My Sister Made Me Read It
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Join twenty-something year old sisters, Amy and Abby, each week as they dive into a chosen book to chaotically rant about swoon-worthy characters, characters they can’t stand, and worlds they can’t get their mind off of.
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My Sister Made Me Read It
BIG SWISS Review, Reuniting with Old Friends, and an Odd Cafe Experience
It’s Amy’s Week!
On this episode of the My Sister Made Me Read It podcast, it’s Amy’s week to choose what book we read, and she’s decided on the Funny Literary Fiction BIG SWISS by Jen Beagin. (26:15:7)
But before they dive in, Amy starts with explaining her current situation in her new house, Abby recalls running into her childhood best friend's mom and Amy has a very odd experience with a cafe involving a cold egg patty and unorganized books?
Subscribe and Leave us a Review down below! We want to hear from you and what you thought of Big Swiss. Give it a rating in the comment section of your rating!
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Credit for Intro and Outro music: This That Shizznit by Beat Mekanik, Free Music Archive, CC BY
Welcome back to my sister Mamie Read it podcast. Uh, today we're jumping into Big Swiss by Jen. Be amy chose it this week.
Track 1:I did.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Good choice. Good
Track 1:Yeah, I think it, yeah, it wasn't bad. It was cute.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:it. But before we get into the book, been going on? Amy moved into her new place
Track 1:oh my god, I did. I moved on, was today's Monday. I got all settled in on Thursday.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah.
Track 1:It's been a ride.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Well you have a yard for your dogs,
Track 1:I have a yard, which is good. It makes me like a little bit nervous. I've been like watching Drax doesn't really care. He like still hasn't really figured out that he has room and like freedom.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah.
Track 1:now and then he'll like get like a zoomie and it's so cute. But sunny is just like on the fence, like running laps constantly, like tracking squirrels, like all about it. And there's some stray cats that are in the neighborhood. So I think she like sees some of the cats. Yeah. But she's having a blast. But they're good. There's a lot more space. There's a lot more space, but I still don't have heat
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Heat or hot water. Do you
Track 1:or hot water. No, no hot water.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:it.
Track 1:Did I tell you about my cold showers?
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:You did. Did you end up like taking a sponge bath yesterday?
Track 1:No, I can't do it. I'm like nervous. But the cold showers have kind of like mastered, but when you like jump in, they're so, it takes so much work, like buildup to get into
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah.
Track 1:shower.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:I could
Track 1:So much buildup. But I get it. Like I get like the um, like the allure, allure of them after doing them.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:like I am somebody who I want it scolding hot when
Track 1:Me too. But I didn't have a choice, so I'm like having to take these ice cold fucking showers and I literally can't breathe.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah.
Track 1:so quick and then you get out and you're just like, holy shit. But you feel good.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:I was about say, are you tired when you get out of'em or are you like, re-energized,
Track 1:you feel like, you feel like you Like, I feel like I took like 12. Like what? Like B12 shots. Like I feel ready to go. They feel good, but it's really hard to get ins.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:yeah.
Track 1:Really hard to get in. But it's good we're settling in. You know, I still don't have like, some stuff I like don't have a fucking microwave. I don't have, so this house is, it's an old house, but it's newly renovated. So everything in here is brand new. So they like redid all, like all the appliances. I was like taking like all like the tape and shit off of them,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah.
Track 1:but they didn't put a washer dryer in here, which is common. And they didn't put a microwave, which I,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:weird.
Track 1:yeah.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:We don't have a microwave either. We haven't. We just didn't even buy one. And so we've gotten used to not having a microwave, but there are things in life that like you just need a microwave
Track 1:Do you remember? I was literally thinking, do you remember when we went to visit Amanda in her house and she didn't have a microwave? And we were like, what the fuck is wrong with you? How do you not a microwave? And now we both don't have microwaves
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:so mad she couldn't because if anybody knows mom, mom likes her coffee, like the devil's asshole, like
Track 1:like scolding hot.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:And,
Track 1:So like after two sips, she won't drink it.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:won't drink'cause it's too warm now. And so she'll have to go and reheat it. And at, at Amanda's place, I remember she, mom would be so mad, mom just kept getting up and re pouring it back in a sauce pan and having to heat it up back in a sauce pan. And she kept complaining how it wasn't getting hot enough'cause she was just impatient and wouldn't wait.
Track 1:I think I'm gonna order and then like, yes. So. I, which is fine. I mean, there's things that I knew coming into this house I would have to settle into and, and like, like wait a few weeks and like slowly kind of do things. But yesterday I did my full like grocery shop to like stock up the house
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah.
Track 1:and just got like my usual shit from Trader Joe's, like my like normal grocery list.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah.
Track 1:And on that grocery list I eat their, um, like the microwave rice. I like don't boil rice. I like the microwave one. So I bought like three boxes of their frozen microwave rice. And I go home and I'm like, fuck, I can't microwave the rice. So I think I'm gonna order microwave. I found one on Amazon. No they're not. It just was inconvenient. So I'm kind of going back and forth between these two. One is, it's on sale, so it's only 84 99. And then the other one is a block and decker one for a hundred. Can you see them?
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah.
Track 1:One, it's like a mirrored one. I think I'm gonna get that one. I think it's kind of cute.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Okay. And
Track 1:No.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:No, it is. I don't know if I'm buying a microwave because it's cute.
Track 1:Well, what are like the, I don't know what the I
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:I don't
Track 1:qualifications of a good microwave are.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:didn't even buy a microwave. I still don't have one.
Track 1:I'm just gonna fucking buy it. Okay. Fuck you. Buck and Decker. I'm gonna go with a cute one and I don't have a shower rod,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah.
Track 1:so I don't have a shower curtain. So I've been taking my cold showers with like a towel on the floor, so like, I don't like flood my bathroom. It's been, it is been just so fun.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:You know what I miss about not using a microwave is the, um, the beanbag things that you can put in the microwave and heat up.
Track 1:Yeah, I know. I've got like four of'em.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:the time, especially when it's like that time of the month I used to like get in bed and heat one up and like can't do that
Track 1:I have so many of them. And, um, I have two little sloth ones and then I have like a normal, like just a purple bag one.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Have the purple one. Mom gave us that
Track 1:Yeah. But the,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:I,
Track 1:my cute ones, like my stuffed animal ones, the dogs try to fucking get when I use'em, like they think they're toys. The purple one, they don't care about the purple one, but like the two slots that I have, like, they try to fucking eat.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Jose hates the smell of the purple one.
Track 1:Why it's lavender?
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:it smells so bad.
Track 1:it doesn't No, it doesn't.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:like overused it when we
Track 1:It's like burnt.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:but Yeah.
Track 1:Yeah, What, what's, what's going on? That's literally all that's going on with me. I've been in like a really weird head space the past few days. Like yesterday after I talked to you, after I had like a little, um, minty bee.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Mm-Hmm.
Track 1:I, I, um, went to meet my friends out'cause they were all out and like, just come out like, you need to get outta the house. So I get dressed, I get ready, I go out and meet them. We go to one bar, it's kinda like a pop-up bar here in Charlotte. And Megan called me and it was like, where are you? And I was like, I'm pulling in, in like two minutes. And she goes, I cannot, and anybody who knows Megan like this, you'll laugh at this.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Mm-Hmm.
Track 1:She's like, Amy, I can't sit in there. It smells like poop. I don't know why it smells like poop in there. She was like, I can't do it. I'm not gonna sit in there. And I was like, okay. And she goes, our other friends were in there. She's like, they ordered drinks, but I'm just waiting outside. I'm not going back in there. It smells like poop. And I'm like, okay, well I'm about to pull up. So
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:God.
Track 1:I was like, let me come in. So I go, she was not wrong. Like, I think like a sewer, like a pipe or something busted in there. It literally smelled like shit. And I'm like, yeah dude, we're not, and I was in such like a bitch ass mood. I was like, no. And I was like, and I'm not waiting for'em to finish their drink. Like let's just go somewhere. So they um, we all ended up going to another bar over by like my old house. Do you remember? Oh gosh. I don't think, no, you haven't been here. Um, have you heard me talk about milk bread? The place on the corner I love it has like chicken biscuits. Anyways, there's like a little coffee place on the corner of where I used to live over in the city. And um, we went to like a club type place across the street and I park, well first I couldn't find fucking parking, so I drive all the way around. I ended up parking in a CVS parking lot'cause I didn't wanna pay for parking'cause I don't want to be here anyways. So I'm like,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah.
Track 1:go to like, and I walk over to the club that we're at. I'm walking up and the girls are like, Amy, like, you know,'cause I seen you walking across the street and then I see Bailey is like, he knows you and is like pointing to like the bouncer. And I like was like, fuck, who is this? Because I have histories with bouncers, you know,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah.
Track 1:I've dated them. I fought them.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Good and bad things.
Track 1:actually both of those were really bad things.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah.
Track 1:so I'm like, who the fuck is this? So, and he, I walk up and it's somebody that I knew who is fine, like I, you know, was friends with. Um, but I was like, okay, I don't even wanna be here. And I was like, oh, I'm like so glad I saw you. Like I'm in such a bitch ass mood. Like now I'm like, feel like a little bit better. We go in and all my friends, it's like. Uh, it's literally three o'clock in the afternoon. And this used to be my life. Like we used to be out from 9:00 AM to fucking 2:00 AM on Sundays, like just partying all day. But now that I don't drink, like I haven't done that in a while. You know, I talked to you yesterday, I had a fucking migraine. So this music is like blasting, it's like a hookah bar. So there's like smoke everywhere and I'm like, and they're like all ordering, like drinks and stuff. And I like, bro, I looked at Bailey and I was like, I, I'm going to, I'm walking across the street and getting my ass a fucking coffee and a donut. Like I'm going to milk bread wherever you guys are going next, I'll meet you out. Like,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah.
Track 1:not doing this right now. I'm like, I literally was like on the verge of tears. I did not wanna be there. So she was like, okay, like that's fine. So I walk across the street, I get my coffee, I sit and have my coffee in my donut. And then, um, they texted me and was like, Hey, we're going like to this place. And I was like, you know what guys? Have a great time. I like, I can't do it like I tried. I cannot do it. So I ended up going to the grocery store and then coming home last night and that was exactly what I needed to do.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah. Well,
Track 1:like, I literally, I texted them and I was like, I'm sorry, I'm gonna go home. Like I am not in the head space to be out and like, I really want to stay sober for as long as possible. And if I would've stayed out another 20 minutes, I would've pounded vodka shots. So I had to get outta there.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Well, that's good that you knew that
Track 1:Yeah. So I feel like I was going somewhere with that
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:I'm not sure
Track 1:anyways.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:I, um, you're not gonna believe who I ran into the other day.
Track 1:Oh God, I get scared.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:No, no, nobody bad. I, um, I ran into Costco to one of our friends, just got diagnosed with cancer and so, um, he had to have surgery. And so Jose and I, I made them food and we made them like a whole basket. So I went to Costco to pick him up, like a thing of cookies, his girlfriend, like a thing of cookies and like a rotisserie chicken and like all of that stuff. And I'm like going down the aisle and I looked down an aisle and I see Ginger
Track 1:No fucking way
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah. And I was like, I thought I saw ghosts. Like, I kind of was like, and then like I looked again and Jose was like in the car'cause he had to take a business call and I was like, I'll just run in. And he was like, I'll meet you in a minute. And so it was, I was just by myself and I went up to her and I hugged her. I haven't seen her in like.
Track 1:a long time.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:And, um, so we talked forever. Jose came in, we were talking and she was like, I'm making dinner, like Sammy's coming, and she was like, she's coming home, she has a doctor's appointment in the morning, like, come for dinner. And I was like, are you sure? And she was like, yeah, yeah. Like, David's gonna come home, whatever. So, um, Jose ended up staying home, but I went to dinner at their house nights ago
Track 1:Oh, how fun you got to see Sammy.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah. It was like, we were just laughing at like old shit
Track 1:was the last time you saw Sammy?
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:before.'cause she went to Bangkok for a year. So before that it has to be like three years.
Track 1:That's wild.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:like we haven't like seen each other. And um,
Track 1:Isn't she engaged?
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah, she's getting married in June
Track 1:What the fuck is up with all you fucking like I, it. I can't. I can't.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:got married yesterday
Track 1:saw,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:yeah,
Track 1:saw she looked beautiful.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:about it. She did. But, um,
Track 1:I know I just, and her sister like, see, I, I mean we don't, I don't wanna like name put say names on here, but her, when her sister got engaged, I was like, I remember when we found out she was, her mom was pregnant with her. I like that. I remember that.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:yeah,
Track 1:And now she's engaged.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:with her little helmet.
Track 1:Oh,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:No, but
Track 1:like, what the fuck is time?
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:we were having dinner and, uh, she was showing me all this stuff for her wedding and she showed, because, you know, I didn't do the whole shebang, so I'm like, tell me all about it. Like, what do you have to do? And her, she showed me her dress. It is beautiful. Like, it just like fits her perfectly. And she, her wedding's gonna be really nice. It's gonna be like 200 people.
Track 1:Damn.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:um. Yeah. So it was really, it was really fun. Like we were, her mom was just like, this is why we need you in your life.'cause we were just like belly laughing all
Track 1:Yeah.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:about like, shit we used to do. And like, you know, the, the time where I put my finger in the cigarette lighter,
Track 1:Yep.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:know that story where, and Sam was like, it's so funny'cause I look back on that and I wasn't like, don't do it. Like, I was kind of like, egging you on.
Track 1:Yeah, she would. She was a little troublemaker.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:And I was like, I'll never forget dad coming back and being like, are you fucking kidding me?
Track 1:Yeah. Like what?
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:And, uh, when I cut my finger, of course, cutting the apple and like, just little stuff like that, we were all just like giggling. So it was, it was nice.
Track 1:That's fun.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:yeah. Yeah, it was good. But I mean, aside from that, like we had dinner with his Jose's family last night, but that's about it.
Track 1:How was your steakhouse?
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:It was all right. I had a burger. I never buy a
Track 1:You never get burgers.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:I never get a burger. And I was like, the burger, someone like ordered a burger by us. And so I saw the waiter walk by and I was like, that kind of looks good. And I didn't want a steak. And so I was like, I think I'm gonna get a burger.
Track 1:Did it make you safe?
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:No, I only
Track 1:Good,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:a third of it if that. I didn't, you know, any, like a lot of it. um, no, it was a really good, it was really good. No, everyone, we had a good. time,
Track 1:good. I'll show you the funniest story.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:what,
Track 1:on, um, when was it? On Friday morning, I had to bring the U-Haul back to the U-Haul place. So Melanie took or picked me up at the U-Haul store. I was like, um, hey, I gotta take this U-Haul back, like, can you pick me up? And I was like, I'll buy you breakfast. She's like, yeah, sure. So we went, um, to drop off the U-Haul. And then she found, she was like, can we go here? Like, she found like this place, I don't even remember what it was called, but it was like a little coffee shop with a bookstore.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Mm-Hmm.
Track 1:And she's like, this, it's like seven minutes away. Do you just wanna go here? And I'm like, yeah, sure. So we go and we like walk in. It's cute. We like quickly realize it's like a used bookstore, which is fine. Um, and we go and we like are ordering and there's like this kid behind the behind the counter and he looks like he's like 15, like probably like his first type job. Cute. Whatever we order and they have food. And I was like, oh, I'm gonna, I was starving. I'm like, I'm gonna get like a, um, can I get the egg and cheese, egg cheese and bacon croissant? And he's like, yeah. And Mel's like, oh, me too, actually, I think I'm gonna have that too. And he's like, yeah, sure. So we're just like standing there like I'm paying. And um, he puts a, like a little to go box thing on the counter, like the clear ones, you know,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Mm.
Track 1:on the counter. Two of'em. And he goes, oh, you guys got the last ones. And we're like, oh, cool. Like, I thought he was about to like, take them and like cook, I don't know, like cook them or something. And we can see in there it's like a little like egg patty with like two pieces of bacon, right? And he like, takes'em out of the fridge and just puts'em down. And we're like, oh, cool. And I'm like, finishing up paying. And he goes, um, we're out of croissants. Um, are you guys okay with bagels? And I was like, yeah, that's fine. And he goes, okay, the bagels over there. And we're like, so we're just standing there. And like, we're both like, oh, okay. Um,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:own egg and cheese bagel. okay.
Track 1:So we, like, Melanie, like, looks at me, she's like, oh. Um, so she grabs, she like grabs like the two to go box things off of the counter and he's literally like the bigs over there and like walked away. And is like talking to his coworkers. And me and Mel are just like, um, okay. So we like grab the tickle boxes and we go grab bagels and there's, we like are just standing there and we're like looking at each other like, what the fuck is happening? What the fuck? Like, what do we do? And we're like trying not to laugh. I was like, literally like, you know, when you're trying not to laugh so hard, you like art tears,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah.
Track 1:I was like, what the fuck? So we go over to like this little table where there's like a toaster and a microwave
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Mm-Hmm?
Track 1:I'm like, okay, I guess we're making our own. So we like, literally like they, he just gave us like a cold. He gave us like a cold piece of egg, a cold piece of bacon, no cheese to be found. The cheese was not in the room with us at all. No cheese. And we had to like toast our bagel and heat up this egg and bacon and just like smush it all together by ourselves. It was the most, like, the weirdest experience I've ever had in my life.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Was it eat edible?
Track 1:It was not good. It definitely was not good. It was so weird. We were just like looking at each other like, what the fuck was that? Like what? Like it felt so like, not like, it literally felt like a joke.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah.
Track 1:were like looking around like, what is happening? I'm so confused. We just made our own egg.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:it just made our own. Heck.
Track 1:It was so strange.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Oh,
Track 1:It was so strange. But anyways, and then like, like the books were weird. Like nothing was organized. Like we were like walking around. Like it was so overwhelming. Like there was no genre, like nothing, like there were just like books on shelves.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:find a spot. Yeah.
Track 1:I was like, Mel, I'm recommending this place to every single person I know. And they're gonna be like, oh wow. Is the food great? No. Is the coffee good? No. Are the books good? No, just, you just need to go, you just need to experience.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:it.
Track 1:You just experienced, trust me, it's the most shocking experience of your life. You love it. Like, okay. But I found, um, so she found like six books. So she,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:their system works.
Track 1:yeah, she found a lot that she was like, and like every time we found something, we recognized, we were like, we, it was so like random. So I got, I found six of Crows, so I bought that book.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Oh,
Track 1:And then, um, what is that book called? Um, like Vampire Slayers Book Club or something.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah.
Track 1:book called? It has nothing to do with vampires. I don't know. I don't know why it's called that.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Is it Buffy
Track 1:No, it has nothing to do with vampires. Um,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:the Southern Book Club's Guide to s Slang
Track 1:Let me see. Is it that peaches on it?
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah.
Track 1:Yeah. That one.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:It's loading.
Track 1:Mm-Hmm.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah.
Track 1:I got that one.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:By Grady Hendrick
Track 1:Yeah. I love Grady Hendrix. She found a few. She found, um, she got, so I was like looking and I was like, oh, my sister loves this author. It was Jody Pickett.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Mm-Hmm.
Track 1:Is that how you say her name? Pick.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:I think so.
Track 1:And, um, I was like, my sister loves this author. I was like, I think my sister loves this book. And I picked it up and it was, um, something, what is it? No, um, small thing, something. I said, it's the one.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:of her books, but I do like her books.
Track 1:I looked, I was looking at it and she, Melanie was like, that's my favorite book of all time. That's my favorite book of all time. And I was, she was like, I want that book on my shelf. I was like, you can have it. I don't think I'm gonna read it.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:yeah. The huge thing with Jodi right now is a lot of her books are getting banned in like Florida
Track 1:Why? Why?
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:they're, a lot of them are like heavier, um, Like she wrote a book about a school shooting
Track 1:Mm-Hmm.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:and, um. haven't read that one, so I haven't really looked into it much, but I just know that she's kind of fighting that a lot right now.
Track 1:Yeah. The one that Melanie took home was, um, the one about the. She was like a, a nurse and a child was like dying. And she was like, I guess like the parents wish, like they didn't want like any like black people touching their kid.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Mm-Hmm.
Track 1:And she was the only person around. And her, and the, the kid was coding and she's a black nurse and she was like, had to make the decision, like to save this child's life or to follow like, the orders of the parents. And she, Yeah. So, but Mel,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:That's why I like her. She just writes stuff that makes you a little bit uncomfortable, but like, needs to be written and needs to be talked about,
Track 1:yeah. Did you read Mad Honey?
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:no, not yet. It's on my list to read.
Track 1:Yeah, I wanna read it to him.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah, I, um, finished full measures by Rebecca Yaris last night.
Track 1:Did you like it?
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:I did actually, I was telling you before, it reminded me a lot of like, icebreaker. um, the beginning of the book starts off and you find out that her father died in, um, combat and he was like a, he was a doctor in Afghanistan. And, um, so kind of like, you have that idea and then she like meets somebody and then you have kind of like that theme going on. So, I mean, and then you have, he plays hockey, so like that's where, like, it came in but, um, no, it was really, if you liked Icebreaker, I'd say read it, but it's not as good as Icebreaker. But I always have liked Rebecca Ya's writing and her, like, she's very descriptive and she brings a lot of like, liveliness into her books. And I mean, this one was no different, but this was her first book, which
Track 1:Oh, true, true.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:But, um, yeah, like I, I'll probably give it like a four.
Track 1:Interesting,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah. But, um.
Track 1:interesting.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:next week we'll read, um, red, white, and Blue. And then I'm gonna try to read powerless this week.
Track 1:I started Aqua of Frost and Starlight last night, which is the fourth guitar book. It's really tiny. It's like, it's like the small one out of them. So I should finish it fast and then I'll start Which one We're starting next and then I'm reading The Sinner still
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah. I've been thinking about starting, uh, Sarah j masses books. I just wanna, like, I've been doing a lot of research on like which series to read first
Track 1:Read aar please.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:that's what people are saying. That's like the easiest
Track 1:You have to read that one first. Oh my God, it's so fucking good. I it like I can't, it's like so hard to even talk about because like you don't, you won't understand unless you fucking read them.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:No,
Track 1:They're so good. They're so good. I don't understand people who are like haters of it. I really don't. I cannot get behind it. It is the best books. I'm like gonna get a tattoo when I finish it. I'm getting an guitar tattoo. I'm obsessed. I swear to God. It's so good. It's so good.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Well,
Track 1:There's so many good, like just little things in it.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:yeah,
Track 1:it. You'll really love it.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:no, I know. I'll love it. It's just I have to do some stuff first before I
Track 1:It's,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:put
Track 1:it's like,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:those books.
Track 1:it's like all encompassing. Like I saw the TikTok the other day. I like sent it to the girls. I was like, if you, I was like, please, if you ever feel like,'cause I like try to convince them to like read my books all the time. And I'm like, just don't listen to me when I try to convince you to read my fairy books because it's like a commitment that none of y'all are ready for.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:yeah, yeah,
Track 1:it is such a commitment.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:no, I started following her on Instagram and I've just been watching like her, um, book tour and stuff that she's on right now for the, um. It's a different series.
Track 1:Crescent City.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah,
Track 1:Yeah.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:no, she's, she's really cool. I like her a lot.
Track 1:I love her. I wanna do the Throne of Glass series next, but I wanna read Kingdom of Her, kingdom of Ash.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Mm-Hmm.
Track 1:But I don't know. I've got lots to read.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah. You wanna get into Big Swiss?
Track 1:Yeah, let's talk about her.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah. Um,
Track 1:on it?
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:uh, not necessarily notes, I just have like some things highlighted. I, so this author went and got her MFA, which is her master's in fiction writing. You can tell, like she has such descriptive sentences that it's just like, it's kind of like, huh. And then.
Track 1:I loved it. I really loved her writing.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:I realized when I was going back. Her names are very, very accurate. Like her names itself describe the
Track 1:Mm-Hmm.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:like Greta is such a good name. Big Swiss was, I mean, obviously such a good name. And then like, even like m for the
Track 1:Mm-Hmm. Yeah, but Big Swiss's name Flavia. Like I could see that,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah, yeah,
Track 1:could see her and Luke, her husband Luke, like, yeah, he seems like a fucking Luke.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:And like how, um, Greta's ex-fiance was Stacey and it was a man.
Track 1:I loved it.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah,
Track 1:You're so right. I didn't even think of that because like she describe, and we could talk about it in detail, but like the way she describes her ex-fiance, like that's a fucking Stacey,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Mm-Hmm.
Track 1:you know?
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:it's so funny because I think she's technically like, I think she is a lesbian. I don't think she's bi. And so
Track 1:I think she is lesbian too.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:was even with
Track 1:man she was with was a girl named. Yeah. And he was very feminine. Yeah.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah.
Track 1:yes, yes. yes. Did you see the back of, do you have the hard copy, right?
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah.
Track 1:Did you see the questions in the back?
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:I don't have questions in the back.
Track 1:Topics and questions for discussion. It's after the acknowledgements
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:No, I don't have that. That's
Track 1:really?
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:No, I,
Track 1:you know why I have the Barnes de Novo exclusive edition.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:uh, yeah, I just bought mine on Amazon.
Track 1:Okay. So I have like a whole section in the back at the end, um, for book clubs.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:My first page doesn't even look like that.
Track 1:That's not my, this isn't my fir this is the ba this is the end.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Oh, what's the questions?
Track 1:This is after the acknowledgements at the end. It's like a book club edition. So it has, it says, this reading group guide for Big Swiss includes an introduction, discussion, questions and ideas for enhancing your book club has a few other things. So it has like a,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:a feel.
Track 1:it has like a synopsis. A synopsis, so I can read that to get started. So it kind of tells people what this book's about and then it has topics and questions for discussion.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah.
Track 1:Um,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Go ahead.
Track 1:and then did you know, I'll, I'll get into it, but it's very interesting. I wish you would've had this little tidbit because I don't think om is a real person, obviously. Yeah.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:In like real life.
Track 1:Like, I think he's a fictional character,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah.
Track 1:but this book is based on her life.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Oh, I didn't know that.
Track 1:Yeah. So it tells you like a little bit. So she does, she does like a little, um, so at the end it says transcript of a conversation between Om and Jen Bacon. So it has like a transcript of like a conversation between her and Om
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:so is she Greta or is she big Swiss,
Track 1:Greta.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:huh? Yeah.'cause like, this is the. I got a hard cover. So
Track 1:Yeah.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:thing,
Track 1:Yeah. I have it too.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:she's like with a donkey, so I wonder if those are those donkeys. Yeah.
Track 1:Lemme see. Oh, see, I just have a tiny picture.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah,
Track 1:Yeah,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Interesting.
Track 1:yeah. It tells
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Well, I mean, we could say this now. I guess I found out that HBO just bought the rights. They're gonna make a show on
Track 1:No way. Oh, it'll be good.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:let me show you who they, they just casted Big Swiss.
Track 1:No way.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah. Let me show you. That's what I was pulling up the article before Jody Comer.
Track 1:Jody Comer. Perfect.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:exactly who I imagined.
Track 1:That's so fun. Is it gonna be a show or a movie?
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:I think it's gonna be like a, A show.
Track 1:Okay, let me read this introduction of the book.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah, go ahead.
Track 1:Okay. Greta lives with her friend Sabine, in an 18th century B infested farmhouse in Hudson, New York, where she works as a transcriptionist for a sex therapist called Om. Greta becomes obsessed with one of his clients whom she nicknames big Swiss of repressed married woman with a history of trauma. At a chance meeting Greta introduces herself under a fake name. The two feel an almost immediate intimacy and an enmeshed friendship quickly leads to an I intense affair. But Greta can't bring herself to reveal the truth about her identity, and neither of them can seem to escape the events and people of their past exploring themes of mental health and infidelity, sexual stereotypes and romantic obsession. Big Swiss is a dark, funny love story about what happens when sparks unexpectedly fly. I loved this book. You're so funny.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:it's gonna be a limited series
Track 1:Okay. That'll be so good. I cannot wait to watch that.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:it's gonna be produced by Adam McKay, and I'm pretty sure Adam McKay produced UM, suits.
Track 1:Interesting.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:show. I'm pretty sure that's who did that. But anyways, yeah. Um, I really liked this book because it was different. Like I've never read anything
Track 1:So different. That's what I told. Yeah, that's what I told people. I was like, it's just different. Like, but it had me giggling like the whole time. Like some of like the one-liners.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:my, I have to say this one liner, let me find it.
Track 1:as I'm reading, I'm the worst. I don't annotate, like I love my, I love physical books. Like I read most of our books on in physical, like copy,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:mm-Hmm.
Track 1:and I love that. But like, when I'm on my Kindle, I'm annotating like crazy When I just have a physical book, I don't annotate them and I wish I did. I need to start doing that
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:I have, um,
Track 1:because there's so many things.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:of all my, like utensils and I just carry it around when I go and read.
Track 1:That's the least aesthetic thing I've ever seen in my life. You need to get like a better system.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:you can buy the, the things that like
Track 1:I know that's a,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:the ones that are magnetic. I just don't wanna spend the
Track 1:that's so extra.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Um, no, I. This is one where I actually put the book down and just like laughed.'cause I thought it was the funniest shit on page 88. It's, she's transcribing, um, a therapy session between m and somebody with the initials NEM. she's talking about her relationship with this
Track 1:Mm-Hmm.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:and she says, um, they're talking, I think they're talking about just having sex or something. Oh, doing the slow blinking.
Track 1:Yeah.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:do you do it around round Bryan? And she goes, not often. It happened the other, the other day though, and I'm trying to remember the occasion. Oh yeah. He said, my pussy smelled like an aquarium supply store in Chinatown. And then it jumps.'cause like M is a also doing therapy with the guy. And so M's like trying to get him to like admit to like what he
Track 1:Yeah. Yeah.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:perhaps like you misdirected. And then he's like, well what do you mean? And he is like, is there something else she that may have upset her? And he goes, man, did she say something? Nevermind. I know you can't answer that. I think she had PMS also. I said her pussy smelled a tiny bit like fish jaws and she completely flipped out. Even though I love fish sauce, I sprinkle that shit on everything. Oh my God.
Track 1:It's so funny. It's so, it's this book is real as fuck. Like it is so fucking real.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:funny.
Track 1:funny. I loved seeing like, and towards like, as at, in the beginning, we only have Greta as like the, she's the main character of the book, right? So we're like seeing her doing her work and like we see like a lot of transcribing of like these therapy sessions that she's transcribing, I guess. But we see like the, um, the therapy sessions like between her and these people. And I love, I love that. I really loved that. And then as the book goes on, like, and we have like more of her and um, Flavia have like a face-to-face relationship. It's not more, it's not like a lot of the transcribing anymore. And I kind of miss that towards the end.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:yeah. And like it starts off, the book starts off and she's already with Sabine in this house and she's already the transcriber. And then it kind of, and I, I thought this to myself when I was reading it. The author does such a good job of like pushing you into information without it feeling jarring. Like, and like without it feeling like, oh, we're being like separated from the action.'cause it was like. Something would lead her into, you know, how she used to be a pharmacist tech, and then how her boss, har Harper, uh, hopper killed himself. And then how that reminded her of her mother killing herself and how like the pss were different on their notes. then it like led into like Stacey and her ex, uh, fiance. And then it led into like I mean, that's kind of how she ended up like, this isn't my life. I don't want this life. And then she kind of like restarted her life and came to Sabine and all these things and it was like, we're totally far away from like, what's actually going on, but like, I'm still so enthralled in like her life and what's going on.
Track 1:book did a really good job of, of kind of showing how traumas throughout your life, kind of like build up and make you like the person that you are and like the way that you process the world.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah. And like definitely at the end of the book, I think that's. We talked about this a little bit, how like the ending feels like it's unresolved, but I was telling
Track 1:Mm-Hmm.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:this book and I was like, I think, I know that was obviously like intentional, but like I think the point of the message is that idea of like, if you have trauma in your life, you're not gonna be able to keep going forward without dealing with it. Like at some point you're gonna have to address it and you're gonna have to address what effects it has on you. And, um, at the very end I think she realizes her mother's death and her mother's suicide has had more effect on her than she even thought. And it,
Track 1:kind of didn't ever, she never like processed that.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:yeah, disassociated from it. It was just like, that happened in my life, you know? And so it came to a point where it, I think it took the person who she had, I think she really cared about Flavia, I think it came to a point where like she couldn't even love somebody else'cause she couldn't even figure herself out yet. And like Flavia says that
Track 1:There, I, I, throughout the book, like I had very faltering feelings about Flavia.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Mm-Hmm.
Track 1:I went back and forth on, I was like, do I like this character? Like, I, like, she's very, um, troubled
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:And
Track 1:to me. She was very troubled. Like, I feel like she was kind of written to be like the person, like I feel like Greta was written to come off as like the troubled one. Like the one who has like suicide thoughts, who struggles with mental health, who like, is kind of just floating around in the world. Like she, like is older and Flavia has her shit together. She's 28, she's married, she's got a great job, like. She's gorgeous. She's like sought after she like, knows what she wants. Like I feel like, but Flavia was the one that was more,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:The, The, way I saw it.
Track 1:she was problematic to me.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:the book. I, see that, but
Track 1:I,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:I think especially'cause Greta's older but not necessarily because of that. I think Flavia and Greta are both two characters who have gone through trauma and it's the depiction of that trauma at different stages. So like
Track 1:Oh yeah.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:stage that Greta was at years before with Stacey
Track 1:Kinda like denial and like fighting it
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:and fighting it. And then Greta is like more progressed now
Track 1:she's just like, what? What the fuck? Ever.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:yeah. And I think that's why Greta's kind of attracted to Big Swiss.'cause she sees herself in her so
Track 1:Yeah. I was about to read like the first depiction of Big Swiss that we get is the transcript. Of her therapy session and she's talking to Om, so she's in, om is a sex therapist and she's talking to Om. And trauma comes up because Flavia we find, went through an assault. Um, and she says to om, can we stop using the word trauma? And he said, why? I don't use what happened to me as an excuse, an excuse for what? And she kind of like says, I don't use it to explain my rage or aggression. I'm not attached to my suffering. I'm not attached to what happens to me. Like that type of shit. I would never call myself a survivor. I'm just not one of those trauma people. She says, and he says, well, what's a trauma person? And she says, someone who can't stop saying the word trauma. Trauma people are almost as unbearable to me as Trump people. I thought that was funny. If you try to suggest that they let go of their suffering, they're victim hood, they act re-traumatized. It's like, yes, what happened to you is shitty. I'm not denying that. But why do you keep rolling around in your own shit? If they stopped doing that for two seconds and got over themselves even a little, they might be act, they might actually become who they were meant to be,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah.
Track 1:which is not untrue. I mean, but it, it just, yeah. And, but it just kinda like shows you her mindset and like her stage of like life, like she's kind of like
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:She's very
Track 1:like pushing it away.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:take the bull by the horns and like direct it where you wanna direct it.
Track 1:Yeah.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Um, yeah, I liked her. I liked her character because she was so cut and dry and was so like, um, where Greta was a little bit hazy in like you seeing her trauma and how it affected her. I feel like you can really see how it affects big Swiss throughout the book. She just became like inconsistent and she became like.
Track 1:Who Flavia.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah, like, like she was like, when her and Greta are starting to be intimate, she's like, you can't touch me. And then they touch each other. She touches her for like one night and she's like, you can do anything to me tomorrow. And it's like, what? okay.
Track 1:was very all over the place. Like, so basically Greta is transcribing this and she, she describes, um, so they live in a small town in Hudson and she describes like, because she, and she has like an NDA and everything, so she can't talk about who, who she's transcribing. Um, but she, she says that she like can recognize their voices when she's out. So she'll, like, if she's at a coffee shop for example, she was at like this coffee shop and she recognized like some voices and she's looking and she recognized them as the people who were talking about her Puy smells like a Chinatown aquarium.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah.
Track 1:those two at the coffee shop. And um, I. So she like knew that it was them, but, and she feels like this deep, like she, she kind of like says it feels like people that she's friends with, but it's like a one-sided relationship.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Mm-Hmm.
Track 1:And it says right here in this topic in questions for discussion. It says, um, when Greta encounters some of M'S clients in Hudson, she thinks they were as familiar as characters from a novel. And when she meets Big Swiss Greta felt an immediate intimacy in the same way. Her favorite podcast host sometimes feels, sometimes felt like friends. What do you think of these kinds of one-sided relationships in the novel and in your own life? Do you think it's possible for them to develop into mutual ones? Um, that was just like a little discussion question.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:I think podcast hosts, I think singers, I think even authors, like a lot of people. I think that's an argument you can have of like fans. Can become so connected to people, especially now in our day and age of like influencers where they believe like they have an opinion or they have a say in these people's lives, um, that line, that line is being crossed. But so I, I think when she comes face to face with big Swiss, there's a little bit of that. And then there's also like, she thought she was ugly and she's like absolutely beautiful
Track 1:in the transcripts we describe she, big Swiss describes her salt and how it was very violent and, um,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:to her head
Track 1:to her head and her face. And Greta kind of assumes that she's disfigured. Um, and she even kind of says that in transcribing all of these different things she's. Gotten to know the therapist ohm very well in his, um, like mannerisms and the way he responds and acts towards his clients. And she said that he was responding to her in a way that he has, that she hasn't understood before of him.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Mm-Hmm.
Track 1:thought, well, maybe she's disfigured and like he's, yeah, like maybe he's, she's disfigured and she, you know, and, and he's kind of responding to her differently. So when she hears Flavia's voice at the dog park and encounters her, she recognizes her as big Swiss. And, um, she was shocked because, and this was already a person that she was enamored by, just based on her, her transcripts, she felt connected to her based on her transcripts and like to like the person that she was. And then when she met her at the dog park, she was like, holy shit, this is like a gorgeous woman. She's stunning. She's tall. She's blonde, she's got icy eyes, like, you know, she's like stunning. Not disfigured at all.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:It says. This is when she realizes it's big sw. She says, Greta felt feverish. Why hadn't she recognized the voice? Right away? She'd been too distracted by big swiss's staring problem. And her face. It was ev even more beautiful than Greta had initially imagined before she convinced herself that it was disfigured, except her cheekbones were higher. Her nose bonier, her brows darker, her hair longer, whisper, blonder nearly platinum.
Track 1:Yeah,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:And it says, Greta felt an immediate in intimacy in the same way her. Oh yeah, that's what it says. In the same way, her favorite podcast host sometimes felt like Friends.
Track 1:Yeah.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:yeah. Um,
Track 1:So she is like, okay. She immediately introduces herself under a different name. She like kind of panics.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:so funny to me.'cause at the end of that chapter, she's like, I think she's maybe like typing in her contact or something big swisses. And she goes, REBC. R-E-B-E-C-C, a big Swiss ass. And she says, R-E-B-E-K-A-H. Big Greta answered. And it was like that, like little detail of like changing my name to spell differently, like makes it seem more like legit.
Track 1:Why did you have a thumbs up over your head?
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:I don't know why did it do that,
Track 1:That was so weird.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:but, um, that was really weird. Um,
Track 1:a, that was a really good detail. You're right.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:just to make things more complicated, but I was like, I wouldn't have thought about that. I
Track 1:No, yeah. Greta digs a hole and that bitch just keeps on digging.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah. But I think she, that's how she lives her life.
Track 1:Yeah.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:She knows how to do that well. But I thought it was funny too. On page 31, it says, um, it talks about ALM and how he has a gong in his office. It says, um, the first time he'd mentioned it to a client, he said, I waxed my gong for you in case you wanted a sound bath at the end of our session, which Greta had transcribed as I waxed my dong for you, Al has exit a few days later it's gong honey, not dong a phrase. Greta now repeated to herself at random.
Track 1:Like shit like that was so funny. I waxed my dong for you. So fucking funny. And then like when she, I really like, I don't know why this stuck with me. I thought this was so funny. And like after, so her and Big Swiss meet, they develop a friendship which quickly turns into attraction.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah.
Track 1:And they start kind of like an affair, but their banter is so funny to me. Like they, they have great banter with each other and like, they like made me laugh and like they would, I remember like she said something about how she was diagnosed. I think it was, I think it was, Greta said that she was diagnosed with Ed and Big Swiss was like a erectile dysfunction. And she goes, no emotional detachment. I'm just like, like that just was fucking funny.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Big Swiss is also a gynecologist,
Track 1:it just was funny.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:intimate, there's a page, and I wouldn't be able to find it if I tried to right now, but like, um, she's talked like talking about getting intimate and I don't know if she's like actually fingering her at the time and it's like, your pelvis is tilted and you probably have this. And it's like, the fuck?
Track 1:They had the weirdest relationship,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:was really weird. It was really weird.
Track 1:the way that they spoke to each other and stuff. It was weird. I mean like it was like. Like, they obviously loved each other and like were, you know, but it was strange. Like some,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:strange and like
Track 1:their banter was strange,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:to me at the end. It got more and more confusing.
Track 1:confusing.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:but,
Track 1:so big Swiss is married to Luke, who seems like a great guy. Like he seems like a great comfortable choice,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Mm-Hmm.
Track 1:you know, like that kind of guy. They're very wealthy. Her and Big Swiss, or her big Swiss and her husband. And, um, Greta is, they're finding themselves like kind of falling in love with each other, whatever, whatever. And,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Well, let's say this big Swiss went to Umm originally because she couldn't orgasm. She had never orgasmed with herself or with her husband. And so there's this idea of like, she can't be intimate with her husband. And so then it turns into like, oh, maybe you just like woman. Maybe you're just not attracted to men. So
Track 1:So once she starts having sex with Greta.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:She's
Track 1:She's fine.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:of pleasure. Yeah. so it becomes the predicament of like, I'm married to a man, but I'm more attractive to this woman or woman in general.
Track 1:But what's interesting, so Big Swiss obviously does not know that Greta is transcribing her therapy sessions. So there's like a little bit of, um, I don't know if betrayal is the right word, but, but Greta is transcribing these therapy sessions, so she is like, kind of like hearing like her most intimate self, you know, like, which is kind of fucked, you know, that's kind of wrong. Like I would hate, like, so, um, and Greta doesn't tell'cause she just doesn't know she's gotten herself in this like predicament. She like doesn't know how to get herself out of it. I don't think there's ever any like, um, intent of like hurting anybody, but. So she's listening to these therapy sessions and she starts talking about like how her and her husband are having the best sex they've ever had. And this is after her and Greta have been like intimate and kind of started their relationship. And I was like, damn, that's kind of fucked. Like hearing, like stuff like that. Like she doesn't even mention Greta and their relationship for a while. Like she's thinking like she's at sex therapy. Like of course she's gonna tell her sex therapist that she's had having an affair,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah.
Track 1:but she doesn't. And then one random time we get a transcript, Greta's transcribing a therapy session of Big Swiss and she says, um, she mentions an affair and Greta's like, oh, here we go. Okay. She's like about to tell him and she starts talking about it started with the protein shakes and Greta's like, what the fuck is she talking about?
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah.
Track 1:I'm like, cool what? I started with the protein shakes and then it, and then the jujitsu and he's like taking care of himself and she's like, what the fuck is she talking about? And she's talking about her husband Luke. She's suspecting her husband Luke, of having an affair. So big Swiss is talking to Om about her husband and how she thinks her husband's cheating on her. And Greta's just sitting there listening to this like, like, what? What am I supposed to think? And I thought that was very interesting. Like, and that's when I started to like be like, I don't know how I feel about Flavia. Like this bitch seems weird.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:it's like that idea of like, not taking accountability for your actions, but blaming people for theirs. um, like she's doing the exact same thing, but then yet he changes his behavior just a little bit and she's like, oh my God, he's having an affair and he's doing this against me when it's like, you're literally doing the worst against him.
Track 1:Mm-Hmm.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Um,
Track 1:Let's see.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:goes back to the idea of like, she's still in this trauma of like, so dissociative that like she doesn't even know her, where her core is, like where her core beliefs and, um, accountability and soul basically rest.
Track 1:I have to find that. Yeah, that was kind of when, and then that's also when like Greta was like, what am I doing?
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Mm-Hmm. Well, while we look for that, let's talk about the freaking beehive in their house.
Track 1:yeah. What the fuck is that? Do you feel like that has like a symbolic meeting?
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:I thought it would, and I can't figure
Track 1:I can't figure it out either. So they live in this house where it's like a fucking, like old mansion type shit and it doesn't have any electrical. So there's like no heat, nothing.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Mm-Hmm.
Track 1:And they have like, Sabine is, Sabine is very, um. I like, I would love to know her. She's like one of those people that like, everybody like needs to know a Sabine. Like, this bitch is weird and crazy and like
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:let me
Track 1:that comes out of her mouth, go
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:just say this quote on page 93. She nods and asks me if I'm having trouble sleeping. I say, yes. Uh, this is when she's talking about she ran into a psychic. Uh, the
Track 1:Who?
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Sabine did.
Track 1:Okay.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:She ran into a psychic seamstress and the lady asked her if someone had passed away from drugs, and she tells her, yeah, my ex-boyfriend Dave did, and 93, his father refused to tell anyone where he was buried. So I bur, what the heck buried. And so I never got to say goodbye. She nods and asks me if I'm having trouble sleeping. I say, yes. She holds open a bible with the expectant look on her face. And I understand I'm supposed to put money in between the pages. So I put 50 bucks in there and she tells me I'm not sleeping because he is under my bed. Who Greta said, Dave Sabine said, and shrugged.
Track 1:And like, it's okay.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Greta says, but you said this house isn't haunted. And Sabine goes, it's not. He just wants to hang out and watch movies. He doesn't know he's dead to get rid of him. I'm supposed to say, Dave, go away three times. Mo but that was another part where I was just like, what the, like, that's just so odd and funny. and like,
Track 1:No, she had like, and everybody knows Sabine, Sabine knows everybody. She's like,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:she's always dirty. She always got like wood chips in her hair.
Track 1:always like,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:has like the bees all over. And then like they come down one morning and it's like. Bees more than normal, like
Track 1:well, all of them died. Remember all the bees died. So then, so then they got maggots. So then they got rid of the maggots and then like all the bees came back. And I thought we were gonna get like a, um,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:found the, um, passage, uh, where she talks about the protein shakes
Track 1:oh, which page is it on?
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:1 94, 1 95. Um, I can read it. So they're in a therapy session and she goes, um. Okay, well, my marriage has been adult by less desirable events, if you know what I mean. He goes, cocaine, other adults. Did something happen? It's happening. I mean, it's ongoing. I haven't talked about it because, well, I think I've been in denial, but this morning I was forced to face facts, and now I feel very awake. My f my brain feels bifurcated. I'm being pulled into opposite directions. It's been difficult to maintain my composure, to not do anything rash, like confide in my friends or coworkers. And then he goes, can you start at the beginning? She says, let me think. She says, I guess the first thing I noticed was the protein shakes. The what Greta says. So like it goes in between transcript and then like
Track 1:Yeah, so like Greta's like listening as, and she's like, what?
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:and then it says, um. Flavia says the in the hummus, hummus on carrots, celery, everything. Hmm, Greta said, and then suddenly everything was gluten free. No more carbs. That whole intermittent fasting thing, keto, whatever. And he's working out like crazy. He runs, he jumps rope, he lifts weights, he takes supplements. He drizzles his weird oil all over his salads. He puts the oil in his coffee too, along with butter. He uses an electric milk frother. And um, then it says he signed up for Brazilian jiujitsu. Now he goes to the dojo after work and rolls as he calls it, for at least three hours and going through the motions. You're no longer, oh wait, shit. I skipped a page and doesn't get home until I'm already in bed. He's constantly washing his GI or his GI talking
Track 1:don't know.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:locks, take downs, gassing out. I couldn't even wrap my head around it at first. It's the last thing I could have ever imagined him doing. And it's almost impossible to picture him getting breathed on by strangers, let alone grappling.
Track 1:Yeah, so go ahead.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:mad at him for getting breathed on by strangers because he's doing jiujitsu, but you're literally
Track 1:No, I think what she's talking about, because then it kind of gets into how, how, because Om says to her like, you don't even seem upset. And she's like, I'm not, I'm curious. Like she's intrigued about this because she doesn't, she says that like, and when we're talking about him getting breathed on by strangers, we find out he, so she says he suffers from tactile defensiveness, which the way she like describes it, I think that her husband has autism.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Hmm.
Track 1:That's how I think.'cause she like,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah.
Track 1:think that's what like they're saying. I think that's kind of like, I think he's on the spectrum of some of some sort, because then she talks about how he like can't have things touching him.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:anything
Track 1:Yeah. Remember. So like he, like it says right here, he has a hard time wearing clothes. Um, hard time being hugged. He has stage fright. He holds things weird way. Um, but overall it's mild. And om said, it doesn't sound mild. It sounds pretty serious. And so they kind of have a conversation about that. So she said, and then at the end of their conversation, oh, like right here, it says, um, mm-Hmm, hold on. Let's see. No, maybe I, maybe I read that wrong. But she asked, or he asked like if she was upset. He's like, you don't seem upset. Oh, right here, you sound more intrigued than upset. In fact, you don't seem bothered at all. And she said, I'm dying of curiosity. I've even gone through his wallet looking for receipts. And she said, he said, have you thought about confronting him? And she said, I think about it constantly, but not quite there yet. I'm enjoying the mystery. Also, if I ask him to confess, I'll have to do the same. I mean, I'll have to confess my own sin. And he said, what snooping? And she said, cheating. And he said, I'm sorry. And she said, I'm having my own affair. So that's when she kind of says, why did I just turn around? And your ass was in the air? Whatcha doing?
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:I had to get up and let Luna out of that room.
Track 1:I just looked up and you're like upside down. Um,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:down reading the whole time and I was like, let me get up and go in the door real quick.
Track 1:yeah. So
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:no, you're right, you're right. I do think he's probably autistic.
Track 1:yeah. But anyways, we're, so the point of this is she is, Greta is hearing what everything that Flavia is saying and what it's doing is it's creating resentment in their relationship and it's creating like one-sided resentment. So Flavia doesn't know where some of this resentment's coming from, but once Flavia comes clean to the therapist about her affair and starts talking about Greta Flavia doesn't have the nicest things to say.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:No.
Track 1:She's saying she's kind of like. Like saying like, which is the point of therapy, which it's supposed to be like a safe space, you know, a confidential space. And she's saying these things that were supposed to be setting in confidentiality about her girlfriend, but her girlfriend is listening, so of course that's creating resentment.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Mm-Hmm.
Track 1:So she's saying these things about the relationship and about like Gre Greta that she has issues with, um, about how she,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:yeah, like even how she lives her life. Like
Track 1:about how she lives her life.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:broken down and has a beehive in the middle of
Track 1:Yeah. She's like kind of saying like, she doesn't take care of herself. She has no passion for life. She doesn't wanna do anything.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Mm-Hmm.
Track 1:Um, like all these different things. She's suicidal. And Greta's hearing her talk about her like that. And she's just like, like what? Like right here it says, this is like when, um, this, she starts talking about it and. Um, Flavia says, and then I saw where she lives or how she lives, and Greta says, hello, how do I live? Like she's getting defensive.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah.
Track 1:Um, and om said, does she live in a mansion? And she says, no. She lives in an 18th century farmhouse. It has a lot of character, but it's literally crumbling around her. And Greta laughed and said, it's brick bitch. It's been standing for 300 years. So you can see where this like, kind of resentment is starting. And then, um, Flavia says there's no heat. If she doesn't burn wood, she'll literally freeze to this. She sleeps with hot stones under the covers, like it's 1762 and the tap water is brown and disgusting. So, um, so that happens, you know,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:'cause I know we're reaching on time. Let's talk about when the dog gets shot
Track 1:I can't.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:because I was like, probably, because I'm probably so accustomed to how, like how books have like a formula sometimes. And you know, you talk about hero's journey and you talk about like three act structure, like books follow structures a lot. In this book I was thinking like, Keith's gonna come back. He shot the dog. He was coming back to like taunt them. Then like a whole thing was gonna happen at the end. And it doesn't really happen that way.
Track 1:Mm.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:really ever find out who shot the dog
Track 1:No, I think it was just like a,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:a freak accident?
Track 1:I think it was a freak thing, but I think we're missing something in this book and like it's gonna take some research to figure it out. I feel like there's some type of symbolism in this book, especially to, especially towards the end, because at the end the dog gets shot and Greta starts bleeding herself and is screaming, you remember?
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah. Like, and then
Track 1:And she like
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:having a
Track 1:miscarriage like.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:she punches her in the face.'cause it's like, bitch, I've only been
Track 1:Uh, well, there's just, there's just so much going on when the dog gets shot, so her dog gets shot and is fine. Like, it was like a kind of like a flush wound. Um, but rightfully so, it scares Greta to death. And I think she goes through this like, weird transformation, like when her dog gets shot.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Mm-Hmm.
Track 1:Like, I don't know if it's like a realization that like, I don't know, I don't know what it is, but something happens there and then her and Big Swiss kind of cut off the relationship or they have cut off the relationship after that. Um,'cause Flavia finds out that she, before the dog gets shot, Flavia finds out that Greta, Greta is not Rebecca or Greta is Rebecca, And is transcribing these relation, this, these transcripts.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:and she like, comes up in the therapy session and
Track 1:yeah,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:I've known for a few weeks.
Track 1:Yeah.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:figured it out
Track 1:Well, I mean she didn't really do a good job of being very careful.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:at the end. They didn't
Track 1:Yeah. Um, but anyways, so they stopped talking basically, but they're in love with each other, so like they have a hard time staying away from each other, but then something happened, the dog gets shot while they were together for the first time again. And they go through that and they kind of like bicker back and forth and big Swiss leaves after she knows she's all good, they don't hear from each other for like a few days. And then we find out that her husband Luke is in the hospital because like Luke confronted Keith and got stabbed like seven times. And I, I obviously didn't like that that happened, but I liked the scene where. Slavia called Greta, let me find it. Do you remember when she called her? Hello? Okay.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:a little. Oh my God. Chill
Track 1:What are you doing?
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:had to charge my computer. I'm a mess today. Okay,
Track 1:Okay, when she called her and
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:him, but she, they weren't like, they weren't together, they weren't talking at the time. They were kind of arguing at the time.'cause this is after the dog and after like that whole scene was kind of high energy I guess you can say.
Track 1:Mm-Hmm.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Um, but Greta feels a little bit responsible because Greta approached Keith in the bar and so I think that's why she calls her just to make sure, like he's not dead, I guess. Um, did you find the page?
Track 1:Um,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:page is it?
Track 1:2 99. So big Swiss calls, Greta. And she basically, what I've gotten after hearing this conversation, she basically like, calls Greta to kind of like not be very nice to her. So basically she's, she sounds not good and big Swiss is like, what happened? Like, what's going on? What happened? Um, it sounds like Big Swiss has been crying and she lists these injuries. She's like, punctured lung, severed spleen. And Greta says, no wonder she sounded winded. She's been attacked, her lung punctured and she's kind of like realizing these things. And she, um, said, where are you? Tell me where you are. And Big and Greta or what's her name? Big Swiss says the hospital. Since Sunday my phone's broke. I'm in the ICU and um, Greta says, I'm getting in the car, I'll be there in 10 minutes. And she says, no, it's Luke. I'm here with Luke. And she's like, not realizing what happened. And she said, Luke attacked you. And Big Stress said, um. Didn't say anything. And then Greta said, who did this to you? And she said, I wish it was me. So that's when we realized, okay, Luke Big Swiss is fine. Luke's the one that was attacked.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Mm-Hmm.
Track 1:She said, I told him everything, blah, blah, blah. He got upset. He went to try to hurt Keith, who was her original attacker, um, whatever. He was attacked. But then Greta starts apologizing'cause she like doesn't know what else to say. She says, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have pressured you to tell him about us. Um, and
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:she, says, Luke didn't pull anything big Swiss said, call me. He's awake and lucid. He's gone looking for Keith at cousins to intimidate him. It was something had been fantasizing about training for, but of course it didn't go the way he planned when he let Keith know who he was married to. Keith said, you know, your wife's a dyke, right? My sister's seen her in the woods sitting on some lady's face if you guys at the bar snickered, everyone was listening.
Track 1:yeah.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:was, it was like, yeah, Luke went to go fight him and like intimidate him and that was always the plan. But I, it was because of big Swiss and Greta's actions that this fight kind of
Track 1:Yeah, so Greta blames herself,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah.
Track 1:but this is what I was talking about, G Greta says it should be me in the hospital. And Big Swiss says you wouldn't have gotten that far.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Mm-Hmm
Track 1:And then Greta said, he called me a dumb city bitch and told me to get the fuck out of his face. It could've turned violent. I'm saying you never would've made it to the hospital. Greta scowled two blocks, and then Big Swiss says you would've died in that alley. And she said, what makes you say that you're nothing like Luke. He possesses something. You don't, something valuable in situations like these. And then GTA says, I hope you don't mean the dick. And Big Swiss kind of snaps and says the will to live. He is strong. So is mine. His is strong, so is mine. It saved us both from getting killed.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:mm-Hmm.
Track 1:shrugged. I've survived a thing or two. Same as you. Yeah. But you never really fight for anything big or small. Remember the time you lost your shoe in the woods? You wouldn't even look for it. You were prepared to hobble out of the forest with one shoe. If you'd been attacked the other night, you wouldn't have fought back. You would've rolled over and perished and like, damn. And then Greta rolls her eyes and said nothing. See, you give up too easily. Even in arguments. Ooh,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:yeah. Yikes.
Track 1:that's resentment. Like that's what I mean. Like these, this relationship like was full of fucking resentment.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:like I was gonna say, like on page 3 0 1, it says, Bix West says it took 82 stitches to put'em back together. Big Swiss said he'll never be the same again. And neither were i, imagined big Swiss pushing Luke around in a wheelchair, changing Luke's drainage bag, drainage bags, sitting on Luke's paralyzed lap, helping him in and out of a car. She imagined herself in her own car. Windows down blasting back's, cello suites, while accelerating off the bridge. Like the It is, yeah, it, it, it's very much about, you know, the will to fight and the world to
Track 1:Which we got throughout the book. We, I mean, Greta struggled with like suicidal thoughts her entire life and her mom did as well. And her mom always talked to Greta about wanting to kill herself. And Greta has always blamed herself for her mom's suicide because her Greta straight up told her mom, yeah, kill yourself. Like, I'll be better off without you, like, do it. And so her mom does do it, and then she blames herself for it. And I think that's been like a theme of her whole life.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:do you think the donkeys are symbolic?
Track 1:I don't know. Probably. I think a lot of this is symbolic.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:think they are, but um, at the end of that, that conversation at the end of the chapter, um, uh, big Swiss goes, what is that? And she says, it's the donkey, it's a donkey brain. And big Swiss is the imaginary donkeys. Big Swiss said, right? Oh, they're real. They're right here. They arrived this morning. If you listen to them chew, you'll feel better. I promise you'll feel brand new. Greta held the phone. Neil Pantaloons mouth for a few seconds. You hear that? And the big, so it says I should get back to Luke. He's not out of the woods yet. He's still fighting for his life. When you start fighting for yours, maybe we can see each other again. And I, I think it's that like maybe the donkeys in itself aren't symbolic, but that sentence that like conversation itself is symbolic because it's that like right there in front of her face is the deception of, or the want to like just disassociate from
Track 1:Yeah.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:and be like, listen to these donkeys. You know?
Track 1:Yeah.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:It
Track 1:No, you're exactly right. Yeah.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:But
Track 1:Um, I think the donkeys can be symbolic also because I think, um, Greta's like always been alone, but also like SI think Sabine is a much bigger character than we think too, because when, like shit went down with the dog and she was panicking, she was like screaming for Sabine. Like, she like really, like, depends on Sabine a lot,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Mm-hmm.
Track 1:Sabine's not home. Why isn't Sabine home? Like, she's out doing this, she's not telling me something. And then the vultures of it all, like the vultures, like they come around when someone's gonna die. Or like the vultures were like on the house. And um, Greta was like, why are they here? And Sabine was like, it means one of us is gonna die. Like what? Like
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:I saw, um, someone was suggesting that the house was symbolic for just trauma in general.
Track 1:yeah.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:And
Track 1:Yeah. It could be. And especially
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:the house are
Track 1:the last.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:that trauma
Track 1:How like the book ends was when the big swarm of bees comes back and the guy comes in to kind of get rid of the swarm or get rid of the hive. And Sabine is upset about that. Like she had like a connection to like this hive. So she's like, okay, yeah, I guess it has to go. And when he takes out, he's like, oh, well here's your problem. They're stealing the honey in here. And she's like, there's no honey in here. And he's like, lady, there's like 18 pounds of honey in this, in this hive. Like yeah, it's full of honey. So it's like at like the root of it, like there was still something like, I don't know, like at like the root of all of it. There was something good still that came out of it. I don't know.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:this together'cause I thought this book, like the last few pages were so odd. And so she, Greta at the end of the book, she goes out and feeds the donkeys. Um, she says she passed the bowl of bees raging ravaging honey. She passed Walter the rooster who was we walking upright and doing high kicks. Some kind of bizarre soldier march. She passed pinon, lying in the shade of a locust tree. And the pins, the don stood face to face blowing into each other's nostrils, their version of kissing. Um, so she goes out there and she sits with them and she tells pinon, it's all right. She said, I'll never hurt you and neither will pinon. Right. Pinon, she's talking to, um, The donkey.
Track 1:donkey. Yeah.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Pinion opens his mouth and smile. The Don's approached and gently sniffed Greta's bare knees and thighs, inhaling her with incredible soft nostrils. It was the same careful way they drank water, not by lapping, but by inhaling. Now they followed her to the bag of grain. She fed them small handfuls, do that thing. She said they knew exactly what she wanted. They leaned against her legs, one on each side and chewed. Ha ha, yes. She said Yes, and then it ends. This is the end. And it's so odd, but like, just talking to you about it, it's like, yeah, I think it is that, like not wanting to address what's kind of really going on in that deception or like that, um, disassociation of, I'm trying to sit here with my weird ass donkeys,
Track 1:Yeah. Like she, yeah.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:you know, and Luke's dying in a hospital and. There's
Track 1:don't know.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:and my house is
Track 1:I,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:and my dog got shot, but like, I'm just gonna keep living life the way I've been living my life.
Track 1:I don't know how to like verbalize like the, the symbolism of this book, but it feels like it's there
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah.
Track 1:and like, reading it.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:it.
Track 1:Yeah. It feels like it's there. And reading it was like, really, like, I,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah.
Track 1:ah, you know what I mean?
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah.
Track 1:like to like, oh my God, just ca like, literally like chaos is just erupting around me at all times. I don't, I don't know why my life is like this. Okay. Um, it sounded like a wall just came down.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:yeah. Um, well, what would you rate it?
Track 1:Hi. Um, I don't think it's a five star read, but like four, eight.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:I was gonna say four, seven.
Track 1:Yeah. I really liked it.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:I love a book that has symbolism. I love a book that's different from like the
Track 1:Mm-Hmm. It was so different
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:and just
Track 1:because it was like, yes, there was intimacy. Yes, there was love, but not like a love that like it's, it was like a very, like,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:I, I wouldn't even call it like smut, like there was just
Track 1:no, there was, yeah. But like, even when they were having sex, it was weird. It was
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah. You're like, what is going on?
Track 1:Yeah. But it was like,'cause it's not like a relationship that like, you would, like when you read like icebreaker, you're like, oh my God, I love this. I love them. I want that. Like, this is not that type of relationship. This is like two troubled people who fell in love with each other and like kind of them figuring out what the fuck they're doing. Like it was, yeah. I liked it. It was very, um, like, yeah, like you, like yeah, that shit's real as fuck. Like, it was like real, like even like some of like the sessions, like the therapy sessions, like with other, other characters, they'd be like, that's real as fuck.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah, it definitely, it definitely had like a, a twinge of realism and, um,
Track 1:But so it says, I'll read a little bit of the transcript. So she writes a transcript, like between like herself and om the author
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Mm-Hmm.
Track 1:it says JB is is the author JB Om. How are you? Thank you for asking. My K is right here under my, okay. He talks about like his fucking, like inner self. Um, om says, I keep seeing your book around town. I haven't read it yet because I'm hard at work on my own book. I prefer not to read novels while I'm in this very precious flow state. Why is that? Om says fear of contamination. Plus, I don't actually enjoy reading anymore. But talk to me about your process, writer to writer. Where did the book start for you? jb It started with two truths and a lie. Ohm. I love that game. jb. I only play it with myself in the mirror. Why don't you play it with me? Ohm says, jb. Okay, here it goes. So this is how she started writing the book in the first place. So she tells two truths and a lie here. One in my forties, I lived in an uninsulated 18th century farmhouse with my friend, 50,000 honeybees, a broken window, and two many donkeys named Ellington and Pantaloon. Two, I once worked as a transcriber. Three. My mother suffered from bipolar disorder and ended her life when I was 13, and I felt horrible, debilitating guilt about it for 30 years. Um, pause number one is the lie. JB Ohm, you've been to that house, you screamed and pantaloon licked your hand, remember, um, dimly. Then let me go with number two, which seems conspicuous by its absence of detail. JB it's number three. My mother is alive and well, and nothing like Greta's. But people who don't know me have trouble believing. Number one, people on good reads. I should say this novel was unrealistic. It's trying too hard to be quirky. Does she really expect me to believe the main character's willing to live in a place like this? To me, it's pretty obvious that I lived in that house. It's hyper specific. I loved that she said this because yeah, she's so like, it's so true.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Mm-Hmm.
Track 1:It's hyper specific. Plus I'm not that imaginative, but it seems like there are a lot of readers who want novels to be aspirational. They're not interested in filth of any kind, and everything must be there for a reason. It better be that right reas the right reason, no bugs or wax. Um, unless it's obviously symbolic. Basically nothing uncomfortable, unsettling or unexplained. I mean, I lived in that house for three years, so I guess that makes me unhinged. But the reality is I was poor. The rent was cheap, and I fled to the Utah Yucatan in the winter. Anyways, whenever I'm disgusted or disappointed by something, um, I like to yell. DNF, what does DNF mean?
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Did not finish, but
Track 1:I don't know.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:all I know of as like disqualification maybe.
Track 1:Um, anyways, and then they say, om says, so why start with two truths and a lie? JB it's helpful for, it's helpful for me to mix, fact and fiction because the facts, in this case, a house, I actually lived in, a job I performed, give me a solid place to stand and the confidence to keep going. So yeah, she actually lived in the house.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:I feel like that, like that should be included in every print.'cause like that's so
Track 1:And then down here it says, let's see, I've heard Greta described as pathetic, inseparable, and unlikable. Was that intentional? It wasn't my goal, believe it or not, rather than judge my characters, I try to make them three dimensional. I don't secret as either good or bad, likable or unlikable, but rather as a deeply traumatized person making bad choices. And om said, bad choices make for good stories. And she said, right. In some aspects, her emotional development is arrested at age 13 when her mother died by suicide. And her primary coping strategy is humor. And so I find the situation she's in to be funny and sad. At any rate, her trauma is now deeply familiar to me because my own father ended his life on the same day I finished this book.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Oh shit.
Track 1:Yeah.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah,
Track 1:She said, anyways, like Greta, my feelings are clear and certain my grief unequivocal and my opinion of this character hasn't changed. I can laugh and feel sad about the way she behaves without condoning it.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah.
Track 1:yeah. And then they talk about the end. If you want me to keep going.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah.
Track 1:Let's see. Um, om says, let's talk about the ending. I love the narrative arc for my character. He's talking about himself. Turns out I'm not a buffoon after all, but a real healer with lots of compassion and wisdom. Um, JB I thought you said you hadn't read the book, ohm. I skimmed. I skimmed the parts where I saw my name. jb I try to give each, each character their own arc and their own consequences, but the novel ends the way a short story might, and it's because I'm still figuring out how to write novels. There are no false epiphanies for Greta. No dramatic comeuppance says no grandiosity. She simply decides she wants to live and to be more like the donkeys, cautious, curious, mindful, and kind. I happen to like the ending and that's kind of how they, that's kind of how they end it.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Interesting.
Track 1:Yeah. It is interesting to see like kind of the way the author decided to write that.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah. Well, I think. Every author who writes something, there's a little piece of them in it. Um, I think it's just what the degree of that is. And it seems like this book, it's a lot,
Track 1:Yeah, but I think you're like on the nose, like, especially about the ending. Like it just end like, she just decided like, I want to live more like these donkeys and I'm just going to keep, you know,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah.
Track 1:she'll do my thing. I don't know.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Well,
Track 1:It's a, it was a good book. I really liked it.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah,
Track 1:Yeah, it's been like on my TBR for like the last like six months probably.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Mm-Hmm.
Track 1:So I'm glad. And I've had, I bought it with you, MI, if you remember
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:No,
Track 1:I bought it. I was, when I was, um,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:when we're in Rome.
Track 1:yeah, for Amanda's wedding
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah.
Track 1:that when we went to Barnes and Noble. This was one of the ones I bought, I think. Maybe not.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:you
Track 1:I think,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:that
Track 1:yeah, I think it was one of the, maybe I don't remember. I've had it for a while.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:I say if you've, that was the case you've had in a minute. Well, um, next week is my week
Track 1:Yes.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:in February. This is, um, I mean this book is a February book too, but we're going into more love books,
Track 1:Are we,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:chose kind of,
Track 1:yes.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:I chose Red White in the Royal Blue. I've been wanting to read it'cause a show came out on Netflix and so I haven't been able to watch the show
Track 1:Is this show out?
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah, it's been out
Track 1:Oh, damn. I haven't heard anything about it.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:say they love it, so hopefully it is good. I will tell you it's a longer book.
Track 1:Is it? I'm, I'm
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:They, Kindle said it would take seven and a half hours
Track 1:oh, that's okay.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:four 50 pages I think.
Track 1:Okay. That's not too bad.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:But um, yeah,
Track 1:I'll start, I haven't started yet. Have you?
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:I read like the first paragraph last night.
Track 1:That's it. You
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:it.
Track 1:what?
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:Yeah. Well, I finished my book and I was like, well, let me download it and like get it set up. And then
Track 1:Yeah,
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:I was tired, so I went to bed. But yeah, so next week we'll do that.
Track 1:I am excited to read it.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:me too, me too.
Track 1:It's gonna be good.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:thank you guys for listening. You can follow us at my sister Amy REIT podcast on Instagram. Amy is Amy Preti. am Abby Preti. All of that info is down below in the show notes. Write us on the platform you're listening to or listening on. Maybe put your thoughts on this book. Give us what you think the symbolism of the donkeys or of the house was, you liked Big Swiss, if you didn't. Um, yeah, that's about it.
Track 1:All right. I'll see you later.
abby_1_02-05-2024_110329:All right. Bye.
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