic.

SPEAKER_00 2:49

That's not true.

SPEAKER_02 2:50

You're like, oh Chloe, you're so dramatic. You're so drama, you're so this. Um, excuse me, drama queen.

SPEAKER_00 2:57

I think you're the drama. Anyway.

SPEAKER_02 3:00

Anyway.

SPEAKER_00 3:01

You want to know what I've been reading.

SPEAKER_02 3:03

I do want to know what you've been reading. Tell me, give me your latest gap sesh.

SPEAKER_00 3:06

I gotta get away from this.

SPEAKER_02 3:07

Um gotta get away from the accusations. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:10

Uh uh, I recently finished the book Whipping Girl by Julia Serrano.

SPEAKER_02 3:16

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 3:16

Um, which is a super interesting uh collection of essays. Um Julia Serrano is a uh uh transwoman academic um whipping girl is about uh it came out in 2007, so it's uh she uses the phrase transsexuality a lot, and um which I think she she in the book has like a a very subtle distinction between transsexuality and transgender, which I think in like the modern age, my understanding is this is largely flattened into they're basically the same thing, and if you say transsexual, it's kind of just like older. There's uh my understanding is there's discourse on it's like lightly offensive, unless you are yourself identifying as transsexual. Um but like other than that, it's super interesting. It uh informs uh another book I read and really liked called um A History of Transmisogyny by Jules Gil Peterson. Um and uh it number one, it uh kind of develops the idea of transmisogyny or transphobia as a subsection of misogyny. Which it is. Um and uh she gets into like um you know like re the she kind of um develops the idea of um cisgender as being rather than like out of or you know, tr being trans or transsexuality, transgender as being um out of the ordinary and then just the normal folks. She kind of sets them as two um two sections where uh the majority of people tend to be in one box, but like that doesn't mean that being uh trans is out of the ordinary, it's just another category.

SPEAKER_01 5:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:12

Um it's it's super interesting. She develops like the idea of um it's called um intrinsic gender. Um where like if you're cisgender, that just means that your intrinsic gender identity um matches with the um uh uh gender you were assigned at birth. Um and all that all it means to be trans is just that your intrinsic gender uh doesn't match that. Um it's super interesting. I really like reading um about I really like reading these types of uh uh, you know, sort of more academic texts on um trans issues. I I find them fa and endlessly fascinating. Um in a way I really enjoy reading, and um I I have to recommend both um uh anything Julia Serrano, I haven't this is the only book by her I've read, uh, but I must assume that the rest of her books are equally good. Um my understanding is pretty much every time there's like a public trans issue of which there are many over the course of the past ten years, um Julia Serrano and Jules Gil Peterson are like the two that are are out in the woodwork to kind of um uh argue against the whatever is the kind of mainstream public opinion uh on that topic. You know, for example, Jules Gil Peterson, um more so than Julia Serrano, although Julia Serrano was out during the um the like um rapid onset gender dysphoria uh nonsense from like a few years ago.

SPEAKER_01 6:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:49

Um it's super interesting. I really love books like this. Um and I did and like I said, I it what I liked about Whipping Girl, especially is it's very um personal. Um a lot of the essays, part of the um I guess evidence, it's it's um very admittedly uh very anecdotal, you know, kind of N of one type situation. But talking about like um uh her own journey um as as somebody who I believe she started transitioning in like her 30s. So like kind of later in life, um, transitioning. Um it's really cool, it's really interesting, I really like it. Uh, and I I mega recommend it if uh you're interested in this type of uh topic.

SPEAKER_02 7:38

I have a book you should probably read. Um that's called Female Husbands, which is about very early, like trans men who likely transitioned before the concept of trans-ness.

SPEAKER_00 7:53

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:53

Um, which is really interesting. It goes over the history of that. Don't remember who it's by.

SPEAKER_00 7:58

I I do I remember this is on the bookshelf. I I I've seen this.

SPEAKER_02 8:01

It is on the bookshelf because I'm a historian.

SPEAKER_00 8:04

You're pretty much a historian.

SPEAKER_02 8:05

I I might read monster smut, but technically by training, I am a medieval historian. I'm so intellectual, I read Latin and French and sometimes Spanish if JC can't.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

Yeah. What do you mean if JC can?

SPEAKER_02 8:18

You can't read languages very well.

SPEAKER_00 8:20

That's not true.

SPEAKER_02 8:21

You're not as good at reading as you are at like comprehending when someone says stuff to you.

SPEAKER_00 8:26

No.

SPEAKER_02 8:27

I can't under when someone can talk to me as slow as they want in French, I have no idea what they're saying, but if you put a book in front of me, I can read it.

SPEAKER_00 8:33

I can read Arabic better than you.

SPEAKER_02 8:35

I can't read Arabic at all, so. You're goofy as fuck, bitch.

SPEAKER_00 8:42

I'm just saying.

SPEAKER_02 8:43

Okay, I can I can fucking pop pussy better than you because you don't got a pussy. Now we're all upset. Congratulations.

SPEAKER_00 8:48

Everybody knows I pop pussy.

SPEAKER_02 8:50

You do pop pussy like it's really good.

SPEAKER_00 8:52

Everybody knows I do I could probably do it better than you.

SPEAKER_02 8:54

I have so many videos of you popping pussy. That's right. I have uh your your funeral's gonna be nothing but pussy popping videos.

SPEAKER_00 9:02

Uh check, check the thumbnail for that.

SPEAKER_02 9:05

Don't mind the star. That's just JC's butthole.

SPEAKER_00 9:08

That's right. Yeah, you just gave me a really good idea for the uh Yeah, the yeah, the thumbnail is a real is a real close-up of my butthole.

SPEAKER_02 9:15

But you can't see it because of the editing, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:18

What have you been reading?

SPEAKER_02 9:19

Um, I want to talk to you about a book I just finished. It's called Osan Ocean's Embrace. Okay. Uh it is the first book in the underwater series uh by Regina Sage.

SPEAKER_01 9:30

Nice.

SPEAKER_02 9:30

Um, Regina Sage was an attendee at the 2026 uh Monster Erotica book con.

SPEAKER_00 9:35

Did I meet her?

SPEAKER_02 9:36

No, we did not talk to her.

SPEAKER_00 9:37

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 9:38

Um this is my first book I read of her. I really meant to read it before Monster Erotica, but you know, things happen, shit happens. Shit happens, dude. This book is really famous in the Monster Erotica community as being like one of a handful of like shark romance books. Um we talk about shifter books, right? We talked about like bear shifters, there's wolf shifters, there's all sorts of shifters. Um sharks are very uncommon aquatic creatures outside of like a kraken uh is super uncommon. I just think they're not very fuckable. Uh another author whose name I can't remember has a collection of short stories that she's a part of, and she is a clownfish shifter, which I'm like cute, go off. Um, but uh yeah, shark shifter, kind of. He's a shark. Okay, he's an alien. Nice descended from sharks from Earth. It's about a woman who during a cruise ship that gets into a wreck because of a freak hurricane, falls into the water and is drowning, and he saves her, and they fall in love, and it's really cute.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

Nice.

SPEAKER_02 10:43

Um it's she's disabled, we love that. Uh it's good like um mobility support aid representation. Um, very much like just because I use a mobility aid doesn't mean I'm incapable, you fucking bitch. Like, how dare you think that of me? Um lots of fun.

SPEAKER_00 10:59

Apropos for this episode.

SPEAKER_02 11:00

I know. Uh there is some fun uh religic fanat religious fanaticism. I find this really interesting. And a lot of books I've been reading recently, a lot of the um bad guys are just religious fanatics.

SPEAKER_00 11:14

Nice.

SPEAKER_02 11:14

Um, people who take a religion too seriously and wish harm onto others in order to quote unquote cleanse the society, which I'm like, damn, MAGA do be like that.

SPEAKER_00 11:21

And also MAGA be like that.

SPEAKER_02 11:22

Um bad guy more like MAGA. Um, but it's a lot of fun. Uh it is a series of three books so far. Um, and I believe there will probably be about eight based on how many siblings your shark alien has. Um the next book, which I haven't started yet, is about like his shark brother, who is like the head of security for his planet, and like the cat-like desert woman. Think Kajit. The Kajit woman, um, who is like his second in command, like his spy for the planet, um, falling in love, despite the fact that like the shark planet is incredibly xenophobic.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

Oh, sure.

SPEAKER_02 12:07

But it's a lot of fun, um, great time. Uh I really like the characters. I love a good alien romance. I I used to be like pure monster smut, but now as I kind of think about it, I'm like, maybe it's just alien smut. I actually saw something really interesting about this. Okay. That um the desire or like tradition of monster slash alien slash other than human actually allows for the freedom of women to express what they want in relationships as well as to establish a desired societal norm that exists outside of the current misogynist and capitalist society we live in.

SPEAKER_00 12:44

Yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_02 12:45

Isn't that wonderful?

SPEAKER_00 12:46

That is my understanding.

SPEAKER_02 12:47

Uh-huh. Me winning monster smut is actually pretty woke. It's pretty woke for me. It is actually really woke, which is why I kind of like it. Um because well, because like the people who read Monster Smut, no one who reads Monster Smut is like, I think we need God more.

SPEAKER_00 13:02

Need a little more God.

SPEAKER_02 13:03

I think we need a little more God and a little less gay. Every monster smut person. Every monster smut person is like one of those people at best who are like deeply queer and deeply leftist.

SPEAKER_00 13:20

Yeah, I was at Monster Erotica.

SPEAKER_02 13:22

They're they a little freaky with it.

SPEAKER_00 13:24

Yeah, they're fun.

SPEAKER_02 13:24

Look, I'm just saying the crossover between a furry con and Monster Erotica is way higher than you would think.

SPEAKER_00 13:30

It is not higher than I would think. It is approximately exactly what I would think.

SPEAKER_02 13:34

Damn it, I know, right? Um, anyway, JC. Uh it is a you episode.

SPEAKER_00 13:41

It's it's Sha Boy.

SPEAKER_02 13:43

It's Sha Boy episode. I know what we're talking about. I would like to highlight right off the bat, this is a JC episode, but it's not a JC like uh what would I call it? It's not like a JC enjoys this book. It's more like a JC's fascinated by this book episode.

SPEAKER_00 13:56

Very much so, for sure. Okay, it's a kind of in the same vein as um Seven Deadly Sins.

SPEAKER_02 14:02

Or perhaps uh uh woman down.

SPEAKER_00 14:05

A woman down, the housemaid.

SPEAKER_02 14:07

The housemaid, all the fun ones.

SPEAKER_00 14:09

Uh I I would actually say it's it's definitely in the same vein as the housemaid.

SPEAKER_02 14:13

Oh yeah, it's a popular, uh, woman-dominated read.

SPEAKER_00 14:16

We're gonna talk about this. I would heavily classify this as uh book club lit.

SPEAKER_02 14:22

Oh, it a hundred percent is book club lit. It's like uh look JC just dropped the title.

SPEAKER_00 14:28

Let's introduce let's introduce what the uh what the book is. Uh you you've probably read it from the title. This is Me Before You by Jojo Moyes. Uh Jojo Moyes is uh gets her start as an English journalist. Um she later writes I think this is her first novel.

SPEAKER_02 14:46

That would make sense.

SPEAKER_00 14:48

Um it uh she's mostly known, she's written other novels since she's kind of uh become one of those like one novel a year writers. Ugh. Not quite in the same vein as um Frida McFadden.

SPEAKER_02 15:02

Or Colleen Hoover.

SPEAKER_00 15:03

Um or Colleen Hoover. Um but she uh she's definitely prolific since writing this in 2012.

SPEAKER_02 15:10

I mean, hey, look, if I gotta break if I got a break, I'd be doing it. Just like I keep posting about this podcast, and like the moment this gets sponsored and I can do this instead of my job, I'm putting out an episode every day, bitch. I'll I'll fucking I'll fucking read every day just so I can be like, today I'm not looking at a spreadsheet.

SPEAKER_00 15:28

What? Oh yeah, for sure. Um there was a film adaptation that was released in 2016.

SPEAKER_02 15:35

Oh, we all remember that one.

SPEAKER_00 15:37

Um starring Amelia Clark and Sam Claflin.

SPEAKER_02 15:41

God, that's a bad last name.

SPEAKER_00 15:42

I had to look up Sam Claflin is one of those actors that mostly you know how like they're actors people talk about, and they've almost exclusively been in movies you haven't seen.

SPEAKER_02 15:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:54

That's kind of Sam Claflin for me.

SPEAKER_02 15:56

He wasn't the one in Beastly, was he?

SPEAKER_00 15:58

No, no, no, no, no. That's um he's the guy from Magic Mike. Alex Petifer.

SPEAKER_02 16:03

I would so I think I think because Alex Pettifer is a really famous example of this, and this guy. These were guys that Hollywood was like, pfft, they're totally gonna be the next hot thing, but they never fucking were.

SPEAKER_00 16:14

He's been in like other famous stuff. It's just stuff that we haven't watched.

SPEAKER_02 16:18

Like what? Give me some examples.

SPEAKER_00 16:20

Okay, so he was on he was a Philip Swift in Pirates of the Caribbean and Stranger Tides.

SPEAKER_02 16:26

Okay, so that yeah, no, I remember that one. That one was bad.

SPEAKER_00 16:29

Um he was Finnick O'Dayer in the Hunger Game film series.

SPEAKER_02 16:36

Yes, yes, yes, yes. He's the one that's the one who partners up with the old lady who dies.

SPEAKER_00 16:39

Sure. I okay, this is gonna be I didn't read the Hunger Games or watch any of the movies when they were coming out. Yeah. I only watched uh during the pandemic, me and my roommate and my roommate's boyfriend watched all of the Hunger Game movies because like we didn't have anything else to do. Um, so that was the first time I saw them. Um so I I can't tell you who any of these people are.

SPEAKER_02 17:04

I recognize him. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:05

Sure. Um he's Mycroft Holmes in Enola Holmes.

SPEAKER_02 17:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 17:12

I don't think he's an important character in that movie.

SPEAKER_02 17:14

No, I think.

SPEAKER_00 17:15

I think he's he's only in that first bit where um Millie Bobby Brown shows up on the train and he's like, Where are your shoes?

SPEAKER_02 17:22

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 17:23

Um, and then he's Billy Dunn in Daisy Jones and the Six.

SPEAKER_02 17:28

What we haven't watched that one.

SPEAKER_00 17:29

See, yeah, so he's he's like, to me, a lot of these people are like, I haven't watched most of these things. Yes. Um so to me, I've kind of just been missing him. Um but uh He's old now, isn't he? He's like 37.

SPEAKER_02 17:44

Nowadays?

SPEAKER_00 17:45

I don't know, girl, I just closed it. Hang on. God damn it, he's 40. That's old Ancient, Ancient Alert.

SPEAKER_02 17:52

Okay, calm down with your crusty pussy.

SPEAKER_00 17:54

I mean, I guess um, you know, the the movie Me Before You came out in 2016, so I guess at that he was 30.

SPEAKER_02 18:01

He looks 30 and he looks he looks like a good 30. He he looks easy.

SPEAKER_00 18:04

I'm 30.

SPEAKER_02 18:05

He looks like a normal 30.

SPEAKER_00 18:06

He looks like a normal 30. Well, he looks good for British 30.

SPEAKER_02 18:09

Oh, he looks fantastic for British 30.

SPEAKER_00 18:11

Yeah, he doesn't he doesn't look like uh uh cheese you left out on the counter overnight.

SPEAKER_02 18:15

I want to say something we just got back from Chile. Um Okay. I think okay, calm down. What I want to say is I think Americans tend to age slightly better than other countries. Because we drink more water!

SPEAKER_00 18:31

Because we drink so much more water. Because we drink so much more water.

SPEAKER_02 18:33

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 18:34

Begging for water.

SPEAKER_02 18:35

Everyone else in every country is so dehydrated. Your skin hurts, bro. I don't know how you guys are smiling without your cheeks cracking open. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 18:44

Right? Oh my god. Every we were like when we went to Canada or we went to Montreal, it was like begging waiters to just leave the little bottle of water at the table.

SPEAKER_02 18:54

Oh my god. Please give me more than the thimble. Why am I getting a single shot of water at a time?

unknown 18:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:00

Please just leave it here. Um the movie was directed by Thea Sharok, who um hasn't really directed that many movies. I think this is basically the only big movie she ever directed.

SPEAKER_02 19:12

Yeah, and this one kind of flopped, didn't it?

SPEAKER_00 19:15

Kinda.

SPEAKER_02 19:15

Yeah, I would say that's why.

SPEAKER_00 19:17

Um she mostly Thea Sharek mostly um directs uh uh theatrical productions. She's done a number of um West End productions.

SPEAKER_02 19:26

Like what?

SPEAKER_00 19:27

Um she the most famous one I can find, at least to me, I because I don't recognize uh plays like all that. Um she directed the version of Equus that featured Daniel Radcliffe and also his penis and cock.

SPEAKER_02 19:41

That was I should look up Daniel Radcliffe's penis and cock.

SPEAKER_00 19:45

We should not look up Daniel Radcliffe's.

SPEAKER_02 19:46

I should definitely look up that way every single time we watch Harry Potter or a baby watches Harry Potter, I can only know where you mean to be. Why would you say I know what his penis looks like? JC, JC, I know what his cock looks like.

SPEAKER_00 19:58

Um so as we referenced earlier, hit me with it.

SPEAKER_02 20:01

Okay, sorry, I just thought about this. Um we are American, we come from the land of circumcised dicks. Yes. If a dick has a foreskin, is it still a dick? What's the offensive? Is it still a dick? What's the offensive part of a penis?

SPEAKER_00 20:11

I would say probably the penis of it all.

SPEAKER_02 20:14

I think you can show shaft. I think the head is the offensive part of a dude.

SPEAKER_00 20:18

I do think in more risque, like PG 13, they have like done like a hint of shaft. You know, like that bit where like the skin kind of pulls down from your from from the male fupa into the shaft.

SPEAKER_02 20:29

The male fupa?

SPEAKER_00 20:32

Um that that tends to be um what is acceptable in like P I've seen like risque PG 13 that has that. I think where it gets more rated R is once you have I think it's the tip of the penis.

SPEAKER_02 20:44

The tip of the penis is definitely the most offensive. That's why I was asking, because if you have Ford skin, it covers most of the tip of the penis.

SPEAKER_00 20:50

Yeah. It's kind of like in the same way that like really the offensive part of uh uh uh female titties is the nipple. Correct.

SPEAKER_02 20:58

Because like you can you can have, I mean, like technically it's actually the whole areola and all of that.

SPEAKER_00 21:03

For sure. Um yeah, it's definitely the areola in that um because I mean like you can watch a movie where someone's just like massive cleavaged out, but like that's fine. It's once you start seeing some nipknops that um that's not allowed. That's that's rated art. I think that's okay.

SPEAKER_02 21:22

Official statement, official statement. I think a peen for an uncircumcised peen only starts at that little point where like the foreskin kind of like gross pulls back a little bit, you can just barely see the head.

SPEAKER_00 21:31

Yuck.

SPEAKER_02 21:31

That's it. That's that's where penis starts for the Europeans.

SPEAKER_00 21:34

Thank you. Anyway, um as we said earlier, uh this book is definitely in what I kind of call book club lit, which to me I define as books that are like readable and spark discussion. Which this book definitely does.

SPEAKER_01 21:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:52

Um The Housemaid does as well. The discussion is kind of like, ooh, like, did you see the twist coming? But also, like, now we're talking about like Domestic violence or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 22:01

God, we sure did talk about domestic violence.

SPEAKER_00 22:02

We sure did talk about domestic violence.

SPEAKER_02 22:04

We sure did talk about domestic violence.

SPEAKER_00 22:07

Um the book opens with a prologue. Um it's we have a we have a wealthy bachelor.

SPEAKER_02 22:13

I know I remember the first scene in the movie.

SPEAKER_00 22:15

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He wakes up, he's got like a hot bitch in his bed, she's like, you know what I really love about you? Kind of the part of your body from like your upper chest down, and he's like, legit baby girl, okay, I gotta go to work. And um he he goes outside and he decides to walk to work, and he um almost immediately gets struck with a motorcycle. Um, and uh it it like knocks him to the ground, he's like unconscious. The last thing he sees is like a guy on a motorcycle helmet being like, Where did you come from? And then um that's the end of the prologue. Uh flash forward two years.

SPEAKER_02 22:56

Fucking love that the guy in the motorcycle was totally fine.

SPEAKER_00 22:59

Right, he's 100% fine. Um two years later, normally these books, the prologue is like, we gotta rewind, but now it's two years later. Um we're introduced to our main character for the rest of the book. Her name is Louisa. Louisa Clark. Um she lives in an unnamed small town in England. Um, and she's recently lost her job um at one of those she works at basically like a like a coffee shop in front of like a tourist attraction.

SPEAKER_02 23:33

Yeah, no, I've been I lived in England. I know what these are.

SPEAKER_00 23:36

Yeah, they're the they they call it the bun shop, but I don't like know what that is.

SPEAKER_02 23:39

It would just be like a a cafe, like a place to get tea and cakes and shit. Yeah, yeah, just go get tea.

SPEAKER_00 23:44

She works at the cakery, the cup cakery.

SPEAKER_02 23:46

Ooh. No, she just works someplace you could get tea. Oh, I missed the English tea and cakes.

SPEAKER_00 23:52

Shut up.

SPEAKER_02 23:53

They have no water but tea and cakes.

SPEAKER_00 23:56

They have so much tea and cake. Um the the local tourist attraction is the castle. That's kind of just what they call it.

SPEAKER_02 24:04

It's that's what it would be called. They would never use the full legal name.

SPEAKER_00 24:07

Uh it's the castle. The castle, it's like a big uh me fucking medieval castle. There's like a maze in the middle of it. That's important for later. Um, anyway, Louisa lives in like British Section 8 housing.

SPEAKER_02 24:21

Council housing.

SPEAKER_00 24:22

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 24:23

I love being the British translator for this episode already.

SPEAKER_00 24:26

Uh she lives with her her her two parents, uh, her ailing grandfather who has like dementia, um, her younger sister, her younger sister's son, and then sometimes Louisa's boyfriend of like seven years kicks it at their house.

SPEAKER_02 24:42

Uh, it sounds like he needs to leave. It sounds like he he needs to leave.

SPEAKER_00 24:46

He doesn't stay there, but but like um, she like comes home from work after getting fired, and like he's like watching soccer with her grandpa.

SPEAKER_02 24:54

It's called footy.

SPEAKER_00 24:56

I'm not calling it that. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Um there uh uh so she she gets fired because her boss is like her boss who owns the bun shop is like, I'm actually moving to Australia. And she's like, Oh sure, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 25:13

So I'm fairly certain the UK has some pretty good laws about getting fired.

SPEAKER_00 25:18

She she doesn't she's he's like, I'm moving tomorrow. Which you can't do that like how long have you been? You've been planning this secretly. Yeah, I I assume moving to Australia is not like a rapid process. Surely there must be like quite a few literally anything. Yeah. Also, presumably, like during the moving process, he's gonna be like coming back to England quite a few times to finish up something.

SPEAKER_02 25:46

Surely Also, once he gets skin cancer from that Australian son, he'll definitely be back.

SPEAKER_00 25:55

Um uh she this like the fact that she has lost her job worries everybody because her sister works at like a flower shop, but her sister's salary basically only covers like her child care or like her son.

SPEAKER_02 26:10

She has literally three parents living in this house. None of them can watch a baby.

SPEAKER_00 26:15

Uh no. Well, they don't they don't not not child care is in like babysitting, but childcare is in like his like b uh baby food and stuff or whatever. I don't I actually don't know what she's paying for, because she doesn't pay rent, and she's sh the the baby doesn't go to like b uh a babysitter. Um and for food, the the baby's like four. So like he's old enough he can eat just like whatever nasty nonsense they're eating.

SPEAKER_02 26:43

Yeah, you can just give a baby a can of beans.

SPEAKER_00 26:45

Yeah. Yeah, the baby can eat beans on toast now.

SPEAKER_02 26:48

Yeah, the baby's gonna eat beans on the wettest toast.

SPEAKER_00 26:51

Maybe she's uh maybe we're meant to assume that she's like paying for like his clothes and whatnot.

SPEAKER_02 26:55

Don't get a baby don't need that many outfits. Girl.

SPEAKER_00 26:59

He's gotta be fitted. Fitted.

SPEAKER_02 27:00

She's like, oh, the Lou Vuitton baby shoes.

SPEAKER_00 27:03

Drip in.

SPEAKER_02 27:04

Not the drip in.

SPEAKER_00 27:05

The baby's dripped out. Um her her grandpa obviously has no job because he's demented.

SPEAKER_02 27:11

Which means he would be getting um pension.

SPEAKER_00 27:14

Oh, they never actually talk about that. Maybe he doesn't get she not Maybe I maybe maybe.

SPEAKER_02 27:20

Are you sure she's a British journalist? Are you sure this author's a British journalist? Because it feels like she may have never lived in a ship.

SPEAKER_00 27:25

She just never lived in section eight.

SPEAKER_02 27:28

If you have parents or grandparents, you would know about pension.

SPEAKER_00 27:31

Uh, Jojo Moyas, why don't you check out section eighty, the album by Kendrick Lamar?

SPEAKER_02 27:36

No.

SPEAKER_00 27:38

Um, and then her her mom takes care of her grandpa and also watches the baby. I don't remember what the baby's name is, I don't care.

SPEAKER_02 27:45

I want you to know.

SPEAKER_00 27:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 27:46

I've been to council housing in England. My ex's grandmother lived in council housing before she died.

SPEAKER_00 27:51

Nice, isn't it? Section 8.

SPEAKER_02 27:53

It's council housing. Um, it's not bad.

unknown 27:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:56

She had they they live in like bungalows, which is just single-story houses.

SPEAKER_00 28:00

Yeah. And they're really nice. Yeah, they're they're like pretty they seem pretty. My understanding is they're kind of just townhouses. I think they've been in a townhouse.

SPEAKER_02 28:08

She had a bungalow in Wales that had like three bedrooms.

SPEAKER_00 28:12

Sick. Yeah, right? Um, keep the bedroom situation at top of mind. Because there's gonna be some bedroom drama in this book. The movie almost exclud almost entirely does away with the bedroom drama, rightfully so, because it sucks and it's boring to read. Okay. Um, but like keep that at top of mind. Um and then her dad, I was really tired when I wrote my notes, but I wrote down here, her dad works at the precarious employment factory. Um, he's like, she like part of like their concern about her losing her job is that her dad is like uh two weeks away from losing his own job.

SPEAKER_02 28:53

Um You would just get unemployment. Yeah, I done also your like severance packages are crazy there. You know how I know?

SPEAKER_00 28:59

Pray tell.

SPEAKER_02 29:01

Because I had an ex when I lived in England who got fired not from one, not from two, but from three jobs while we were together. Three in every single time. I was like, aren't you worried? And they were like, no.

SPEAKER_00 29:12

No, why would I be?

SPEAKER_02 29:13

Deadass every time.

SPEAKER_00 29:14

No, everybody no, she uh no, Louisa lives in like a Ken Loach movie.

SPEAKER_02 29:21

God damn.

SPEAKER_00 29:22

Yes, her family is like Dickensian style poor. Um anyway, uh Louisa goes to uh the employment agency, and um he's like, Oh, I have like a list of jobs here, and she's she's been like at like a bunch of jobs already. Uh she's been looking for like the perfect job.

SPEAKER_02 29:42

That doesn't exist. Um No one dreams of selling their labeler in a capitalistic society.

SPEAKER_00 29:48

Yes, they do. Um I have written down like all the jobs she doesn't want to do.

SPEAKER_01 29:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 29:54

Um he basically just like runs through a bunch of uh jobs. He's like, Can you do there? He's like, this is an opening, and she's like, I can't, for any number of reasons. Um so we have um she can't work at the chicken processing plant because she was there for two weeks and it gave her nightmares. Um she can't work at she was at like a fast food place, they didn't actually say which one, I don't think.

SPEAKER_01 30:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:17

Um but she she kept she keeps forgetting to stick to the appropriate responses script.

SPEAKER_02 30:24

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 30:24

At like the POS.

SPEAKER_02 30:26

Yes, yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 30:27

Uh she she talks about there's like a basically a little girl uh asks like a question and she starts like riffing with this child. Nice. And her manager is like, you can't do that.

SPEAKER_02 30:36

Um Yeah, no riffing.

SPEAKER_00 30:38

No riffing. Um then the this is where it gets weird because then her her like case manager or whatever is like, oh we have like uh we have like a pole dancer here.

SPEAKER_02 30:50

Huh? That's what I was saying. Oh yeah, I forgot about pole dancers registering with the local employment agency.

SPEAKER_00 30:56

I was like, okay, now I don't want to like get too into the weeds here, but my understanding is that despite being like uh uh despite being like societally quasi-legitimate employment, strippers are still like part of the sex industry. Yes. And I don't know if you're allowed to uh as like a like for example, I work in social services, and I don't know if my city's workforce development center could be like, oh yeah, you could try being a stripper.

SPEAKER_02 31:26

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that would get them landed in some pretty hot water. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:31

And she's like, oh, like I'm too hilariously clumsy to be a pole dancer.

SPEAKER_02 31:36

Also because you can't recommend sex work.

SPEAKER_00 31:39

Um then he's like, oh, what about being like a phone sex operator? And she's like, I just kind of don't want to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_02 31:45

What's he gonna offer next? A prostitute? Like, calm down, bro.

SPEAKER_00 31:49

He's a pimp on the side.

SPEAKER_02 31:50

God damn, it seems like it. There's nothing wrong with sex work, but your government can't recommend it.

SPEAKER_00 31:54

I don't know that yeah, I don't know. I'm I'm pretty sure there's like quite a bit of legislation about that.

SPEAKER_02 31:58

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 31:59

Um then he's like, okay, we have like a lot of like um you can go into like elderly care. He's like, you she he mentions like, oh, like you're you like help take care of your grandfather, that's elderly care work, you can go into that, and she's like, I don't want to wipe nobody ass.

SPEAKER_02 32:15

Girl. Seems like you're not that poorly employed. I mean, like, I get it, I also wouldn't want to do that, but also like I'm not living in the precarious employment society. Yeah, I have more than like two silver coins and a brown coin.

SPEAKER_00 32:32

Yeah, at no point in my in my day-to-day life am I am I saying, please, sir, can I have some more? God damn, seriously. Um, I do have a parenthetical here on my notes that just says she's like comically bad at being poor. Yes. Um, she at one point the her case manager is like, how much were you paid at your last job? And she's like, I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 32:53

Probably minimum wage, bitch.

SPEAKER_00 32:55

Well, because she's like, oh, like, uh, I worked there for six years, and then my boss would just periodically tell me I was getting a raise, and I would just take it. And it's like, girl, you Your f your family, your father, it seems like for the past um 22 years or whatever, has been like, yeah, I'm pretty much gonna lose my job tomorrow. And at no point has anybody done like a family-wide budget.

SPEAKER_02 33:18

Hey, your fa his dad, her dad's not gonna lose his job. He's just like me, we're constantly anxious about losing their job.

SPEAKER_00 33:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:25

Never going to, just every day is like, I think I made a mistake and they know when they're gonna fire me.

SPEAKER_00 33:29

Um then her case manager is like, oh, actually, there's a job that just came down the wire. Um, it's a care work, and she's again like a no ass wiping. And he's like, I'm reading through the require the job requirements, and at no point does it say ass wipin'.

SPEAKER_02 33:45

No, I don't think any job requirement would say ass wiping.

SPEAKER_00 33:51

So he's like, I'm gonna put you in for this. She gets an interview. Um, the interview is with like the family that owns the town or whatever. Like the the richest family in town.

SPEAKER_02 34:04

The comically wealthy people to go with her comically poor.

SPEAKER_00 34:07

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um it's but what's crucial about this, and her case manager mentions this, is that it's a short-term position. It's only for six months.

SPEAKER_02 34:17

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 34:18

Um so she's like, I'll I'll take it in the meantime, it pays really well. So she goes to the family mansion. And um she this is gonna be like a recurring bit throughout this book. Louisa dresses like a child.

SPEAKER_02 34:36

Yeah, no, I watched the movie.

SPEAKER_00 34:38

Um she the the movie keeps really close to this element of the book. To be honest, some of the fits uh they do like really realistically lift straight from the book.

SPEAKER_02 34:50

Good for her. Um dresses like how I used to, if I'm entirely honest with you.

SPEAKER_00 34:54

Yeah, she she dresses like um really garish colors and patterns.

SPEAKER_02 34:58

Yep, that was definitely me.

SPEAKER_00 34:59

Um it's a lot, you know, she'll she'll be like, oh, like this is my um, you know, this is like my ankle-length green skirt, bright green skirt with frogs on it, and then I'm wearing like a headband with like a frog in the middle, the the type shit.

SPEAKER_02 35:14

Um My favorite pair of tights used to be the same color as Smurfs.

SPEAKER_00 35:19

Nice.

SPEAKER_02 35:20

And I used to wear it exclusively with uh zebra print kitten heels.

SPEAKER_00 35:24

Nice.

SPEAKER_02 35:24

And a black and white polka dot skirt.

SPEAKER_00 35:26

Yeah, this is pretty much how she dresses in the whole book.

SPEAKER_02 35:28

Yeah, I know. I know. This is me. Um but to be fair, that was just how bitches be dressing in the early 2000 in the 2010s.

SPEAKER_00 35:37

That's that's just how Hoes dressed at the time.

SPEAKER_02 35:39

That was quirky shit.

SPEAKER_00 35:40

That was quirky girl shit, and that was hot.

SPEAKER_02 35:42

It was hot. It was hot, it was popping.

SPEAKER_00 35:45

No, I've seen I've seen pretty little liars.

SPEAKER_02 35:47

Yeah, you have. Look at them slutty girls going to a funeral again.

SPEAKER_00 35:50

Yeah, you you dressed like Aria. That's mean. Um, so she she goes to this interview, she has to like borrow an outfit from her mom. Uh to for for like professional attire. Um, but she's like thicker in the hips and thighs than her mom is, so during the interview the skirt like busts open at the seam and gives her like a s sexy style slit up the side. Oh great. Um and uh she she's like trying to like cover it with like her jacket. It's super funny.

SPEAKER_02 36:27

Super funny.

SPEAKER_00 36:30

Um but like during the interview, she's uh interviewing with like the matriarch of the family, and uh she gets offer the job. The the the family matriarch is like, um, can you start like right this instant right now?

SPEAKER_02 36:47

Yeah, totally, in my slutty little outfit.

SPEAKER_00 36:49

Um they take her to like a a closed-off wing of the ho of the house. Nice.

SPEAKER_02 36:54

Um the fucking bell tower.

SPEAKER_00 36:57

Yeah, it's just like the it's like the east wing of the house, and uh where they where they keep the uh the embarrassments. Um and uh it's she meets the person she will be caretaking. Uh uh, his name is Will Trainer. Uh you might remember him from the beginning of the book in the prologue.

SPEAKER_02 37:15

The one with the super hot, physically moving body.

SPEAKER_00 37:17

Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. Well now his body is still super hot, you must assume. Um, but uh not physically moving. He is uh uh paraplegic. Um he uh he he's paralyzed from like the upper chest down. Um he has Louisa's job is as it's presented to her, is basically like assistant caretaker. Um he has a a nurse who takes care of him named Nathan, but uh Nathan's Nathan basically has like a bunch of patients around this town that he like caretakes, and so her job is to basically be there and like administer medicine, make sure he's he eats his uh dinner and whatnot.

SPEAKER_01 38:04

His goop.

SPEAKER_00 38:05

Yeah, make sure he yeah, make sure he eats his British slop while Nathan's out. Um Nathan is sort of a character throughout the book. Um Nathan is from New Zealand. Um he's kind he's kind of implied to be sort of hot.

SPEAKER_02 38:24

Yeah, he is.

SPEAKER_00 38:25

Um He's from New Zealand, what else would he be? What else would he be? That's what I'm saying. Um and uh uh she gets uh uh Louisa gets right into it. Um when they first meet, uh this is like a hilarious moment in both book and movie. It's super funny. Uh she's like, what's what's good? It's your girl Louisa Clark, and Will um responds by he like um he like twists his mouth to the side and screeches um like he can't speak, and his mom's like, uh Will shut your bitch ass up. That's you can you can talk normal style. Um Will's mega depressed, is I guess how I would describe it.

SPEAKER_02 39:07

Just give him an SSRI.

SPEAKER_00 39:10

He's tried and it doesn't work.

SPEAKER_02 39:12

Yes, they then try a different one. What'd they do? Give him Zoloft once.

SPEAKER_00 39:20

Um Louisa gets like uh settled in the job. Her first month is like um she has to like study like a big binder that Nathan gives her, and it's about like his pills and when he's supposed to take his pills and um what to do if you know like oh like if he like can't regulate his body. A good chunk of the book is um just like Nathan directly explaining to Louisa, like, oh like he can't like regulate his body heat, right? So you have to like do this if his body heat gets too low, and you have to do this if his body heat gets too high, and it's uh it's a bunch of stuff like this. This is I think to me where the book kind of shines because it just kind of shows that like Louisa's Clark Louisa Clark Fuck Jojo Moyes has been reading about uh this type of disability. Yeah, and I think that's fun. Um that's the type of research I love to see out of uh out of an author.

SPEAKER_02 40:18

Um Yeah, because that's the type of research you do.

SPEAKER_00 40:21

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um Will and Louisa are off to a rocky start because he's in a wheelchair and she's annoying.

SPEAKER_02 40:28

I would also be irritated with her. Yeah, no, I get it.

SPEAKER_00 40:32

She's she's like chronically quirky at him. She she's like very um bright and delightful in a way that uh I would also find really annoying if I were in the midst of a depressive episode.

SPEAKER_02 40:46

Yeah, I think um he's kind of based for this, honestly.

SPEAKER_00 40:50

Super based. Um at one point, uh his mom shows up and she's like, Will has a visitor, and it's his ex-girlfriend, the woman from the beginning, and uh she she shows up and she's like, What's up, Will? Check it out. It's your it's your BFF from work. Um, when you were like head of your the company that we both used to work at or what or whatever. When you used to be able to walk. When you could walk. Um or when you used to walk into the office type shit. Um well this is very important. Uh Will, when he could walk, he was like a he was like an ad adrenaline junkie guy. He did like a lot of like base jumping, skydiving, he he like ran up and down cliffs, he surfed, he did all kinds of stuff like that. Um so like part of his depression is he just can't do that stuff anymore.

SPEAKER_02 41:42

I mean, to be entirely fair, you could definitely still base jump, you're just doing it in a wheelchair.

SPEAKER_00 41:45

Yeah, you just do it in the wheelchair. Yeah. Um uh we'll get into that. Um anyway, so the his ex-girlfriend is like, check it out, it's your it's your best friend. Um we're actually getting married, and I kind of want you to say that you're chill with that.

SPEAKER_02 42:02

That's fucked. That's fucked. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 42:08

He's like, I hate you, I'll never say I'm chill with that.

SPEAKER_02 42:11

God damn, no, but seriously, like you want me to be like, yeah, I bless your relationship after you left me when I was fucking disabled.

SPEAKER_00 42:19

This is uh uh at one point, uh Luisa and the ex-girlfriend are like alone in the room together, and the ex-girlfriend is like, you must think I'm like a horrible person, but I want to throw out there, I didn't break up with him because he was in a wheelchair, he broke up with me because he was in a wheelchair. And Louisa's like, okay. For sure, dude.

SPEAKER_02 42:42

To be fair, to be fair, okay, he does seem like kind of a miserable prick who would be like, uh, I'm disabled now, uh fuck you. But here's the thing. What could be more adrenaline rushing than getting hit by a motorcycle?

SPEAKER_00 43:01

So technically Yeah, he's been to the pinnacle of adrenaline.

SPEAKER_02 43:06

Yeah. And now you're disabled. Not just disabled, I would say comically disabled.

SPEAKER_00 43:12

Yeah, you're pr you're pretty disabled, dude.

SPEAKER_02 43:13

You're you're disabled to the point where a lot of people be like, oh my god. Uh again, super great adrenaline try. How are you gonna get there? Figure it out.

SPEAKER_00 43:23

Um, they leave.

SPEAKER_02 43:25

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 43:25

And uh he smashes up uh photos he has on his desk of um his ex-girlfriend. Smashes. I don't I don't know why he has those, or also actually, I don't know how he smashes them. My understanding they this is kind of vague. My understanding is that they're kind of just like on a table close to the edge, and he kind of just like sticks his hand out and then like goes by and Oh, he can move his hand? He can move his hands because he has the um he has like the the cool wheelchair with the joystick.

SPEAKER_02 43:54

So he's not tot he's fine.

SPEAKER_00 43:56

He's he's fine. Um yeah, he is like He can move his hands a little bit, but he can't like move his arms meaningfully. And he his like head and neck are uh move movable.

SPEAKER_01 44:07

Okay, he's fine.

SPEAKER_00 44:08

Um seems like he's being kind of dramatic. He's being so he's he's pretty dramatic. Um we'll get to that. Uh but he he smashes up all of them, and then Louisa like comes in after him and starts like fixing the frames, and he like yells at her about it. He's like, if I wanted those fixed, I would have told you to fix them.

SPEAKER_02 44:27

Hello? Hello? She's not your little slave. What the fuck?

SPEAKER_00 44:35

Um, don't uh that's a book you would read. The sex slave of the paraplegia. Yeah. Oh my god. Um, anyway, uh she's like, I just like thought you might want the frames later. And he's like, I don't, actually.

SPEAKER_02 44:54

I'm actually planning to kill myself.

SPEAKER_00 44:56

Um so, which either way, the correct answer is just um put put like the frames somewhere. Um un if they're not like too terribly broken. Um burn the photos with him and eat hella ice cream.

SPEAKER_02 45:12

Or just put them away. What's he gonna do? Open the drawer?

SPEAKER_00 45:16

She does put them uh just like put them in like the bottom kitchen drawer.

SPEAKER_02 45:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:20

Um that's that's my move whenever I uh people uh people in my life uh have like a big breakup is um you you like uh you like make them delete all the photos of them in their phone.

SPEAKER_02 45:33

And then when they get back together, you're like shit.

SPEAKER_00 45:35

Yeah, yeah. Um and then uh and then you I have I have three phrases. Uh fuck them. They ain't shit, you can do better.

SPEAKER_01 45:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 45:45

Yeah, and then she should be saying that because he can do he can do better, it's gonna be her later.

SPEAKER_02 45:52

Quirky girl type shit.

SPEAKER_00 45:54

Um they start talking more. Um they like there there's like a lot of um there's like a lot of shit where like um she's she'll be like, I hate this thing generally associated with like uh um high higher brow culture. Yes. And he'll be like, you've never even tried it. And then he'll like make her watch it like a movie or like a book or something, and she'll be like, oh my god, it's like so beautiful. So like for example, at one point she's like, I don't like foreign films because I don't like reading the subtitles. And he's like, Have you ever watched a foreign film with hella subtitles? And she's like, No, and so he makes her watch like a French film, and she's like, Oh my god, it's so beautiful.

SPEAKER_02 46:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 46:38

Um, but they start talking more, there's like more um exchange, uh uh, there's like a bunch of like extraneous bullshit that happens around this part of the book. Uh Louisa's sister decides to go to college.

SPEAKER_02 46:51

What? She has no money for a baby.

SPEAKER_00 46:55

Yeah. She's going to college. She's like, I think she's like 22 or 24, somewhere around there. Louisa's like 27, and Will is, I think, 33.

SPEAKER_02 47:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 47:08

Um. The the by the way, there because there's like kind of an age gap between Will and Louisa.

SPEAKER_02 47:16

Age gap romance.

SPEAKER_00 47:17

Not like a big enough age gap that I think it's bad, but the movie does lower Will's age. I think because Sam Claflin is 30, because they make him like 29.

SPEAKER_02 47:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:30

So like he he's only like a couple years older than her, rather than like six or seven years older than her. Um, I again, I don't really think it's like a major issue that he's he's like thirty-three and she's like twenty-six.

SPEAKER_02 47:44

That he's old and crusty.

SPEAKER_00 47:45

He's so crusty. Um, anyway, uh Luisa's sister decides to go to college. Um she's taking her son with her. Um this sparks an insane and annoying bedroom drama I referenced earlier.

SPEAKER_02 48:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 48:04

Where Louisa's sister has like the second biggest bedroom in the house. Um because her son sleeps in the bedroom with her.

SPEAKER_02 48:15

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 48:15

Um, so there's a bedroom for her parents, there's a bedroom for grandpa, and then there's a bedroom for the sister, and then there's an attic room, a la the housemaid, that uh Louisa sleeps in. Yeah. But it's super small. And so since the sister is moving, Louisa wants that bedroom, that way she she can finally stretch out and have like a little bit of space. Yeah. And then the sister is like, oh my god, like you couldn't fucking wait, could you? You couldn't wait to move in on my uh move in on my bedroom. But like, where am I supposed to sleep? Because I'm gonna be back from uh I'm gonna be back from college and and staying here with some frequency, and where am I supposed to sleep with my son?

SPEAKER_02 49:00

Okay, I'm gonna say something. This is a bad opinion.

SPEAKER_00 49:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 49:03

If you're a teen mom, humble yourself before God. It's not that you did anything wrong, it's not that it's a sin, but like, girl, learn responsibility and be mature. You don't need that.

SPEAKER_00 49:15

A major through line about the uh uh throughout the book is how much Louisa thinks about how selfish her sister is because her sister's the youngest.

SPEAKER_02 49:25

I mean, kinda.

SPEAKER_00 49:27

She's like, my sister's the youngest, and because she was the youngest, everybody kind of sacrificed for her, but she didn't have to like meaningfully sacrifice for everybody else. Um You know what?

SPEAKER_02 49:38

Fuck it, she's right. She's right. I just thought for ten minutes, not even ten seconds, about like what my brother got as the baby compared to what I got as the oldest. And you know what? She's right! Fuck that bitch!

SPEAKER_00 49:49

Fuck that bitch.

SPEAKER_02 49:50

No one struggles like the oldest daughter.

SPEAKER_00 49:55

Um, so just like I'm I'm actually going to go ahead and um lay out the bed the rest of the bedroom drama here. Oh my god, okay. That way, um, just just so you know, throughout the rest of the book, just know that like there's another another fight is happening, R. E. the bedroom. Um, so Louisa moves into the bedroom, her si she's like, you you're smart, um, you get to go to college, you get to move away. I'm never going to move away from this town because I'm a dumb quirky idiot, and I only work dumb shitty jobs, so you have to I I want a big bedroom in our parents' house because you're gonna get to leave. Her sister's like, that makes sense to me, fine. Um the sister like keeps coming back. She moves away for college, she keeps coming back, and like um staying in the attic bedroom, but the attic bedroom is too small for both her and her son. Um, so the son keeps like leaving that bedroom in the middle of the night and sleeping in the bed with Louisa, and then um the sister complains about the attic bedroom is too small, and so the parents start sleeping on the couch, so the sister can sleep in their bedroom. Um, and then uh uh and then we're gonna that sets us up for a plot line later with Louisa's boyfriend, um, who I haven't talked about very much. Uh Luisa's boyfriend Patrick. Um they've been together for seven years. This is like a um one of those relationships where clearly they just they're just both like extremely comfortable with each other. Yeah. It's like not a good relationship, but like they both know each other well enough that they might as well stick together. Yep. It's easier than try breaking up and trying to be in new relationships.

SPEAKER_02 51:38

Yeah, I get it.

SPEAKER_00 51:38

Um he when they started dating, he was super nice. Um he's still she still thinks he's nice, but now he's like really into triathlons.

SPEAKER_01 51:48

Ugh.

SPEAKER_00 51:49

And he's like training, he's like training for like a big triathlon in Norway.

SPEAKER_02 51:52

You ever been around someone when they're training?

SPEAKER_00 51:54

Yes, girl, my father.

SPEAKER_02 51:56

Is your dad annoying?

SPEAKER_00 51:57

I mean, is my dad annoying? Is such a complicated question.

SPEAKER_02 52:00

Your dad annoying when he's training.

SPEAKER_00 52:02

Um, sort of, but in like a dad way, where like my father recognizes that things are wrong with his body because like his his like 5k time is too slow.

SPEAKER_02 52:13

Friend from England, ex from England.

SPEAKER_00 52:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 52:17

Dad was trying to train to do like a cross-country biking challenge.

SPEAKER_00 52:22

Nice.

SPEAKER_02 52:23

So annoying.

SPEAKER_00 52:24

For sure.

SPEAKER_02 52:24

Went out and went biking every single day with my ex's mom and would like leave that mom behind, just like blast off in front of us. Um, and when the mom was like, hey, you left me behind again, he would be like, Well, I'm trying to train so I can like beat everybody. But also he was like a large, loud, mean British man.

SPEAKER_00 52:44

Hell yeah, stupid.

SPEAKER_02 52:45

Who sounded like like an evil cockney villain.

SPEAKER_00 52:51

Hell yeah.

SPEAKER_02 52:52

Like with the deep, gravelly voice and everything. So it was like, you're just being a dick.

SPEAKER_00 52:55

Um, yeah, that he he's kind of like that. He um he like trains uh a lot. Um you like he'll be he'll like be running and she'll like ride her bike next to him while he runs, shit like this. Um he he's like become like really obsessed with like his body as like temple type situation. Calm down eating disorder. Um this makes her very uh insecure because she's she's like a curvier gal. Um she's deliciously thick. She's deliciously thick. Yep. Um, which is really funny because they do make several red in the throughout the book, she kind of implies that like she's curvy in a way that like is intimately fuckable, but also like if you're like a shitty person, you could call fat.

SPEAKER_01 53:43

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 53:43

Um this is funny because they keep it for the movie in which you're watching like Amelia Clark be like, oh, I'm such like a fat bitch.

SPEAKER_02 53:51

Yeah, like a like a size two.

SPEAKER_00 53:54

She's like yeah, she's like extremely thin. Yes. You're like, alright. Um but at this point, uh Will's sister shows up to deliver some much needed expedition. Exposition. Expedition. Expedition. Um Louisa overhears Will's mom tell his sister that Louisa's job is isn't really caretaker. He doesn't really need that. Her job is making sure he doesn't kill himself.

SPEAKER_02 54:27

I mean, that's kind of caretaking.

SPEAKER_00 54:29

It's it's pretty much caretaker.

SPEAKER_02 54:30

That's caretaking. No, I get it, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 54:32

That's care work. Um but uh that this was extremely obvious to me reading the book. Yes. Even with kind of not knowing what the book was about. Yes. Um, I was sh shocked at this point to discover Louisa did not know that her job was making sure he doesn't kill himself. To be fair, she is very stupid. That's why she that's why she doesn't get to go to college and she just gets the big bedroom.

SPEAKER_02 54:56

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 54:58

Um and then the they're also like, by the way, just in case Louisa's listening and you know she's kind of dumb.

SPEAKER_01 55:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 55:06

Uh not only is her job to make sure he doesn't kill himself, but her job is to try to convince him within the next six months not to kill himself at the end of six months, where he is going to Switzerland to do medical suicide, medically assisted suicide. No pressure, bitch, but um there is like a really significant moment, where it's like the end of a chapter. It's uh it's very meaningful, it's significant, where um the mom is like, Because at the end of six months six months, he's going to Dignitas. And I don't know what that is. I'm sure that's like mega meaningful. I had to look that up, I was like, oh, this means nothing to me.

SPEAKER_01 55:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 55:45

Um Dignitas is like the firm in Switzerland where like you you would like show up to like a it was like a manor house, uh kitted out with like medical gear, and then they would like kill you in essentially like a European bed and breakfast. I mean that way you don't die in like a hospital setting.

SPEAKER_02 56:06

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 56:07

This is where I think the book kind of gets a lot of its book club bona fides. Yes. Because the book sparks discussion for like right-to-die stuff. The the remainder of the book, like this overarching conversation that several characters have, pretty much every character throughout the remainder of the book is going to like look directly at the reader and and give their opinion on right the right-to-die issue.

SPEAKER_02 56:39

Right.

SPEAKER_00 56:40

Um so this rattles Louisa, of course. Kind of a big job.

SPEAKER_02 56:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 56:53

Kind of a kind of a big job to be like, oh, by the way, could you also make sure he doesn't kill himself?

SPEAKER_02 56:59

Yeah, it's kind of a lot.

SPEAKER_00 57:00

At the end of because he's the the we we learn that the background on this is that he tries to kill himself by like he like breaks a bunch of glass and then like runs his wrists along it with his wheelchair. Um he's getting I'm I mean like uh ingenious for sure. He's getting creative on trying to kill himself.

SPEAKER_02 57:26

So that's my thought. I was thinking about this when we started this, because of course I've seen this movie and you uh love it. We watch the movie together. We watch the movie together. I watched this movie before you watched it a while ago. Um, and I I mean you talk about these books outside of the podcast. Unlike me, you cannot hide what these books are about.

SPEAKER_00 57:42

No, no, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_02 57:43

Um girl, just remove the battery from his wheelchair. Like if you really want your son not to kill himself.

SPEAKER_00 57:50

Take away his ability to move.

SPEAKER_02 57:52

Look, if you really want him to not kill himself, there's some pretty easy options here. That's all I'm saying. Will he be upset? Yes. Could you also pump him full of Zolov? Yes.

SPEAKER_00 58:06

Um There is a lot of I'll talk about this a lot more later. Um, there's a lot of discourse um from like disability activists um about like is this book good disability representation? And I think that the answer is number one, probably not. Yeah. The the but like the second and to me more important answer to the question is that it kind of doesn't matter, mostly because JoJo Moyes uh this isn't a book to Jojo Moyes about a paraplegic man. This is a book about a man trying to kill himself. Um and I think like clearly to me she came up with the concept of this book working backwards from medically assisted suicide rather than paraplegic. And then she was just kind of like, okay, well, what would give the least amount of ambiguity to the argument for he has to kill himself?

SPEAKER_01 59:15

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 59:15

Um, and and the what she came up with was just uh uh paraplegic. The book kind of bends over backwards to be like paraplegics uh live normal lives all the time, and they love being uh paraplegic, and it they do all the stuff they wanted they liked doing beforehand, and it's awesome. Uh just not this guy, because I came up with this book where he kills himself and I need to work backwards from there.

SPEAKER_02 59:39

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 59:40

Um so Louisa considers quitting. She like she like doesn't show up for work one day, and she's like, I'm gonna quit. Her sister convinces her not to quit. Uh during the this is there this is a uh this is a thaw in the bedroom Cold Wars. Oh my god. Um and they're like, okay, we need to like come up with a plan for um like how to make him not kill himself. They decide what they're going to do. He's like an adrenaline junkie. They're going to get him outside doing stuff, um and to s such that he will uh uh see the benefit of life and not kill himself.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:31

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:31

Um so they come up with like a bunch of events he can do. Um, and uh she comes back to work with a new lease on her role. Um and activity number one, she shows up, she's like, Will, you'll never believe it. Nathan's never seen a horse race before. We gotta go to the track.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:52

Hmm, gambling to make you wanna live.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:56

Bet you won't kill yourself.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:59

No!

SPEAKER_00 1:01:02

Um the uh Will's like, I don't want to go to the track, and she's like, You have to. I have ten pounds that says my horse will win. And he's like, Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:14

So To be fair, that is all her money for the next month.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:18

Yeah. Um so her and Nathan uh bundle him into the sprinter van they have for uh uh traversing him around town um in his wheelchair. Uh they uh they whip him out to the tracks. The parking lot for the track is like an open field, and it's England, so the field is muddy.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:42

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:43

Um so like they open it and Nathan's like, mmm, I don't know that this is going to this is real he's gonna sink in the mud. Luis is like, nah. Uh and then he immediately does that. He he he goes down the he goes down the cool ramp they have for him, and he immediately starts sinking in the mud, and so they have to carry his wheelchair to like firm ground. Yeah. Um they go to the track, Will hates it the whole time. He's like, I don't like horse racing.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:12

Honestly, his vibe is so bad, I would kill him for him. Like, bro, way to fucking why are you bringing in the vibe constantly?

SPEAKER_00 1:02:21

He doesn't like it here.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:22

I don't care, I don't like your attitude. You can want to kill yourself, you can't make me want to kill myself too.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:28

Yeah, I'm I'm having a great time at the track. I like that they're I like that they're like um they're like neglectful father max saying by taking him to the track.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:38

The real joy that'll make him want to live is taking him to Home Depot early Sunday morning and swearing they're gonna do something better afterwards.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:45

Yeah. Yeah, uh nowhere to go to have fun in there. Um, at least not when you're under the age of 18.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:52

Yep. If you don't have a house to think about how good it could be to switch out all your plumbing, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:57

Yeah. Yeah, there's no excitement like going to Home Depot for uh for a drain wrench.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:03

Damn, that's a call back to yesterday. Oh, I gotta get a drain wrench. What if we just fucking replace the showerheads too? Let's go!

SPEAKER_00 1:03:13

Um So he hates it the whole time. Shut up! They take him to like the the restaurant that they have uh on site, and the restaurant's like, nah, this is for like our Gold Star members, and she's like, but we have the regular uh uh Brown Circle member. I don't know. They she's like, we have just like the regular tickets, and they're like, sorry, B, this this ain't for you, then. Um, which by the way, this this was my point of confusion on how wealthy is Will's family. Because like surely at a certain point they're like, hey, look, uh he he's mega wealthy. Let him in.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:47

Also, do you know how as someone who deals with the public m a lot more than you do, I think.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:53

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:54

Um, at a certain point you just look like a dick. And you can be like, this is for gold star members only. Girl, I want you to tell that to a paraplegic wealthy dude. Dude, I want you to look into his his sat ass face and be like, no.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:07

Yeah, just uh just say yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:10

Just say girl. Just say yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:13

Just say yes, put him at like the closest uh uh disability-friendly table you have, and um uh uh let him eat his meal. That's that's pretty much what Luisa says, but m minus the put him in the nearest table you have. Um she's like, there's nobody here right now.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:31

That would be extra that would be extra infuriating. There's no one here, and you're like, no. Girl, I swear to God, I will bomb this place. Do not make me do it.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:38

Um she starts like telling uh this like hostess like you're a fundamentally bad person. She is. I hate you.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:45

Deadass.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:46

Uh I'll I'll kill you if I see you in the streets.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:48

Deadass.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:49

Uh uh, don't don't don't ever let me see you in my in my neighborhood.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:52

Deadass.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:53

Um you don't know where I come from. I come from the streets.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:57

Um I got two pennies.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:00

I'm not afraid of losing shit. Yeah, I'm I'm from British OBlock. Don't mess with me. Not British O Block. I'm basically I'm basically white female King Vaughn.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:09

Oh my god, these jokes are not fitting.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:13

Have you ever heard section 80? That's me. Um anyway, uh, Will's like, I'm not even hungry like that for real.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:22

Um I think Will gets off on her embarrassing herself.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:25

Yes, yes, yes. He loves it.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:26

He just seems like a really negative, rude person. Look, you can be sad, but that doesn't give you the right to be a dick.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:33

Um, they leave. Um they like have to go back to the car. The car is in the the the field's even muddier. Um, they can't carry him because they're the the field the field is too muddy now. And so sh Louisa gets the idea. This is probably one of the funniest points in the book. Louisa gets the idea that what she'll do is she'll she sees like a group of drunk soldiers and she grabs them and she's like, Hey Um, can you help my friend? He's a veteran and he's paraplegic from the war.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:08

To be fair, weaponizing patriotism is the best thing you could do.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:13

And they're like, and they're like, We we'll never let a brother down. And they they like grab him and they carry him, and they keep trying to ask him like war questions, or like, what platoon were you with? And and and she was like, uh, the 11th artillery, and she's like, I don't know about they're like, I don't, I've never heard of that one. I don't know that that and she's like, it's secret.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:33

She's maybe she's not as stupid as she was saying, because weaponizing that against someone is truly the smartest thing you could ever do.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:41

Um Will, of course, gets very mad at They get back, they get back and he's like, You you act like you know what's best for me, just like everybody else, you're like everybody else, everybody else acts like they know what's best for me. Nobody knows what's best for me except for me.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:58

Okay, okay. I'm gonna say something.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:01

Yes, yes, yes. I'm gonna say something.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:02

It's really inappropriate.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:05

If you're gonna talk to me like that, you paraplegic, I'm pulling the sleep straight in your neck. How dare you go night night? Like I'm like you're you're down. You need to take a couple hours to think about what you just said. I'll put a tranquilizer in your neck, I'll see you in a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:20

I'm just connecting your chair battery, think about what you've just said to me.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:24

I'm gonna put you in the corner. Think about what you just said. Um I treating him like a child? No, I'm holding him responsible for his actions and words.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:31

Yeah, you don't maybe you're acting like a child.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:34

You know what? Here's the thing.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:36

Pray tell.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:36

Everyone's always like, ooh, you have to be so careful when someone's hurt, like you have to like really like take care of them. No, it's a ballist. It's like you gotta be mean to him if they're mean to you, because if he could walk. I'm wrecking shit. Now that he's in a chair. This is actually the most like equal like treatment I could do is take his battery and be like, sit over there, big bitch, because that's what I would do to you.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:04

Um Will, she she like leaves, she like leaves and thinks about this. She's like, damn.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:08

Did you leave him and think about it?

SPEAKER_00 1:08:10

She's like, damn, I really gotta go home and think about the consequences of mine own actions. Um She like comes back later and Will is like, hey, check it. I have two tickets to the orchestra tonight, and she's like, Oh, like I'm not about the orchestra for real. And he's like, You will be. Um, but like, just just like dress uh come back later. I'll like get my mom to get the sprinter van good to go.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:36

My mommy will get the sprinter we have ready for us.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:38

My mommy will pull the sprinter van around and um we'll go to the orchestra together. And so they do, she puts on like her hot red booby dress, and uh they go to the orchestra and she loves it the whole time. She's like, This is really sick nasty. Um, and then uh they get back and they've had like a beautiful evening. There's like a hilarious moment at one point where like his tag is like itching the back of his neck and she like bites it off, and then she's like, It's a good thing the tag wasn't on your zipper, and he cause because it would look like she's sucking his cock and penis.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:15

Can you get a boner?

SPEAKER_00 1:09:17

Uh they make it certainly seem like he cannot.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:20

I believe you can still get a boner.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:22

I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:22

If you're paraplegic, because it's a uh Google it.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:27

Google it right now?

SPEAKER_02 1:09:29

Right now. I wanna know. I wanna know how deep this boner goes. Also then I can drink some coffee.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:36

It's giving me a lot of stuff for erection pills. Here we go. Sexual function for men after spinal cord injury. Um, this is a beautiful photo of a man in a wheelchair with just a hot tattooed woman sitting on his lap.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:51

You must assume his di his his boner is right in her butt. Erections are a combination of nerve stimulation and vascular response. Changes in sexual function depend on level of injury, and if the injury is complete or incomplete, each person's function will be affected. It depends, it seems like, is the answer. Uh anyway.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:10

So he could maybe get a boner.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:12

Maybe. The book certainly makes the case that it seems like he cannot.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:16

Anyway, shut up.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:17

No, good.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:18

Stop asking me about the dick situation. No. No, we can't get a boner. They get back from their their beautiful night at the at the orchestra.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:26

The orchestra, thank you.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:27

And she's like, Alright, I'm gonna like get out of the van and wheel you in, and he's like, Can you hold up a minute? And she's like, Yeah, sure, what's up? And he's like, Nothing. I just want to, for one more moment, feel like a man, the type of man who can go to the orchestra with a woman in a beautiful red dress. And she's like, Oh, for sure, dude. Yeah, I guess I can kind of be a prop for you in this situation. And then, um and then uh and then she like goes home and she's like, Oh my god, he thought I was hot in my booby dress.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:59

Not hot enough to get a boner.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:01

Apparently. Um, she goes to the library and gets on get uh gets on the computer on the internet there and gets on.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:09

Is she so poor? She doesn't have internet at home?

SPEAKER_00 1:11:11

That's certainly what it seems like.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:13

Comically poor.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:15

Extremely comically poor. Let me replicate any C. She doesn't have Wi-Fi. Um they don't got they don't got it like that.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:20

They don't got anything.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:21

Um no. The things they have at home are grandpa, um, dad with no job.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:27

Dad at the precarious employment factory.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:29

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, she's at the library, she goes on like Hella quadruplegic forums, and she's she's like, can can can you guys get a boner? And they're all like, it depends. I'm just kidding, they don't say that. Um and uh the the posts are full of people being like, I'm quadruprolegic and I don't want to kill myself.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:50

Um he's just annoying.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:55

Uh she she spends like the rest of the book kind of chumming these waters, these forum waters, for um uh stuff to do for the rest of the book. Um she she like gets on these forums, she talks to people, she's like, oh, like my my homie, my good friend, uh he's like mega quadruplegic. Um, you know, like he says this, and they're like, oh, here's I I understand that uh um empathetically. I've also had something kind of like that. Here's how me and my partner dealt with it, and she's like, partner. Um anyway. They start doing more things together.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:37

Um, they do more outings, they get tattoos.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:41

Um, if you're patripologic, paraplegic, that's the best time to get a tattoo.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:45

You should be getting hella tattoos.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:47

Actually, I don't think you can. Because it would slow down your healing.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:50

Um, it definitely he let me put it this way. There are like several points in the book where uh Will gets like pneumonia mad easy, yeah. And it basically um kills him for like a month.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:01

Me too, bitch, though. That's just that's just living a stressful life.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:05

Um he has uh he has like a very um compromised immune system. I don't know that he could get a tattoo, to be honest, but he does.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:13

I'm pretty sure you can't, but deadass.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:15

Um Louisa's a big fan of bees. She likes bees a lot. Um Okay. Like the like the bug.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:23

No, I know what you're talking about. Bumblebee. I'm sorry. I've been reading like a uh a like Omega verse retelling of Bridgerton, so every once in a while they're like the dad dies, and all you can think about is that in Bridgerton the dad dies from a fucking bee, and how funny that is.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:35

That's really funny.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:36

Right.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:37

Um Will gets uh tattoo uh and it says uh uh uh it says best before and then like the date of his accident. It says like best before September 11th, 2001.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:49

You that's That's not Bunny Will! Will that's not Bunny.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:54

He thinks it's super funny.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:56

I think he should kill himself.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:57

Um the the um uh the bedroom situation is back in in in full. Um Louisa and her sister get in a fight. I um uh Louisa calls her sister selfish, and the sister calls Louisa like a hometown loser. Okay, so the dad obviously does lose his job at the precarious employment factory. Yes, of course. He's he's on the job hunt. Um it's Louisa's birthday. Um Will shows up for her her birthday dinner.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:36

That's cute.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:37

Um they all give her gifts. Um Will gives her a pair of they're like um black and yellow tights. Um she told she tells him earlier in the book, she's like, This is my favorite pair of tights. I loved them, and then I just like grew out of them because they're I I had them when I was like four. Um and he's like, Well, here you go, now you can wear them and you're a 27.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:00

I mean, everyone finds joy in their own place. Look, look, does she dress like a child? Yes. Is she the one out of the two of them who doesn't want to kill herself? Also, yes. So you can't really like get her ass for dressing like a baby if that's what's keeping her from wanting to die.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:12

That's what's keeping her from wanting to die.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:13

Dead ass.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:14

Um, so uh uh everybody loves Will. Uh they all think he's so sick nasty. Um her uh her dad thinks he's awesome, her mom thinks he's very sweet. Uh her sister's not there due to the uh aforementioned um bedroom fight. The bedroom uh war has uh turned hot.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:33

It's escalated.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:34

Yeah. Um and uh they um however someone who's not a big fan of the fact that Will is here is her boyfriend.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:43

Her boyfriend can suck it.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:44

Um her boyfriend keeps being like, oh, like if if you like really if you like really had it like in your mental, then like you could probably like straight up stand up out of that chair. I knew somebody and they be pretty much had exactly what you have, but they like through the power of working out all the time and um and and mindset, they they had that grind they were in that grind set, they pretty much stood right up out of their chair, just like just like you should. And uh Louisa yells at him, she's like you're a dumb piece of shit.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:12

I mean, he sounds like an anti-vaxxer. He sounds like an anti-vaxxer, like if you just think hard enough, you won't get measles.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:21

Um and then as Will leaves, he uh they're like, Oh, like we love that you you're like such a good boss to Louisa, and uh Will looks straight at Louisa's boyfriend, and he's like, Yeah, and she also gives the best sponge beths. And then he uh wheels into the car and splits. Uh which is possibly the funniest thing he could do in this scenario. Uh Patrick obviously gets very mad at this. He's like, I thought you said there was no ass wiping. Um I thought you said you at no point touched his um his his butthole or penis. And she's like, Well, I did once only because um it like snowed or something and Nathan couldn't get there. And um he had uh he he needed a bath.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:01

Yeah, no, that's like that's like part of your job.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:05

Um Will gets Luisa's dad a job at the as the maintenance manager at the castle, which Will's family oversees in some way, shape or form that I'm I don't I don't entirely understand as a non-British person.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:21

Yeah, no, I get it.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:22

I th my understanding was they own the castle, but you told me that that wouldn't be an ownership situation. It would be like uh the castle would be like public land.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:30

Yeah, it would usually be part of a national trust.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:32

Yeah, so they oversee it in some way, shape, or form. Uh Will's father is capable of hiring Luisa's dad, um, which he does.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:40

Work at the precarious employment castle.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:42

Yeah, we're at the precarious employment castle the castle that makes you move to Australia.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:46

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:49

Um RoomGate gets to be too much, so Louisa decides to move out. Um this establishes a new point of drama that I don't care about, which is that so Louisa is like I I'm gonna move out of my parents' house, but I don't know like where I'm gonna stay. And Will is like, I have a spare room in my the wing of the estate that I basically never use because nobody visits me for real.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:19

And it's because you're a bad person.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:21

You kinda suck.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:22

Look, dude, I wouldn't visit you either. What? I want to visit to have my mood fucking wrecked. Shut up.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:27

Um and uh but he he's totally trying to be like, oh, like you should low-key move in with me. Haha. Um and Louisa's like, oh, that sounds really good, maybe I'll do that. And then Patrick is like, you should move in with me in my apartment, and she's like, Your apartment's never really felt like my space, it really heavily feels like your space, and he's like, Then you would just move your shit into my space. That seems fine. I'm 100% okay. My assessment of Patrick is Patrick is obtuse, but overall well-meaning in a way that the book really hates him in a way I don't.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:01

Yeah, I bet you don't. You always side with your fellow man, don't you?

SPEAKER_00 1:19:04

I always saw it side with my fellow man's.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:06

You said, mm, I love a man, someone who identifies as male.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:11

Um so uh she decides to move in with Patrick. This makes uh Will fucking bereft. Um, Will's mom calls Louisa to like a cafe, and she's like, hey, um, maybe don't move in with your boyfriend because it's making Will sad, and that's kind of counter to what I'm trying to do in my mission, which is make him not want to kill himself.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:36

I mean, to be fair, it sounds like it would be way better to move in with Will than your shitty boyfriend who you've been with for seven years that you don't even like. I mean, like, I'm just thinking logically here, that seems like a way better option.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:49

Um Patrick also reveals here, I don't think this is really revealed earlier in the book, but um he Norway his trip to Norway is getting closer. His triathlon to Norway, and um she mentions that like she his trip to Norway is that like during like the last like three weeks that she's supposed to be taking care of Will, she's like that's kind of primo get him to not kill himself time.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:16

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:16

And uh so I can't really like do that, but she hasn't told Patrick yet. I'm shouting at the book, please tell him those are he's not getting his he's not getting a refund on that ticket.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:29

No, no, he didn't get travel insurance for that one.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:32

No, you know he did not. Um uh more like side plot stuff happens. Will's father is hella cheating on his mom, and basically everybody knows about it.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:44

Whatever.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:45

Um Louisa the we find out Louisa like discovers it by accident, and Louisa like makes like a huge deal about it, and Will's like, oh, is it like with like this redheaded bitch? And she was like, Yeah, you know about this? He's like, Yeah, everybody knows. Um we get like a POV chapter from Will's dad, and he's like, I love kicking it with my mistress. Um uh uh big ups on having a mistress, it's pretty awesome, way better than having a wife.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:12

Hell yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:13

Um He does have a really interesting internal monologue where he he talks about like um part of like he he has like this conflict where he feels complicated about Will's journey to kill himself because it pretty much everybody has acknowledged at this point that if Will kills himself, he's leaving his wife.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:36

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:37

Um and he's he's like he he's officially dating his mistress. Um but like if Will doesn't kill himself, he's gonna s stick around.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:47

That seems crazy.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:48

It does seem crazy.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:49

Seems like you kinda have some uh bias on if you should kill himself or not.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:54

He's sneaking in at night and being like, you like fucking sucks, dude.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:58

Dude, I'd fucking kill myself if I were you.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:00

Kill myself.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:01

I would kill myself if I were you.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:05

Um Will and Luisa decide to go to an outing together and they go to the castle. And Louisa doesn't know where they're going. So when Will takes her to the castle, she's like, Hold up there, Boyo. I haven't been to the castle in like seven years. And he's like, That seems crazy. It's like in the middle of town. You have to go. Um He's like, I I used to like run around the castle all the time. He um take he takes her inside, he takes her into the maze, he like wheels into the maze, and she has a panic attack in the middle of the maze. Nice. And he like he's like, Shh shh shh look at me, look at me, I can make it better. And she reveals that the reason she has been to she's been thinking about this the whole book, I just didn't bother mentioning it. Um she reveals that her reasoning for not going into the maze, not going into the castle, is that like seven years prior, she used to be like a party animal. She was she was like hitting the clubs, she she was she was that she was that bitch.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:06

Um she was uh partying with a group of girls, um they start partying with a group of guys, they all uh do drugs in the maze in the castle. The girls leave and she gets sexually assaulted in the maze. Um they he's like, shh, I would never do that to you.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:26

He can't do that to you. I mean, like, if it's gonna be with anyone, like he's you gotta be with the the paraplegic guy who can't get boners.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:33

That's pretty chill.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:35

Um again, take his battery if he tries anything.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:38

Um he tells her, he reveals to her that she's the reason he wakes up every morning.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:44

That's kind of cute, but also a lot of pressure.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:47

Um Will tells her, he's like, hey, uh pack your bags, we're hitting the road, and she's like, Where are we going? And he pulls out, he hands her um the invite that he had Nathan pull out of the trash for his ex's wedding. And uh they they go to the wedding. Um a bunch of people at the wedding are like, Here are my thoughts on right to die stuff.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:15

Hell yeah. Um This is called the Right to Die book.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:19

Um Louisa gets all titted out. Yep. Um they uh they get drunk together. Um they she's like, oh we should dance, and she gets in his lap in the wheelchair and he like wheels her in a circle in the middle of the dance circle. That's kind of cute.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:41

Again, kinda cute.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:42

Um, it's very cute. Um they uh go back to the hotel because they're both drunk and they can't uh get back. Um and uh he he agrees to um go on vacation with them. This has been kind of been her her big master plan up until this point. Is her big plan is right before the six-month deadline, she's gonna take him on a big sick-ass vacation, and he's gonna see that he can't kill himself because the world is uh vast and beautiful.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:14

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:15

And um so he's like, but so far he's been kind of resistant to the idea of taking a full-on vacation. Yes. And so he in this moment agrees, um, because she's paying attention to him and she's um uh got her cleavage out. Pretty sick, pretty sick nasty.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:32

Men are easy to manipulate, which can I say?

SPEAKER_00 1:25:33

That's big facts. Um Louisa trawls the forums and finds a bunch of stuff Will can do. Uh there are multiple chapters worth of research about bungee jumping and whatnot at some resort in like Tahoe.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:48

Uh sure.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:50

Um Yeah, to be fair, I guess bungee jumping would be good if you're paraplegic. Like, what's it gonna do? Hurt you?

SPEAKER_00 1:25:56

Um when she books all this stuff, she's like, when should I book all this? Like, when what time period should I book it for? I know. I have a great idea here. I think it should be for exactly the time period that I'm supposed to be in Norway with my boyfriend.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:13

You just don't like your boyfriend! Girl, just break up with him!

SPEAKER_00 1:26:16

Girl, you just hate your boyfriend.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:18

Girl, just break up with him. Um, he started running immediately. It's over.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:24

It's over between us.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:25

You had a big fight, and then he's like, move in with me. He's manipulative, leave that man. I don't know why you don't like him. That's kind of suspicious, honestly, now that I think about it.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:33

Why I don't like him? Yes. Um, mostly because I think his character in the book is um generally well-meaning, but like guy that it you just kind of doesn't work out with. Will's not or Will, uh Patrick's not like explicitly malicious for most of the book. Um he is dumb and unobservant. Oh a man. I think he's a bad boyfriend, but the book treats him like he's a bad person.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:02

Okay, I think it's because anyone who runs is a bad person, but I think I think maybe they're based as fuck for that.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:08

But like I think there I think the reason I don't hate him is because the book really pushes me to hate him. But for like stuff that I kind of for like a lot of stuff that I kind of agree with. For example, in the next scene, she finally tells Patrick, she's like, hey, I can't go to Norway with you. I have like a work thing. And he's like, uh, that's okay. I guess I'll just fucking eat the airline charge that I'm definitely not gonna be able to get a refund on. And then he's like, wait, what work thing? And he she's like, Oh, like, check this out. I've like planned this whole thing, and she gives them his like full binder, and they're gonna stay in like a five star resort, and they're gonna go like bungee jumping, and they're gonna go eat at nice restaurants, and uh she's like playing outfits, and he's like, Oh, this is like a romantic getaway. I I just want to throw out there, you have like a classically handsome boss that you're taking on a romantic getaway, and you're going to that instead of coming to Norway with me.

unknown 1:28:11

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:16

Okay, but think about it this way. This would have been her perfect opportunity to gaslight him. He can't even have sex. What am I gonna do? Calm down. You're crazy.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:27

You're being so crazy.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:28

Dude, you think I'd seriously be dating you with someone who likes to run and then cheat on you with someone who can't?

SPEAKER_00 1:28:32

You're crazy. But so, like, I I understand Patrick's impulse in this situation. This would make me livid. If you were like, yeah, I'm going, I can't, I can't come to Chile with you. I have to go on a beautiful, kind of better getaway with my sexy boss.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:50

Never had a sexy boss try again.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:51

That's so true, dude.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:52

Dude, if I had a sexy boss, we wouldn't be married.

unknown 1:28:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:56

I mean, like, what's your salary? Is it more in JC's by at least a hundredfold?

SPEAKER_00 1:29:00

Wow, a hundredfold.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:01

Yeah, it would have to be double what you make. Or more.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:04

Or more.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:06

And then I'd keep you as a side chick. I've told you this before.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:08

Yeah, and I'd be a mistress.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:09

You'd be the sexiest little mistress.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:11

Oh, yes, I would.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:12

I would set you up with like a beautiful little thing. Oh, you'd be so well treated. There'd be nothing but hockey game and smoked meats.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:19

Ooh. Um. So this is why I don't hate Patrick. I just think Patrick is um, he's clearly just like a guy who's like ha has like a new interest that his girlfriend doesn't like, and um kind of doesn't like that his uh uh girlfriend is paying a lot of attention to a sexy guy. Um, and then when he's like, it kind of seems like you're into him, she's like, we should break up.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:48

Okay, I think okay, a few things here. One, she should have gaslit him. Two, obviously she likes people who want to kill themselves. Girl, just say you're gonna kill yourself.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:57

Just say you'll yeah, that's I'm gonna fucking kill myself. If you g yeah, if you well that that so during the course of this, he's like, I don't want you to go on this trip. She's like, I have to go on this trip because Will's going to kill himself. He's going to go to Switzerland to get medically assisted suicide unless I do something, and this is my plan. And he's like, Okay, but this is like a your your plan is to get him to not kill himself by taking him on a romantic getaway. Yes. And she's like, sure. Uh they break up. Um Yeah, you're right. Patrick should have been like, okay, well, if you go on this trip with him, I'll kill myself.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:34

Yeah, now you have two romantic getaways.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:36

Now what? Um so they they break up, she stays in like, um, she go comes to stay in Will's guest room for a few years.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:46

Yeah, she does.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:47

A little bit. It's like in the lead up to the them leaving for their trip, uh, like the day before Will gets uh mega pneumonia, and uh he he's like out of commission for like three weeks, and it fucks up all their plans, and so she comes up with new plans.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:06

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 1:31:06

Um they're going to take a trip to the island nation of Mauritius, um which is like near near like Madagascar.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:18

That's a crazy long flight for someone who might have blood flow issues.

SPEAKER_00 1:31:21

Right. Um they have a beautiful ass trip, there's beaches, uh, there's like a sick thunderstorm where Will is like, leave the door open, I want to see the thunderstorm. That sounds cool. Um they they read together and and whatnot. Uh Louisa tells Will that she loves him and he reciprocates, and then they kiss. Um He says that he needs to tell her something, and she's and she's like, Before you say anything, I'm pretty sure I know what this is about, and I know you're going to kill yourself. But you don't have to anymore, because you love me, and we shared a beautiful kiss, and so you don't even have to kill yourself no more.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:59

She's dead ass for that though.

SPEAKER_00 1:32:00

And and he's like, Ooh, oh, oh no. So yeah, planning to kill myself, and um still planning to kill myself. This has been nice. Love our kisses and whatnot. Um the plan is still on.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:18

Again.

SPEAKER_00 1:32:19

I am sh I am I am uh rolling this chair off this mortal coil.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:25

Again, perfect opportunity for some manipulation. Oh, you think my kisses aren't good enough? You my kisses are so bad enough.

SPEAKER_00 1:32:30

She basically does that.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:32

You basically think my kisses are so bad you want to kill yourself.

SPEAKER_00 1:32:34

She pretty much does that for sure, yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:36

And it didn't work?

SPEAKER_00 1:32:36

Girl, put more oomph into it. He's like, you've made he's like, when I told my mom I would wait six months before killing myself, I thought it would be a gr grueling six months. You've made the last six months extremely beautiful, uh, and and I've looked forward to every day. Um, until like two weeks from now, in which case I will not be looking forward to every day, because I will be deceased.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:02

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:33:03

Um He's like, I don't want to live in a wheelchair and like be with you. I want to be with you when I'm out of my wheelchair, and we can do cooler stuff than kiss. Um And so yeah, I d I don't I think this has been so cool, but like peace.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:22

Um I'm rolling my eyes so hard. I just want everyone to know I just rolled my eyes so hard I kinda gave myself a headache.

SPEAKER_00 1:33:29

And then he says, I do have a kind of a favor to ask, since you love me and we kissed and whatnot. Will you be with me and watch me die? And she's like, That's fucked up. How could you ask me that of me? I love you so much. Um I couldn't I could never watch you die. They get back from Mauritius, she tells his parents, she's like, he's still gonna kill himself, I couldn't do it, and then she goes home and um uh uh like um starts like looking for like new work and I mean you I mean yeah, you're kind of like yeah, this is sad and all, but also your employment's coming to an end fairly you got a two-week notice. Yeah. Um it it's like two weeks, she's like, um she she like tells her family about it. She's like, uh like they're like, what? Don't you have like two more weeks of job left? And she's like, well, no, I I actually I told him I love him, and then he's going to kill himself. Her mom is like, I'm Catholic, by the way, and I think this is an abomination to God.

SPEAKER_02 1:34:29

You're in the wrong country, bitch. There is someplace else you should be. Also, who's Catholic?

SPEAKER_00 1:34:35

Well, she's not actually Catholic, she's just extremely like, I think right to I I am taking the extreme opinion on right to die stuff. I think this is an abomination, and you are right to leave his ass. Um little little pussy bitch can't handle life ass.

SPEAKER_02 1:34:50

Hello?

SPEAKER_00 1:34:51

Um she uh the the press mobs her house because it turns out Patrick has revealed to the press for no reason that we didn't get this vibe from earlier. He's revealed to the press that uh uh Will Trainer, uh a famous public figure, is going to Switzerland to kill himself. Uh the press is like, oh my god. He's like, yeah, and guess who helped facilitate it? My ex-girlfriend, go check out her house.

SPEAKER_02 1:35:24

The comically poor one.

SPEAKER_00 1:35:26

Yeah. She's she's up in section eight.

SPEAKER_02 1:35:29

She lives in a shack in the middle of the field.

SPEAKER_00 1:35:31

She lives in Oblock.

SPEAKER_02 1:35:32

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:35:33

She's King Vaughn's neighbor. Anyway, um, you get it. Uh the the day for uh uh uh uh uh doomsday uh comes and goes, uh she cries, um they get a phone call at like the house, and it's Will's mom, and she's like he didn't do it, he's waiting for you, bitch. I have a uh I have uh uh a ticket for you. Come out to Switzerland and I we need you here. I I I think you'll regret it if you're not here when he dies. And she's like, You're so right, bitch. She like runs around, she's like, I have another chance, he's still alive, I can still see him. Uh her mom is like, if you facilitate this, I'll never speak to you again. You're you'll be you'll be dead to me.

SPEAKER_02 1:36:19

It'll be like you killed yourself, but to me That's okay, that's fucking crazy.

SPEAKER_00 1:36:24

Um uh her sister um drives her to the airport, she barely makes her flight, she gets out to Switzerland, um they they have like uh uh a beautiful uh final moment with Will, and then he he they're like, Oh my god, I love you and and whatnot, and then he's like, Alright, can you call my mom back my mom and my sister and my dad back in here? And then um there's a the final chapter before the epilogue is uh cra it's like it's probably the craziest way to end the book or end like the main story of the book, which is like a a solicitor's report the fact that on whether or not uh Louisa Clark um Louisa Clark's addition to his will is legitimate.

SPEAKER_02 1:37:19

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 1:37:20

Um, to be like, did she like manipulate him into killing herself because she's like mega poor and he's mega rich? Uh and then it ends with them being like, nah. Um, so that's that's funny.

SPEAKER_01 1:37:29

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 1:37:30

Um there's an epilogue uh where um Will has added her to his will and he uh gives her some money, enough money to like get her to Paris, where she's never been before. And he has instructions on she she there's like a section second section of his will, she has to open it at this cafe in Paris, and he's like, Oh, like if it's this time of year, it'll look like this, and I bet it's like mega beautiful. I've set you up with a lot of money so you can like go out and do the things that you like, you don't have to be stuck in our shitty hometown. And um I I want you to live your life uh like it's your last. Um live well is I believe what he actually says. And she um gets up and she uh walks down the the beautiful street in uh Paris and um uh finie. That's the end of the book.

SPEAKER_02 1:38:27

And the French yell at her and call her the fucking a fucking pick. Yeah, no I think.

SPEAKER_00 1:38:31

Yeah, they're like, oh my god, your fit is so ugly.

SPEAKER_02 1:38:34

God damn, they would too. The French are mean.

SPEAKER_00 1:38:38

Okay, well Um and that's the end of the book.

SPEAKER_02 1:38:40

That's a right to die, alright.

SPEAKER_00 1:38:42

That's the right to die. Um there are two sequels. Yes. Um I don't know if I would read them. To me, like the I think Jojo Moyes is like very um interested in this character of Louisa Clark.

SPEAKER_01 1:38:57

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:38:57

I am as a reader significantly less interested in Louisa than I am kind of the story here. Yes. Um I think kind of uh this character, just minus the guy being like, I'll kill myself, um, less interesting to me. Um, but like the I know like the Oh my god, that was funny. Anyway. Anyway, after that fun uh introduction So like for example, I know that um the second book is about um like Louisa having to like learn to how to live well without another eye roll you couldn't hear. Without her uh quadruplegic BF. Um Yeah, no, how are you gonna control a man like that? And then in the third one, I think she like moves to America or something and and like kicks it in the United States.

SPEAKER_02 1:40:06

There's no right to die there.

SPEAKER_00 1:40:10

Um and then I think my recollection is that Jojo Moyes wrote like a uh a short novella called like um I think I I think it's called like Louisa and the Pandemic or something like that. Oh my god! About like what's Louisa Clark up to in the middle of COVID.

SPEAKER_02 1:40:26

Why would anyone care?

SPEAKER_00 1:40:27

I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 1:40:27

Why would anyone care?

SPEAKER_00 1:40:29

It is possibly the funniest concept. I I think every author should have done that. No. Write a uh write like a book or like a novella about where their characters were during COVID. No. What are they up to? No. How's the pandemic affecting them? No, how are they quarantining?

SPEAKER_02 1:40:45

No.

SPEAKER_00 1:40:47

Um obviously the book features uh really heavily the concept of the right to die.

SPEAKER_02 1:40:54

I mean, that's almost exclusively what it's about.

SPEAKER_00 1:40:56

Pretty much exclusively what it's about. It's um I would say if the book is about two things. It's about uh the right to die and um which sibling should get the biggest bedroom at your parents' house. The oldest one, always. Shut up. You're both uh uh in your mid-20s.

SPEAKER_02 1:41:12

The biggest the oldest one.

SPEAKER_00 1:41:14

Yeah, but what if the younger one has a s has a son?

SPEAKER_02 1:41:17

Don't be teen pregnant.

SPEAKER_00 1:41:19

Um I I would say the the the thing I I find interesting about this is the right to die is one of those topics that like I I have like a really hard time coming down on like a consistent um belief. Uh on the one hand I I do believe in like uh you know like a yeah, you know, let them or whatever. Or whatever. Yeah, if they if they want to, then yeah, sure. The problem I find is that uh I was when I was re doing research for writing this episode, um, I read uh Dignitas's like official process, their procedures. Yep. Um and part of it is they do like a series of what are essentially like psychological tests.

SPEAKER_02 1:42:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:42:05

Um to see like are you about that life for real? Um and uh part of it I I find or something I keep thinking about is like what are the markers of uh what are like the markers they're looking for, like, yeah, I want to kill myself and I'm gonna want to kill myself forever. Um because to me it kinda just seems like their it kinda seems like their whole bit is like um if you're disabled enough, you can come here and we'll kill you. Um and I don't know that I want like a Swiss agency being like, uh uh if you're disabled and you hate it, uh we'll kill you, so you don't have to deal with that shit. Um that makes me feel uncomfortable, especially when the world is developing more and more and more luxuries not luxuries, that's the wrong term. Quality of life improvements for people with what would have previously been debilitating disabilities.

SPEAKER_02 1:43:16

Yeah, I think the right to die is important, especially like look, if I got stage four cancer tomorrow and they're like, there's nothing you can do, I would much rather choose the way I die. I would much rather choose the way I die than suffer in the end as my body slowly shuts down.

SPEAKER_00 1:43:30

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. I agree with this. See, this is this is what I mean, right? Where like that, yeah, 100%. That seems that seems intuitive to me. That like, yeah, you let that guy die.

SPEAKER_02 1:43:40

But also, isn't it Canada that recently enacted a right to die?

SPEAKER_00 1:43:43

Yeah, they um there are places in the United States that also have right to die.

SPEAKER_02 1:43:47

Well, because I just I know I've heard a lot of stories from Canada where people go in and they're like really depressed or they have like endometriosis or something that's like inconvenient but not necessarily world-ending.

SPEAKER_01 1:43:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:43:58

And the doctors will be like, Have you considered the right to die? Do you want to have you considered killing yourself? And it it feels like something that it your doctor shouldn't be allowed to suggest.

SPEAKER_00 1:44:07

Yeah, it feels like it should be something that you should have to bring up.

SPEAKER_02 1:44:11

Yeah, but I've heard people like being like, Have you thought about this? So it's like that just say you want to kill someone. Like, you're not trying to help people if you're like, I think you should kill yourself. Like, you're just making it worse. So I think Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:44:26

That's it, right? Exactly. It feels like bizarre and complicated, and um I mean kind of in this in much in the same way uh as the answer for can you get a boner if you have a spinal cord injury? Uh it depends.

SPEAKER_02 1:44:40

Um Yeah, I think it's just it's about um like the authority over your own life, right? Like if you're like, I want to kill myself, that's super chill. Not for depression. I want to put the one right now. If it's something that can be improved on, if you're like, I want to kill myself because I'm depressed, let me do right to die, I'd be like, how about we try a round of at least three antibiotics or antibiotics, antidepressants first, and we'll see what happens.

SPEAKER_00 1:45:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:45:04

We have options first, but like I don't think a doctor should ever be allowed to suggest it. I also know that there's those suicide pods that just started. This oh, in like Norway, right? Yeah, which also, like, hey man, I'm not I don't I don't trust those.

SPEAKER_00 1:45:19

Will Will could have done that. He could have uh he could have gone with Patrick to Norway. I don't trust the suicide pods. W why? I don't know as much about these.

SPEAKER_02 1:45:28

I just feel like they could be used for a lot more nefarious reasons. If I'm being entirely honest, if it's like you can buy a suicide pod and all of a sudden I'm just putting my enemies in the suicide pot. I just am like, I don't know about that one. That feels like it shouldn't be allowed as much.

SPEAKER_00 1:45:42

For sure. Um I think the other thing about this book that I thought of while researching and writing this episode is that I don't know if you remember this, but during the late aughts, early tens, there was like a huge call for like the concept of a rom-com or like a romance a romance story where the couple just like doesn't work out. It just uh right person, wrong time type shit.

SPEAKER_02 1:46:11

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 1:46:12

And and just the story ends with them not being together because you want that just watch Titanic or some shit. I have it written down in my notes as the Ten's urge to issue a romance that ends with the couple together. It's the millennial urge to the the the edgy millennial urge to have a romance that features two people not getting together. Um I think this book really fits uh really well into that canon.

SPEAKER_02 1:46:40

I just I don't like that shit.

SPEAKER_00 1:46:42

I also don't like that.

SPEAKER_02 1:46:43

Then don't watch a rom-com. If you don't want the people doing together, don't watch a rom-com. There are plenty of books out there where this happens, there are plenty of movies.

SPEAKER_00 1:46:51

Well, because this this is born out of the um the the Millennial Contrarian um um thing where people would be like um they would like watch like an early 2000s rom com and they'd be like uh in the real world, these people would break up in like four months.

SPEAKER_02 1:47:05

Well, thank god they're not in the real world.

SPEAKER_00 1:47:07

Yeah, thank god I don't have to watch them be together for four months.

SPEAKER_02 1:47:11

Think about think about how often you're in a restaurant, you watch people break up. It's there for you in real life.

SPEAKER_00 1:47:16

Awesome. No, it's it's so cool when they break up in public.

SPEAKER_02 1:47:20

It's not it's so funny. It sucks.

SPEAKER_00 1:47:23

It sucks. Breaking up in public is really funny. No, it's not, it sucks. Why? How many times have you broken up in public? I don't want to answer that. You gotta break up in private. That way at too brute. That way nobody can see what like an embarrassing person you are in the uh emotional an emotional time like a breakup. A break you're at like your worst during a breakup. You're like, I'm about to make like 16 of the worst decisions I've ever made.

SPEAKER_02 1:47:55

I'm not saying anything. Uh breaking up in public is fine if you're like a teen. Don't it's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 1:48:02

It's all if you're a teenager, break up in public for for our viewing pleasure.

SPEAKER_02 1:48:07

For our viewing pleasure, maybe call it in, drop the low type shit.

SPEAKER_00 1:48:10

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Post it on Facebook.

SPEAKER_02 1:48:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:48:15

Let me know where I need to be today.

SPEAKER_02 1:48:17

Be there, trust.

SPEAKER_00 1:48:20

Is it at the mall? I can grab some anti-ands.

SPEAKER_02 1:48:22

Oh my god. Get the anti-ands while watching teens cry. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 1:48:27

Yeah. Uh but like the the what I think I I also think I wonder if JoJo Moyes is just like a big Nicholas Sparks fan. Because every Nicholas Sparks book ends with them not being together.

SPEAKER_02 1:48:40

Why do I need more of that bullshit if you don't want them to be together just watch a Nicholas Sparks movie, you fucking freaks.

SPEAKER_00 1:48:48

Yeah, watch Knights and Rodanthe.

SPEAKER_02 1:48:50

Uh uh, fucking, where's the one? What's the one when Channing Tatum calls his dad uh the arcler?

SPEAKER_00 1:48:58

Uh is that Dear John?

SPEAKER_02 1:48:59

Yes, it's Dear John. Watch Dear John!

SPEAKER_00 1:49:01

Watch Dear John. My favorite is every time you say that line, you give Channing Tatum like a heavy Boston accent. He does. He doesn't. In that movie, he basically does. In that movie, he does not, the movie takes place in like Alabama.

SPEAKER_02 1:49:15

Yeah, but he can't do accents, so it just sounds Boston.

SPEAKER_00 1:49:19

From Alabama.

SPEAKER_02 1:49:20

And yet you just Do you think Channing Tatum is gay?

SPEAKER_00 1:49:24

He's like bisexual or something.

SPEAKER_02 1:49:26

I don't know. Something about him gives gives like you would be happier with a man.

SPEAKER_00 1:49:29

He'd I'm sure he would be happy with a man.

SPEAKER_02 1:49:31

He's a children's author nowadays, I believe. Good for him. Yeah, he writes books for his daughter.

SPEAKER_00 1:49:36

Good for him. That's cute, right? I didn't know he was he had a daughter. Yeah, well, I would have a child with. I don't know. God. He bore his children. What? Are you jealous? Yeah. Channing, give me your seed! Channing, please! I have a better receptacle for your seed, Channing Tatum.

SPEAKER_02 1:49:52

Are you his little omega?

SPEAKER_00 1:49:53

Yeah. I'm his quivering hole. Uh anyway, this book um is fine. This book is fine. Um I get why people like it. Um I liked it better than The Housemaid. Um I I personally didn't love it. Um I think to be honest, it's it's uh one of the rare occasions where a movie is better than a book.

SPEAKER_01 1:50:25

Yeah, you did say that.

SPEAKER_00 1:50:27

Mostly because the movie takes out all the dumb side bullshit that like just makes the book really slow. There, you know, like the b the movie doesn't have the dumb, annoying scenes where uh Louisa and her sister argue about who gets the biggest bedroom.

SPEAKER_02 1:50:46

Yeah, shut up.

SPEAKER_00 1:50:47

Um the movie does remove stuff that I did like. Um for example, the movie part of the um I didn't mention it because it kind of doesn't matter to the plot, but um part of Louisa's character is that Nathan and Will make fun of her for like not doing stuff on like the weekends or where on her days off. Um at one point they ask her, they're like, oh like what'd you do this weekend? And she's like, nothing, I like read or whatever. And um Nathan has to pay Will like tw 20 pounds uh because he's uh because they made a bet on whether or not she would have done anything. Um and it later in the book it's revealed that the reason she doesn't go out anymore is because she's uh still traumatized uh from her sexual assault in the maze, um, which is why she doesn't go out, she doesn't party anymore. Um the movie takes out the sexual assault aspect. Uh decision I disagree with, but ultimately respect. Yep. But it leaves in the fact that she doesn't do anything.

SPEAKER_02 1:51:51

She's just a lame ass baby.

SPEAKER_00 1:51:52

She's just lame.

unknown 1:51:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:51:55

Um, you know, stuff like that. It's um uh I I think the movie does a really good job of trimming the fat.

SPEAKER_01 1:52:03

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:52:04

Um, it's not a good movie, to be clear.

SPEAKER_01 1:52:06

I wouldn't say I wouldn't.

SPEAKER_00 1:52:07

Amelia Clark was a crazy choice. Amelia Clark is a crazy choice. Amelia Clark is a couple of eyebrow actor. A crazy eyebrow actor.

SPEAKER_02 1:52:15

What's um Damon's name in Vampire Diaries?

SPEAKER_00 1:52:19

Oh, Ian Summerholder. Cut from the same cloth. 100%. It made me really consider like, um, is this a situation where like the reason Amelia Clark's been like a famous actress is because she's just been getting like good directors directing her? And and like this is a situation where Thea Sherrock isn't used to directing film, or like what is this? Because i her performance is crazy.

SPEAKER_02 1:52:48

She's one of the few actors who would benefit from a little bit of Botox to calm down the expression.

SPEAKER_00 1:52:54

Get some work done, bitch. Not work.

SPEAKER_02 1:52:56

I mean, you're perfect the way you are, but like calm down the eyebrow muscles. They're really they're going nuts on that shit.

SPEAKER_00 1:53:01

They go so crazy the whole movie. I uh part of me wonders, so the movie was written by Jojo Moyes. Um and part of me does wonder is this a situation where Jojo Moyes just like was like uh quirkier?

SPEAKER_01 1:53:17

More quirk!

SPEAKER_00 1:53:18

Yeah, act crazier. Your eyebrows are not doing enough, bitch. Um Your eyebrows are not doing enough, bitch. Or is it a situation where like being quirky is kind of out of Amelia Clark's wheelhouse? Because I mean, like, she's good as Daenerys Targaryen. Up until that last season.

SPEAKER_02 1:53:41

Is she bad in the last Well the last season was just horrendous, so it's nothing could have saved it. Truly, she was given shit on a platter and told to work with it.

SPEAKER_00 1:53:48

Um Or is it because I've seen like you know, like I've seen like the videos from like behind the scenes on Game of Thrones, and you have like the scene where like um they do like the table read for the last episode, and her eyebrows are going crazy the whole the whole time. So maybe it's just like a situation where like they're like play it up as you. Make the character you.

SPEAKER_02 1:54:10

I think also there's probably something where it doesn't help that quirkiness used to be in.

SPEAKER_00 1:54:16

Very much so.

SPEAKER_02 1:54:16

2012 was the time for quirk. Yeah. And quirk is just gauche now. We don't do quirk. A little cringe. So I mean, we're also watching it with the idea of like Ugh, ew, bitch. Ugh, why are you like that? Yeah. So I think it's act normal. There's just a lot of stuff going on, I think, where you're kind of just like, oh, I don't like that.

SPEAKER_00 1:54:33

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I I think um I don't think I would read the other two books. Actually, I might. They're on my Kindle, right? Yeah. If they're already on there, I might.

SPEAKER_02 1:54:45

Well, I mean, I guess. I should get the uh COVID novella too.

SPEAKER_00 1:54:49

Do not get the COVID novella. Um, but I I think um I I think like I said, I understand why people would like it. I I think it's just like a book that represents a different time period than we're currently in, and just like kind of isn't a story that I would be attracted to uh generally.

SPEAKER_02 1:55:12

Unfortunately, it is a victim of its time period.

SPEAKER_00 1:55:14

Very much so.

SPEAKER_02 1:55:15

Very dated.

SPEAKER_00 1:55:16

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't think this could be a or maybe it could be. I don't know that this could be a book club book right now.

SPEAKER_02 1:55:23

Except for for moms.

SPEAKER_00 1:55:24

For moms too. Moms would love this shit. Moms do love nonsense like this. Yes, I know. Moms moms love to be like, yeah, my book club is reading a book about um uh a a 13-year-old girl experiencing her first period, and where is it? Afghanistan!

SPEAKER_02 1:55:40

No, I know. I have a mom at a book club.

SPEAKER_00 1:55:43

But yeah, they love being like a girl, is it it's always like girl experiences first period literature, but it's like in like the the these girls cannot catch a break.

SPEAKER_01 1:55:53

No.

SPEAKER_00 1:55:53

It's like uh, oh, and and uh where is she? Um trying to cross the US Mexican border.

SPEAKER_02 1:56:01

Stop it.

SPEAKER_00 1:56:04

Oh, this girl is experiencing her first period, and when is it? Uh Belgium, the year 1942.

SPEAKER_02 1:56:14

How many more of these you got in you? That's the last one.

SPEAKER_00 1:56:16

It's the comedy's a rule of threes.

SPEAKER_02 1:56:18

I think. Well, you would think so. But that hasn't stopped you instead of my editing.

SPEAKER_00 1:56:28

And that's me before you.

SPEAKER_02 1:56:30

That's me before you.

SPEAKER_00 1:56:32

Me before you. Have a good, y'all.