227-Less

It's an angsty white man but this time he's international (like pitbull). Today we are talking about Less by Andrew Sean Geer. If you dream of traveling the world just to avoid a possibly awkward moment, then this is the book for you! 

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/book-cult--5718878/support.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
M Hey, I'm Sydney lady.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Anyways, this is so cult today we're talking about less
by Andrew Sean Greer. I got it right just from memory.

Speaker 3 (00:22):
Yeah, and to celebrate traveling around the world to avoid
a wedding. I am drinking a drink that Seth made
me last night, and then I didn't drink it because
I fell asleep instead.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
Since you've been sitting.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
Out and you're just drinking a day on drink.

Speaker 3 (00:38):
Well, you think I'm gonna look out full? This is Sydney.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
You think I'm gonna put in the fridge.

Speaker 3 (00:44):
I could have no not I need this whatever. What
are you drinking?

Speaker 2 (00:50):
I'm drinking that Huckleberry wine. This is the second time
I'm drinking it now.

Speaker 3 (00:54):
Amazing. Wow, look at us drinking for once. Yeah, I
feel today's the day today.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
Well off my stuff on my credit card. I think
it was my debit card.

Speaker 3 (01:07):
You're having a day, you deserve a drink.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
I was just at at ATM thinking this is my pen.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
How are you saying it's not my pen?

Speaker 2 (01:15):
This has been my pin.

Speaker 3 (01:16):
For years, wrong pin, correct pin for a different card.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
And I put in the right card at one point too,
But I thought it was a different card, so I
tried a different pin and then I said, I just
gave up.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
So it's been a whole time, you know.

Speaker 3 (01:31):
And it'd be like that sometimes.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
Really trying to remember my pen from when I was eighteen,
because I was like, this is that card?

Speaker 3 (01:38):
You know? My pin has been the same since I
was eighteen because they let me pick it.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
Yeah, well yeah, I mean mine would be if this
is me and Joran's joint account, so it's like, yeah,
a different account or else it would have been the
one from me.

Speaker 3 (01:52):
You should have made a musing I made.

Speaker 2 (01:54):
A pin when I was fifteen, and I kept out
for this whole time. Anyways, fun acts that aren't about
my issues about the ATM. What. So here's the Wikipedia
patron Andrew Sean Grier just about him section. So he
was born November no date, no specific date, just nineteen

(02:16):
seventy in Washington, d c. Childhoo two scientists, Orange Dansy Okay.
He grew up in Rockville, Maryland. I think everyone on
the East Coast is fancy. Also, if you grew.

Speaker 3 (02:25):
Up in Maryland, think whoa East Coast?

Speaker 2 (02:29):
Oh he's a twin. He's an identical twin.

Speaker 3 (02:33):
I like you're like, wow, learning, I didn't read.

Speaker 2 (02:35):
Any of this before. He graduated from Georgetown Day School
and Brown University, so he is fancy. He went to Brown,
where he studied with Robert Coover and Edmund white Hare
and served as a commencement speaker. He lives part time
in Italy, Okay Andrew. He's the author of six works
of fiction. We're taught at a university in Berlin.

Speaker 3 (03:00):
I'm not trying it.

Speaker 2 (03:01):
And the Iowa's Writer Workshop, which that's like a big deal.
That Iowa Writers Workshop is like top tier writing workshop.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
It's hard to get into.

Speaker 3 (03:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:12):
He was a finalist for the Premio vonn Resori. Premium
probably means prize or award or whatever, so I don't
know what that means. But for a work translated into Italian,
a Today's Show pick and New York Public Library Coleman
Center Fellow and n e A Fellow and a judge

(03:33):
for the National Book Award. So dude does stuff and
differently unfortunately for me who has to read it.

Speaker 3 (03:40):
Yeah, good for him though, international just like pit Bull.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
Just like him and.

Speaker 3 (03:45):
Pitbull, same guy, both on the East Coast technically technically
Hipples just.

Speaker 2 (03:51):
In Miami, different vibes.

Speaker 3 (03:52):
And yeah, very different.

Speaker 2 (03:58):
Okay, my not a lot happens in this book so much.

Speaker 3 (04:04):
Not really okay, Sure he takes a lot of thinking.

Speaker 2 (04:08):
Yeah, and I don't include Indiana that I include.

Speaker 3 (04:10):
The actually neither do I.

Speaker 1 (04:12):
So maybe a couple of parts.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
But okay, so let's get into it. Are Arthur Arthur
Les I'm just gonna call him less as in New
York do talk with this famous sci fi author and
he's like supposed to interview him. He's also a writer,
but not that famous and obviously was like way down
on the list of guys they asked to host this event.
And the person in charge of the panel, so he's

(04:35):
like sitting in a hotel room waiting or not a hotel,
a lot of me waiting for someone to come up
to him to show him what to do. And this
person's looking around for him. He sees her wandering around.
He's sure probably should put too much two together. She
can't realize who he is because she thinks he's a woman,
even though his name is Arthur. So I don't know,
I guess and don't assume. Also, it's unpaid, but you

(04:58):
do get a free hotel and a flight to New York.
He's from San Francisco, so that's a good deal.

Speaker 3 (05:02):
Honestly, I would go if I got a flight in
the hotel.

Speaker 1 (05:05):
Yeah, same to me.

Speaker 3 (05:06):
That's paid, Yeah, that you're getting paid good.

Speaker 2 (05:09):
Yeah, But this is all he wanted because he used
to be in a relationship with a very famous poet,
Robert Brownburne, and most of his own recognition comes to
like that relationship. They just know him as like the
boyfriend of that guy. He came and he also got
this house out of this relationship, Like he got the
house in their breakup. They were never married, but he

(05:31):
just said take my house, So good for him.

Speaker 3 (05:34):
Yeah, Robert's like a really good guy.

Speaker 2 (05:36):
Yeah, he's pretty cho I mean, he did cheat on
his wife, but she doesn't care anymore.

Speaker 3 (05:40):
Here's the thing that's one of my questions. I will
get into that because I think there's more to that. Whatever,
we'll get to it.

Speaker 2 (05:50):
Duanne's a cheating apologist.

Speaker 3 (05:52):
So not the point I'm making, but okay.

Speaker 2 (05:55):
Exactly like it. It's a small house but in San Francisco,
so I'm sure it's worth millions. And he lives off
the money he makes from like sales of his own
books and the few events he does. He doesn't have
a full time job. Guys live in the dream, but
he doesn't have a lot of money and he makes
it work and he doesn't like usually leave the city.
And so he has this friend of me named Carlos

(06:17):
and who's also writer. This is gonna sound like he's
jumping around because like he's thinking back on like different things.

Speaker 3 (06:22):
This is how it goes is he just goes on
tangents and then it goes back to whatever the fuck
he was originally talking about.

Speaker 2 (06:28):
Oh yeah, so it's kind of back and forth. So anyways,
he knows this guy, Carlos, he's known for a long time.
This guy's also a writer. And he has a son
named Freddy, who's not actually a son. He's like his
nephew that he adopted.

Speaker 1 (06:39):
Yeah, doesn't super matter.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
He calls him his son. Les meets Freddy at a
party Carlos is having when Freddy is in his early
twenties and Less was in his forties. In the beginning,
like a casual relationship for the next nine years. Doesn't
seem that casual. That recently came to an end when
Freddy got engaged. So like us knew this would happen

(07:00):
eventually because he's like, this is a younger dude. He's
gonna want to have like a whole life, you know.
But when he got the invite for the wedding, he
did not love it. He didn't love to see it.
So he decides that the only way to get out
of going without looking like a jealous old man that
the groom used to sleep with is just to be like,
I can't. I'm out of town, not even in the country.
Can't come, yeah, which I have also like two weddings

(07:25):
for that reason.

Speaker 3 (07:26):
He was like, if I go, then it'll be terrible.
But if I say I'm not going that everyone's going
to judge me for not going. So I have to
have a really good excuse. And it is. I mean
it is one.

Speaker 2 (07:37):
Yeah, he's over thinking it, but it works. So this
is how he ends up planning a trip around the world.
His first stop is New York to do the panel
with the Sci Fi Guy, then Mexico City for a
festival where he's like supposed to be talking about Robert.
Next is turn which is Italy, where he is up
for some reward for his book that he didn't even
know was translated into Italian.

Speaker 3 (07:58):
But they're like, hey, here's what big deal here.

Speaker 1 (08:01):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (08:01):
So then he's going to Berlin, where he's like teaching
a class at a university for like five weeks. So
he's spending a month in Berlin and I say, it
doesn't speak German.

Speaker 1 (08:09):
He does.

Speaker 3 (08:10):
I don't know why I.

Speaker 1 (08:10):
Didn't think you'd think it.

Speaker 3 (08:11):
Well, he speaks it.

Speaker 2 (08:13):
Good enough to teach a class in it.

Speaker 3 (08:15):
He speaks quote unquote like a child is how he.

Speaker 2 (08:19):
That's how my English is, and I've gotten by. Then
he goes to Morocco, where his friend invited him to
join this trip that they're taking for someone else's birthday,
and he's never met the person whose birthday is crashing,
but it sounded fun, and it's also gonna be his birthday.
So he turns fifty in the Sahara and he thought
like cool, that'd be cool vibes. Yeah, And then he
said it to India to a retreat where he hopes

(08:40):
he could finish working on his latest book. And last
is Japan, where he's writing a travel article about food
for a new flight magazine. Because some kind of poker
game was like I've been asked to do this, but
I can. He's like, I'll do it, and I guess.
I said, sure, We don't give a fuck. Who writes
this right.

Speaker 3 (08:53):
I'm glad you're explaining all these because half of those
obviously are in my part, and I completely forgot why
obviously it's in my half. Short, I know why he's there,
but I was like, how I forgot?

Speaker 2 (09:05):
Yeah. I then we went back and like, looked at
this again. So I got it right because he does
just list it all out. So he writes back to
the wedding, I can't make it, and gets ready for
this trip. He's packing. He's really serious about packing. He's like,
gotta pack one soup. I got packed Linden's for this,
but colder weather for Berlin. It's a whole thing.

Speaker 3 (09:25):
It's a crazy packing thing.

Speaker 2 (09:26):
It would be hard.

Speaker 1 (09:27):
He's gone for like months months.

Speaker 2 (09:30):
Yeah, he's gone for like three months, so we'll be
rough to pack. Yeah, for a whole world trip going everywhere.

Speaker 1 (09:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (09:37):
So in New York, he meets with his literary agent
Where's I hoping to hear back from his publisher about
what they think of his new book, and said he's
told that they're like now we're going to pass on
that big bummer. Yeah, he's like, fuck, they've been publishing
all my books and now.

Speaker 3 (09:52):
They're saying now I thought they loved me.

Speaker 2 (09:54):
Yeah, he's like, a, they don't like it. They said
it's boring, and it's just so his book is so
guy walking around thinking.

Speaker 1 (10:01):
Which is this book?

Speaker 3 (10:03):
Kind of literally?

Speaker 2 (10:06):
So then at the event he has to deal with
the author having food poising and like being introduced as
a friend and not like it's an author himself. But
he makes it through whatever. He heads to Mexico. He
goes to Mexico City where he's created at his hotel,
and he's told he's like, he's told that the festival
is in all Spanish. He does not speak Spanish, so

(10:27):
he's and he's not needed for the first day. So
this guy's like, hey, since you can't understand a word
they're saying anyway, why don't I take you on a
tour of the city. Mexico City, I've heard is pretty
fucking cool. I would love to go there. Yeah, And
a guy who's also part of the festival, but like
a white American dude joins him and is like, hey,
what's it like to like live with the genius. He's like,
oh my god, you were dating this really smart poet.

(10:47):
And this makes him think about one time he lost
a ring. My favorite story in this whole book. He
lost a ring that Robert had given him at a
grocery store. It was like a wedding ring, but they
weren't married, and so he lost it in a bunch
your men like helped him look for it and like
give him tips on how not to lose his ring,
and we're like and he's like, Okay, maybe stricas aren't
that bad, because like, my wife hates it when I

(11:09):
do that.

Speaker 3 (11:10):
Yeah, they all band together and it's pretty cute honestly.

Speaker 2 (11:14):
So yeah, these straycas are just like put I don't know.
They have wax and stuff. But they think he's straight.
They're like, oh, it's okay, man, my wife gets mad
at me too. When he's like, yeah, my wife will
we pissed. He pretends to be straight, but then he
tells Robert about it, and the way he looks at
him during the story, he's like, oh my god, he's
such a genius. I don't get that.

Speaker 3 (11:34):
Yeah, I don't either.

Speaker 2 (11:35):
Anyways, the next day it's the same thing. So they
take him on another tour, and this time it's just
like with his guide who tells him that he'll be
on stage with his friend Mile. He's like, oh, you're
gonna have stage to your friend, He's like, what friend?
And the guy's like Mariam Brownburn lest hates to hear
it because he pretty much roomed her marriage and he
hasn't ever seen her like since that and doesn't want
to see her now because he obviously feels bad about

(11:58):
stealing her husband because she was Robert's wife and then
he fucked him and lived with him and broke them up.
But yeah, Robert's fault. Obviously he chose to cheat on
his wife.

Speaker 3 (12:09):
He did once again. We'll get back to that, though.
I have thoughts about that particular thing. Yeah, not the rest,
because Arthur does cheat on Robert and that I'm not
okay with it.

Speaker 2 (12:19):
But there are well, no, because it seems like they
had an agreement like you could sleep with whoever.

Speaker 3 (12:25):
Yeah, Like Robert like didn't care, but then like Less
got like real ballsy with it and it's kind of
like broh.

Speaker 2 (12:31):
Yeah, and then him and Freddy had the same thing.
I know, he's not goingting relationships, he's really not, so
he is not looking forward to it. The day of
the event is there, he's in the green room but
doesn't see Marian and he's like, where is she and
people do not really answer him. But then finally someone's like, oh,
she broke her hip, can't come send her up, and
he's like, oh, my god, send it up. She hates me,

(12:53):
what the fuck? And he thinks back to like the
first day he met hers on beach in San Francisco,
he was twenty one, living it up, and he told
him to live his life while he was young, because
he could talk about taxes in real estate. When he's
forty all I wants, but like, now is the time
I go out fuck as many dudes as possible. Yeah,
girl had great advice. You can't talk about taxes and
real estate when you're forty.

Speaker 3 (13:12):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (13:13):
Then her husband stands up from behind her and it's
like I'm going swimming and she's like the water is
too rough, don't go swimming. He doesn't listen, so she's like, hey, kids,
I just met can you guy go look after my husband.
That's how we met Albert, and months later they'd be
living together so instantly together, yep, should let him drown. Anyways,
they been talking Mexico does it. He goes fine, and

(13:35):
then he's got a plane to Italy taking some drugs.
He's lay over in Frankfurt, paranoid about going through customs,
but he's like parent about making his connection. But once
he does, he's feeling good. When he lands in Italy,
there's a driver waiting for him with a sign that
says like sr dot E S S and so he's
like it probably signor less, but they just like tell yeah.

(13:59):
So he and the driver doesn't speak English, but he's
like it's probably me. So they drive for a long time.
Unless it started to think like maybe that wasn't a
mistaken Maybe I just gone to the wrong car, because
he's like, this doesn't seem like where I thought i'd be,
because they pull up to a golf course resort, not
the Italy thing he was expecting. But nope, he is
at the right place. He's there a day before anyone else.

(14:21):
So we eat some food and goes swimming and the
next day the poles which are like judging teenagers that
make him fee uncomfortable doing his laps.

Speaker 3 (14:27):
Yeah, and the.

Speaker 2 (14:29):
Senators are everywhere because they're the judges of the competition.
So he makes the other people up for the award,
and he learns that the finalists were picked by a panel,
but a panel of teens will pick the winner. He
just random teens in this random town who decided who's winning.
Unless it's like I will win, but like whatever, I

(14:49):
don't give a fuck. And on the day of the ceremony,
he thinks about when Robert won his Politzer Prize, so he's.

Speaker 1 (14:53):
A big fucking deal.

Speaker 3 (14:55):
It's a big deal.

Speaker 2 (14:56):
Yeah, they threw a party for him, and someone told
less to never win a prize because then his right
career will end and he'll just like do talks, okay,
And on the day of the Politzry ceremony, Robert tells
about winning a prizes, I mean they love you. He
just fit in a box of like what they want
and like what they were looking for. So he's thinking
about this, and he he's like, I think the person

(15:16):
who translated my book like changed it to make it better,
because there's no way I read up for this award.
It's not a good book. And he's just thinking when
he hears a pause and someone's like pulling out a
sleep and he's like what And he won? He won
the award. He was even paying fucking attention.

Speaker 3 (15:28):
He did it, yep.

Speaker 2 (15:30):
And he's happy when he gets to Germany because he's like,
finally I can speak the language. And he spakes it
fluently but has been learning it since he was a kid.
I except for the locals, tell me, speaks like a
child because he learned from white people like well, me,
not Germans.

Speaker 3 (15:44):
And it's like, yeah, it's a lot of like bad
grammar because German is actually like pretty fucking specific with
their grammar and stuff.

Speaker 2 (15:51):
Yeah, so I, well, I forgot what his class is
called because I didn't write it down. I meant to
go back and the up, that's a pretty specific name.
Maybe it'll be a faith quote. Waste it for five
weeks and he's great. Buy his teachers assistant like his TA,
whose name is Hans, and they show him his apartment

(16:11):
and how to get in using a key fob. Hanson
takes him out to dinner with some of his friends,
and one of his friends best best best you, I
don't know, ends up taking Less home so they hook up.
The next morning, he has to climb into his apartment
wearing his clothes room last night and spelling of alcohol
because he can't figure out how his key fob works.

(16:32):
You just tap it, I mean. So he like starts
this kind of like relationship with Bass and Bass like
come over every night or so. But it's not like
the guys he usually hangs out with. He's not like
literary or whatever. He's into sports. He's a big sport guy.
He likes soccer. Probably when they still hang out. Animal

(16:53):
ploy baskets a fever and Less has to take care
of him, and then a bunch of guys unless his
class also gets sick and like are passively literally dropping
to the ground around him, and this includes his ta
and he's while he's there, he's asked to do a
reading and it's at this like it's late at night,
and he starts like ten and it's at a club
and he gets there. Everybody's dressed up weird, and somebody's like,

(17:15):
we're dressed as spies. It's a spy and he's like,
what the fuck? And so why do a bunch of
club kids want to hear me read? These guys are
literally partying and drinking. Why woul we be doing a
literary reading here. Yeahs, so he's going to alternate reading
with some Russian guy. And because it's like America versus Russia,
people are not like that into it because they're partying,

(17:39):
and then people there start to fall sick. They don't
come back in this, I think he started zombie apocalypse right. Anyways,
he's and has a time in Germany. Fuck's that one
kid finishes creating his class papers. On his next fight,
he's out of there.

Speaker 3 (17:52):
Yeah, the people getting sick never comes back whatever. Anyways,
So I go back and forth between calling him Andrew
and less so whatever. So he's thinking about how on
this trip he's going to turn fifty, which is obviously
like super scary and lame, but at least he'll be
in Morocco. But then instead of going to Morocco, he
ends up in France instead, and he I forget like

(18:17):
his something about his flight or something. He like has
a layover, and so.

Speaker 2 (18:22):
He's, oh, it's because they're offered to like take a
later fight for money.

Speaker 3 (18:27):
Yeah, I have that in there later, but I don't
know why. I think it's just a layover that he's in.

Speaker 2 (18:32):
Yeah, maybe that's a different part. I'll tell you my
story about it when we get to that part then,
because yeah, it did happen to me. I'll just say,
now they forced me to get on that plane. I
wanted my twelve hundred dollars bastards. Yeah, I didn't even
have room for my bag. They then put my bag
on a chair on a seat, so they have other seats.

Speaker 1 (18:49):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (18:50):
That don't make any sense. That's stupid. Yeah, that happens
in a minute, But I got to explain this dumb
tax thing.

Speaker 1 (18:56):
So too.

Speaker 3 (18:57):
Yeah, he like he has a layover in France, and
while he's in France, he's like, ooh, I'm gonna get
like a tax refund for my purchases abroad because like
I don't know duty free. I don't know, it's not
duty free. But so he he's in the Paris airport
and he tries to get his tax stuff figured out,
but the lady's like, you have to mail it, which
is like pisses him off because on this entire journey

(19:17):
through Europe he's like been trying to do this tax
stuff and they're like, oh, you can't do it till
you leave the continent. And so now he's going to Africa,
so he's like, I'm gonna do this tax stuff, and
the tax lady's like, no, fuck you, you have to mail it.
And he's like, well, I can't mail it, like I'm
at the airport. So then he like gives up whatever.
And then he gets to his gate and they're like, hey,
the flight's over booked, so if anyone wants to volunteer,

(19:38):
we'll give you money and like a hotel or whatever,
and you'll get on a flight in like fifteen hours.
So he volunteers, and so he's like, I'll get my
bunny back with this money they're gonna give me instead
of my tax refund basically, and he knows someone that
lives there, so that's a poet of course, and so
he calls this poet friend and he's like, hey, what's up.

(20:00):
That guy's like, oh my god, I heard you were traveling.
I heard you were going to India. Like that's so cool.
By the way, Carlos is gonna call you and try
to like purchase a bunch of your letters, like to
Robert and stuff. I sold him a bunch of my
stuff already, this part didn't really make sense to me,
Like Carlos is like making a book about Robert I guess.

Speaker 2 (20:19):
Well about like that because they're pretty much like the
beat Like they're like the Beatnik.

Speaker 1 (20:23):
Movement, I guess essentially.

Speaker 2 (20:26):
So he's like trying to make a book of like, oh,
these super famous authors. Like here's like oh letters, they're
personal letters and stuff. Yeah, he's trying to like make
a collection I think maybe a book or to when
you see him or something. But he's trying to buy
all of it so he could sell it himself.

Speaker 3 (20:40):
Yeah. Yeah. And so this guy's like I sold him
all my stuff. And then he's like, hey, by the way,
I'm having a party tonight, you should come. And Less
is like having a party.

Speaker 2 (20:49):
He's going to someone else's party, so that's what they
random party.

Speaker 3 (20:53):
Yeah, and Less is like, well, my flight's at midnight,
so I don't know about that. The guy's like, come on,
you got it, and then he hangs out up. So
he goes out into the city and he ends up
like in a tailor's shop and he buys like a
whole loss French outfit. And also when he was back
in Italy, he had had his new suit made and
then he he like has this whole thing about this

(21:14):
iconic blue suit that he has it yeah and whatever.
It's like this bright blue suit and it's like his
nice suit whatever, and it was a big deal when
he had it made. So then when he was in Italy,
he was like, I'm gonna get a new suit made
because I've had this one for so long. And uh
so he get he gets all fitted and everything, and
then he picks a suit like a color that's the
same blue as his super blue suit. But the tailor's like, you,

(21:37):
you're too old for that. You need a more subdued
color and Lesa's like, I want that color though. Whatever.
That comes back later because he sent he has that
suit sent to where he's going to be staying in
Japan because obviously it takes a minute to make a
fucking suit. Yeah yeah, so yeah, So then he goes
to the tailor in France and just gets like the
most stereotypical French outfit basically. So he goes to the

(22:01):
party and he runs into some writer that he's like
met before, I guess, and he thinks about when he
saw this guy last, which was also when he was
in Paris, and he was like there with Freddy for something,
and this part was like confusing to me because he
he went to Paris and he was like alone in
Paris for like a month because he was gonna do

(22:21):
some event and the author he was paired with for
this event couldn't make it. And then he like read
poetry to coal miners, and I was like what He's like,
I don't know why I did that either. It makes
no sense that they didn't want to hear it. I
don't know. And then like Freddy shows up for like
the last bit of this trip, so they get to
like have a little trip to Paris together. I don't know.

(22:42):
So then Arthur runs into this author whose name is Finley,
apparently a different author. Here's that back and forth. Shit,
I don't even know what's happening yet.

Speaker 2 (22:51):
In Finley, I want these shows up somewhere else on
his trip to I think I might be lying, but
I want to say he was in New York.

Speaker 3 (22:59):
Maybe maybe I don't know, but he seems to.

Speaker 2 (23:02):
Not like this guy.

Speaker 3 (23:04):
I don't know. Well, here's why. So Finley's been drinking
and so he's like rambling it less and he's like, Hey,
I really love your writing, but do you want to
know why you haven't won any awards for like gay authors.
It's because you're a terrible gay guy. Like you wrote
that book Calypso, and it was like really amazing, but
also it sucked because you just like tortured the guy.

(23:25):
And Andrew is like, yeah, I tortured him because it's
a retelling of Odysseus, Like that's like what happens. And
Finley's like, I'm just telling you what's up. Don't be
so offended. And then he like leaves, and Lessa's like,
what the fuck just happened? And so then he's like,
am I a shit gay guy? Like is that? Like
I don't what does that mean? You know? And then

(23:45):
he thinks back to his parentship with Freddy and when
they had been on this trip, he'd gotten the flu,
and then Freddy had just been like alone in Paris
for like a week while Andrew was sick, and so then, uh,
Freddy did all the TOURISTI stuff while he was sick. Essentially,
and Andrew doesn't light tourist stuff.

Speaker 2 (24:07):
He likes to just like find a little caf He
likes to just find a restaurant, a cafe and go
the same place every night and pretend you're local. I'm sorry, dude,
but you're embarrassed go.

Speaker 1 (24:15):
To the loove.

Speaker 3 (24:16):
You're not a local. Yeah, And so by the time
Arthur got better, Freddy was like, oh, I did all
the touristy stuff. It's time to go. And he's like, bro,
that's fine, Like I'll just go buy you a gift
and then we can leave chill whatever. So back to
this party, he runs into this guy named Javier, and
this guy is like, oh my god, that guy Alexander
invites everyone of these parties and he never actually shows up.

(24:37):
That's so funny. And then Javier is like, I can
tell you're American because the clothes that you bought are
like touristy clothes. And Arthur's like what these were like
so fashionable and then he's like, well they were in
the front of the store window, like all the Americans
would buy those clothes. Basically, he still look so French.

Speaker 2 (24:57):
She's probably out there in a beret and like a
little rid.

Speaker 3 (24:59):
Scarf, stripey shirt.

Speaker 1 (25:01):
Like, yeah, he's dressed like a mine, big mind.

Speaker 3 (25:03):
Mine, Yeah, that guy whatever. So they keep chatting and
then they're like really kind of flirting with each other too,
and Arthur learns that Javier's mom was from Morocco, and
he's like, I'm going to Morocco. And then Arthur talks
about who he's a writer, And then they're both forty
nine and Javier is married but like is separated from

(25:27):
his husband, so I.

Speaker 2 (25:28):
Think he just like they're like together, but he's just
like not in Paris right now or something.

Speaker 3 (25:35):
Yeah, they're just not currently in the same place.

Speaker 2 (25:38):
Yeah, like maybe they don't live in the same location
at the moment.

Speaker 3 (25:42):
They have their own lives. Okay, yes, still.

Speaker 2 (25:44):
Be married and they've been there for like fifteen years
or something.

Speaker 3 (25:47):
They've been together will Yeah, but he and Arthur do
end up kissing, and then Arthur like has to leave
for the airport, but he's like, if Javier asked me
to stay, I would have. And then on the way
to the airport, he gets a call from an unknown
number that doesn't leave a voicemail, and then that number
calls him again like when he gets to his gate,
but like he doesn't answer, and when he gets to

(26:09):
the gate, they're like, oh my god, the flight is overbooked.
Anyone wants some money to go on a different flight,
But this time he doesn't volunteer. So then he goes
to Morocco and he meets up with his other this
other friend, and this guy's name's Louis Delacroix, and he's
known this guy for a minute and since, so, like

(26:30):
all the other people on this like birthday trip for
this other bitch, they've been there for a day because
Arthur is obviously a day late because of the Paris
de Tour. So everyone's like hungover kind of because they
all partied at the hotel the night before and there's
like a whole group of them or whatever, and they
the birthday girl. Her name is Zohra. Is that how

(26:51):
you would say it? There's an h in there, but
I don't know Zora. So Zora's actually really fucking cool.
She's super confident, she's super hot, and her birthday is
the day before Arthur's. So they're like birthday trip buddies.

Speaker 2 (27:07):
Yeah, and she's like, she's like, oh, I'm so happy
you're here. She's that mad that he's like Joan.

Speaker 3 (27:12):
He's like social, fucking butterfly, can get along with everyone.
She's fucking cool, confident, amazing. So they end up on
this camel ride through the desert and everyone's hungover, so
not all of them really like make it the whole way.
They keep just like dropping like flies and like going
back to town or something.

Speaker 2 (27:31):
Yeah, which, once again, what is with all the people around.

Speaker 3 (27:35):
Him just getting all the time.

Speaker 2 (27:38):
I think he's contagious.

Speaker 3 (27:40):
He carries the plague.

Speaker 2 (27:42):
Well he started like contagion or whatever.

Speaker 3 (27:45):
These people like it's they're hungover whatever, but they don't
come back like so I don't.

Speaker 2 (27:50):
Almost disappear around him.

Speaker 3 (27:53):
Don't show up at the next town or anything. They're
just done whatever. So Arthur gets to be alone with
his thoughts obviously, so he's thinking about Freddy because someone
mentions like Tahiti and he's like, oh my god, Freddy
wanted to go to Tahiti. But Arthur like didn't care,
and he's like, oh my god, I bet Freddy went
to Tahiti for his honeymoon. So he eventually ends up

(28:18):
talking with Zora and she's like, oh my god, I'm
a huge fan of your books, which to him that
is like always surprising, even though his one, his Calypso book,
was like pretty sure people loved it. Everyone liked it.
And so then Zora's like, when's your next book? Coming out,
and he's like, I don't really know, Like I took
it to my publisher and they rejected it. And she's like, well,

(28:41):
what's it about? And it's basically just a white guy
complaining about his problems, and as he's explaining it to her,
he realizes how dumb of a book that would be,
because it's like, we have a million books like that already,
like whatever. And later Zorah comes up to Arthur and
he's like and she's like, hey, since we're both turning fifty,

(29:03):
I came up with two rules that we got to
follow with our old age, and Louis is already like
in on it. And those rules are like fuck love
and let's get fat, because why not? And Arthur's like,
I don't want to be fat though, and they all
like laugh, and Arthur is like, how can Louis really
say fuck love? Like he's literally married. His husband's name

(29:24):
is Clark. They're literally Lewis and Clark, Like they're perfect
for each other. How could he say that?

Speaker 2 (29:30):
Yeah, they've been together twenty years, like they're a big deal.

Speaker 3 (29:34):
They're yeah, like perfect. So that night they can't they
camp out and it's like some fancy as camp in
the middle of the desert that has like toilets and
like beds and like books in English. There's mirrors. That's exciting.

Speaker 2 (29:47):
I guess, like who came out here and said all
this stuff for us? Right? Yeah, probably right.

Speaker 3 (29:55):
They had a terrible time today.

Speaker 2 (29:56):
He had to drag toilets out there, and it's like
to go hole, so like I don't know, because you know,
they're not flushing.

Speaker 3 (30:01):
Like yeah, I just okay. Anyways, that night, he's sitting
out with Louis, and Louis is like, yeah, me and
Clark are getting divorced. And He's like what and he's like, yeah,
we're still in love. Everything's literally great, but like yeah,
we're done. And Arthur was like why though, and Louis
is like, well, when Clark and I first started dating,

(30:22):
it was like a long distance relationship because like one
of them lived in like California and the other was
in like New York or some shit. And eventually Louis
asked Clark to move in with him, and Clark was like, okay, yeah,
I will move in with you, but only for ten years.
And Lewis like laughed and was like okay, but sure enough,
after ten years, Clark was like, hey, it's been ten years,

(30:43):
like this is it? And Louis was like, what the
actual fuck? And Clark was like hmm, but like how
about ten more? And Louis was like, oh okay. And
then right before the ten years were up, they went
on a big old road trip through Texas and they
like did this thing where they only at places, they
only ate at place that had like a special and
if they didn't have a special, they would just go
to another place. And it was really great and fun

(31:06):
and whatever. And then at the end of the trip
they decided that was it. And now they're broken up,
and now Clark is getting married to some guy he
met in Texas and Louis is gonna read poetry at
their wedding.

Speaker 2 (31:17):
Yeah, which I'm like, Okay, your relationship wasn't all that
great if he just was able to find some.

Speaker 3 (31:22):
Other dude to get married right away, right and they
weren't actually married, I don't think.

Speaker 2 (31:27):
Oh they weren't legally married. Yeah, oh no, they maybe
legally married.

Speaker 3 (31:31):
They might have gotten married for the second ten years,
but I don't think that at least for the.

Speaker 2 (31:34):
First I'm well, it wasn't legalized for probably over.

Speaker 3 (31:38):
Half that time exactly. I don't know, I don't remember. Anyways,
Arthur can't relate to this obviously, and he gets lost
in his thoughts and doesn't hear when Lewis is like, hey,
did you hear that Freddy locked himself in the bathroom
before his wedding, which seems like pretty hot goss.

Speaker 2 (31:53):
But yeah, people are thinking at like, something happened at the.

Speaker 3 (31:57):
Wedding, something with Freddy. Oh my god. But since Les
is all spaced out, Lewis just goes to bed and
then a sandstorm hits. So the next day the storm
is like raging, so they're stuck at camp. They cannot
do anything all day, They're just hanging out, and eventually
their tour guide like drives them to town because he's like, hey,
the storm is only affecting right where we are, so like,

(32:19):
if we leave this bubble, it's better. So they go
to some random Swiss Alps themed town in the middle
of fucking Morocco, I guess, and they uh lessen Zora
end up just like drinking and talking and it's her
birthday and then so she's asking Arthur about Freddy and

(32:40):
then she's like, yeah, I also just broke up with
my significant other. Her name was Janet. Janet fell in
love with someone else and it was like one of
those like once in a lifetime types of love. And
Janet was actually supposed to come with on this trip,
so like that's why you were able to come because
Janet couldn't. And she like goes on this rant about
like how Janet like fell in love at first sight

(33:03):
and YadA, YadA, and she's like, I don't think that's
what love is, like love is, and she explains like
what she sees.

Speaker 2 (33:11):
Yeah, boring, like the just the mundane things, yeah, just
every day yeah, and yeah, so that's sad Zora's in
her feels whatever.

Speaker 3 (33:22):
And then she has to be carried to bed that
night because she gets so drunk, and I'm like, okay,
good for her. And Arthur ends up talking to Mohammed,
which is like their tour guide that's been taken him
through Morocco, and he learns that bro speaks seven languages
and he still learned in English, but he also speaks German,
and Arthur's like, oh my god, I speak German too,

(33:43):
and they're talking in German and Mohammed's like, you're not
very good at German unless' is like, I speak at
a child's level, and Mohammad's probably like, yeah, ye're very
good at German languages.

Speaker 2 (33:56):
You're not a smart person.

Speaker 3 (33:58):
He's like, I just started learning Englis and I'm better
at it than you are.

Speaker 2 (34:01):
I'm over here digging holes for your guys's toilets and
I speak seven languages.

Speaker 3 (34:05):
I hope better than you. We are not the same.

Speaker 2 (34:08):
Yeah, like I make he probably makes not a lot
of money. Just give me honest, people who think they're
better than him. Over here, he speaks every language.

Speaker 3 (34:18):
Justice for Muhammad, let's be.

Speaker 1 (34:20):
Real than cute.

Speaker 2 (34:22):
I hope you're okay.

Speaker 3 (34:24):
Yeah, yeah. So Arthur goes to bed. He is alone
on his birthday, which is what he didn't want, but whatever.
Next he goes to India and he lands in Delhi,
and then he goes to another town with a really
long name that I cannot pronounce. And this was the
place he was told about that like he's going to

(34:46):
finish the novel there. He's going to be secluded at
this nice.

Speaker 2 (34:48):
Camp Carlos mentioned it a long time ago or.

Speaker 3 (34:51):
Something, yeah, exactly. And so he learns that he's going
to be staying at like a Christian retreat, and his
house is designed like it's like a spiral. I don't know.
It reminded me of like a snail shell, that's what
it sounds like. And like his desk is like in
the middle of it, and there's a picture of the
last Supper above his desk and he's like, that's weird,

(35:12):
but okay. And he finds out basically immediately that this
place is not the quiet sanctuary that he hoped for,
because there's like hella loud praying and bells, and then
people come and sit outside his house and watch the
sunset every night because it has the best view. So
they're just sitting there chatting and it's just loud all
the time. And he goes out to get his suit

(35:33):
repaired one day because it's like old, I don't know,
and the pastor at the Christian treat takes him to
a tailor and the tailor's like come back at the
end of the like come back tomorrow and it'll be fixed.
And the pastor takes him to get a haircut too,
and the dude just shaves off Arthur's beard without asking,
because he grew a beard when he was in Germany,
and then the guy's like, you want a massage, and

(35:55):
Arthur's like okay, and then the guy just like beats
him up for a while and then slaps him across
the face. It's just like a really weirdly aggressive massage.

Speaker 2 (36:04):
I feel like that sometimes.

Speaker 3 (36:06):
I feel like that sometimes. And then there's a dog
that like, after his suit gets fixed, the dog steals
his suit, so his suit's gone. That sucks. And then
that night he steps on his sewing needle because he
has like a sewing kit and and.

Speaker 2 (36:23):
He couldn't repair his own suit.

Speaker 3 (36:24):
Okay, because he like lost the needle. It was on
the ground the whole time. And then he steps on
it somehow like needle first, because then he like falls
and fractures his ankle, and I was like, how is it,
I don't okay, taking straight up? Somehow that needle is
balanced on end. I don't know. So he's taken to
the hospital in the middle of the in that night,

(36:45):
and he has a very confusing and painful time because
like one nurse tries to pull the needle out and
like can't, and then they do like three X rays
and then another nurse does pull the needle out and
they give him a boot to wear, and this is
like kind of a small blessing because since he has
to wear the boot, he can't stay at the retreat
anymore because there's too much walking essentially, and he's not

(37:05):
supposed to be walking. So he's gonna get new accommodations.
And who shows up to take him to those new
accommodations but Carlos Freddy's dannad.

Speaker 2 (37:15):
Yeah, he's also in India, yeah, because he owns like
a retreat there that I thought he was gonna be
staying at originally, but he's not.

Speaker 1 (37:22):
I don't know his.

Speaker 3 (37:24):
Whole thing, right, And then he does to stay there. Yeah,
so this is a little bit awkward, but Carlos is
whatever he takes. He takes Arthur to stay at this
brand new resort that he's building and it's basically like
done but not open yet. So Arthur gets to stay
at these five star digs all by himself, and that's
actually super helpful because he does essentially rewrite his novel,
so like, that's not lame, that's good, that's cool. And

(37:48):
he ends up having dinner with Carlos and Carlos is like, hey,
give me all those letters from Robert like and all
these other people because I'm making a book and they're
like part of history. And Arthur's like, I don't know
about that. I don't want to sell my shit. And
Carlos is like, okay, well, everyone's lives, like he goes
on this rant about everyone's lives are both tragic and

(38:09):
comedic and some people have like all their comedy in
the first half and all the tragedy in the second.
And Arthur is like, what what is this? I don't
understand what any of this is about. And Carlos is like,
tell my assistant when your flight is to Tokyo so
we can make sure that you make it, and then
he just like leaves, and I was like okay. So

(38:30):
the next day Arthur flies to Osaka, Japan. His suitcase
does not make it, which is very inconvenient, but the
suit that he ordered is there, and it's this gorgeous
gray color and it's even better than the blue one was,
so that's great. But he only has like two days
in Japan because he's there reviewing like four different meals
for this Japanese magazine and it's really busy, and all

(38:52):
the meals are like they're like these really fancy, like
seven course meals, but they're all like the same because
they're all featuring like the same flavor profiles whatever. His
hotel is super nice because it's Japan, so like the
it's super nice. And he gets a message from Marian

(39:13):
that Robert had a stroke, so he calls her freaking out,
and she's like no, like it's okay, like in the
terms of strokes, like it wasn't terrible. And Arthur's like, okay,
I'll be right there, and Marian's like, no, you won't.
It's okay. Also, Robert said, you got married, and Arthur's like, no,
I didn't get married. The guy I was with got married,
and Mary's like, oh, whoops. Sorry. So he gets to

(39:35):
talk to Robert and Robert's like, I'm old because Robert
is seventy five now, and they reminisce about how they
met on the beach when he's married and like when
they met, his marriage to Marian was already falling apart,
and like everything's different now because like they're old. I
don't know, And so he hangs up on Robert. They're

(39:57):
gonna talk later, and he goes. He eats all his
meals they're really fancy. The first one is amazing, but
then it's like they're all like the same, so it
gets kind of boring.

Speaker 2 (40:05):
This special like type of meal but so the same
exact thing each time. Yeah, and he's like more of
this and one thing is like something worm and I'm like,
he is he eating worms?

Speaker 3 (40:15):
Good? It's not but nothing but worms in Japan.

Speaker 2 (40:19):
Sounds like he's just eating a lot of They just
keep sermon and worms and.

Speaker 3 (40:24):
Nothing but worms. Yeah. So he's going to the last
meal and he has to like drive there, which is
like a whole adventure because like he gets this little
car and it has GPS and the GPS fucks up immediately,
and then he has to cross like a bunch of
tolls and that's confusing, but he makes it. And the
restaurant is like super cool and it's really old. But

(40:44):
he has to like crawl through these tiny doors to
get to the room he's eating.

Speaker 2 (40:47):
In, which they're sectioned everything off and they have a
whole bunch of doors and they keep closing.

Speaker 3 (40:54):
Yeah, and like yeah, he has to crawl in but whatever.
But the room he gets to eat in is really cool.
There's a sick garden and it has like a waterfall,
and he recognizes it from like some art he saw
when he was a kid, so like it's super cool,
and he served his meal. It's fine whatever. But then
the tiny room to the door he's locked in jams
and the restaurant people are like, hey, the door is stuck.

(41:17):
Can you break through the wall because it's like those
paper walls that they got, and he's like, no, I
can't do that, and yeah.

Speaker 2 (41:24):
That's crazy, that's crazy the door.

Speaker 3 (41:28):
And they're like no, no, no, no, it's like super
it's fine, it's super thin, like we can fix it
super fast, just like punch through and we'll get you
out of there. And he's like, hmm, he can't do that.
He's thinking about his childhood, freaking out.

Speaker 2 (41:41):
You punched through, I'm breaking your door.

Speaker 3 (41:43):
You've thrown door, you know, And I think we assume
the staff has to break it for him. It's not
really cleared up. I should. I would break that wall
in a heartbeat. I'd be like, oh my god, I
get to break one of these walls.

Speaker 2 (41:55):
Yeah, it would be tempting, but I also be like
I don't want you all to turn around and be.

Speaker 3 (41:59):
Like, what the fuck you do, like, well, Sydney, it's like,
you know, it's like those paper walls like in Kung
Fu Panda.

Speaker 2 (42:04):
No. I get it. I get how it's satisfying that
would be, but also how embarrassing if you can't break
through it.

Speaker 3 (42:11):
You like they're like it's two layers of paper and you're.

Speaker 2 (42:13):
Like, I'm trying.

Speaker 3 (42:15):
So I'm just a girl, Okay.

Speaker 2 (42:18):
Yeah, like I would try, but I can't. So I'm
gonna just find a knife or.

Speaker 3 (42:22):
I'm just gonna cry. Thanks whatever. We then learned that
the narrator of the story is Freddy, and Freddy talks
about how he woke up crying on his honeymoon in
Tahiti because he realized he couldn't stay married to his
husband because he wanted to be with Arthur and his
husband was a really nice guy, so he like helped
him through that and was like, we can annull the marriage.

(42:42):
And then Freddy's dad texted him Arthur's freight flight info
for Japan, so he flew there and he met Arthur
there because all he met.

Speaker 2 (42:49):
Him at his house in San Francisco, didn't fly to Japan.
He waited for him to get back.

Speaker 3 (42:53):
To San fran You know, I guess that makes more sense.
But I like to think he flew to Japan, but yeah,
he probably waited for him to get home and he
was like all I want is less and they're together.
I guess the end.

Speaker 2 (43:05):
I have thoughts and that we'll get to it.

Speaker 3 (43:06):
We'll get to it.

Speaker 2 (43:07):
Reviews three point six four stars. Yeah, what happens is
a mixture of farcical, laugh out loud and painfully sad
as Arthur experiences a series of epiphanies throughout his adventures.
You give me one with the most Yeah.

Speaker 3 (43:21):
I didn't realize that till right now, but yeah, you
get fun fucking words. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (43:24):
And if you think that you have read this book
before that there there are just so many complex elements
to this book that there that are unlike any other
book that I have read.

Speaker 3 (43:33):
A wow.

Speaker 2 (43:34):
Some books are described as being on a roller coaster,
but this is more like canoeing down a river. But
you gently meander around each river bend and come across
new landscapes and depths of emotion. Five stars. You might
just generally go down a river.

Speaker 3 (43:47):
No, but the word it's like, you think you've read
this book before. No Ah, Like I.

Speaker 2 (43:54):
But this ain't like other books.

Speaker 3 (43:56):
This book's different. I mean kind of, but not really anyway,
I really really love this It's a wonderful mix of lighthearted, reflective,
and heartbreaking, with an excellent sense of humor. And yes,
it's a little cheesy. Yes, the main character is basically
if a manic pixie dream girl was a fifty year
old gay man. I don't care. It made me happy.

(44:17):
Four stars.

Speaker 2 (44:19):
They're not wrong about that manny pixy dream girl thing, right.
I feel like this is the one I'm going to
agree with the most. This book was average, the ending
was cliched, and I frankly felt that there was no
emotional poll to the book. Do the narrative the narrative? Yeah,
if it was first person, I think the complex feelings
US has about aging and love would hold more way

(44:39):
to it expected more from a pole that's your winning novel,
But I'll probably forget this book immediately.

Speaker 1 (44:44):
Three stars.

Speaker 3 (44:45):
Yeah, Yeah, they summon it up pretty well. This one
I think is pretty funny too. Overly angsty, privileged white
man is so insecure that when he finds out an
ex who he told to leave him is getting married
and he's invited, he decides to travel the world as
an excuse not to go. There are some funny parts

(45:06):
and I like the writing style fine. However, the character's
privilege isn't really examined at all. I think I'm supposed
to feel badly for him. He is so unself aware
and doesn't really go through much self development at all,
even though he thinks he has. Then he gets his
happy ending. The combo is too much for me. Two stars.

Speaker 2 (45:25):
Oh that's what name a fool? So don't literally only
finish it?

Speaker 1 (45:29):
To finish it?

Speaker 2 (45:30):
Boring protagonist and even more boring everything else. Zero point
five stars.

Speaker 3 (45:34):
There's no like one stars. But there was, like, there
was quite a few people that didn't like this book.
I will say that, but yeah, whatever, okay questions, So,
like the dud book that he was writing, do you
think it was this book? Because he's like, oh, it's
a white guy complaining about his life, and then I've

(45:57):
spruced it up so he had issues, and I'm like, yeah,
what happened?

Speaker 2 (46:01):
Rolling stuff at him? Except for the way he's first
to have made it sound more exciting because he's like
he's walking down the street. Ah, something crazy happens. He's
doing this now something like he just went balls to
the wall, but sounded like he was saying, but it
probably is just this book. I mean, yeah, this seems
like based on the fun facts we did, this is
kind of self like, this is about the author.

Speaker 3 (46:21):
It seems like right, and then he won a Pulitzer
for it. Oh my god, yeah, which is crazy.

Speaker 2 (46:27):
I guess they did you just get this out?

Speaker 3 (46:29):
There was a one of the I should have put.
There was a review that was talking about like a
book about a bunch of writers and like they're like
Pulitzer Prize winners and he's like down playing Pulitzer prizes
and then he wins a Pulitzer Prize for this book.

Speaker 2 (46:43):
Okay, yeah, okay, here's my biggest beef with this book.

Speaker 3 (46:49):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (46:50):
Did you also hate that the narrator was Freddy.

Speaker 3 (46:52):
A little bit? Because I was like that, so it.

Speaker 2 (46:53):
Don't makes sense because he talks about himself and the
third person all the time. Then yeah, that's what that
because I was again, this is Freddy. But I was like, no,
I can't be friend because he's always talking about like
himself because it'll be like he'll be like, oh I
did this, I met him this way and it sounds
like just some random guy. But then he's like, it's
me Freddy.

Speaker 3 (47:09):
Well, it's like it's a book about Andrew written by Freddy,
but in Andrew's voice. I guess, like it is weird.

Speaker 2 (47:19):
Yeah, when it's like, Hi, it's me Freddie at the end,
and I'm like, fuck you stupid. I got so mad.
I was like, I hate that ending. That's the worst reveal.

Speaker 3 (47:30):
Stop it. Yeah, And I feel like maybe we could
have seen it come into it's a little like too obvious,
just like it's a little too obvious they're gonna end
up together again.

Speaker 2 (47:40):
Yeah, But also that's why I didn't want them to
end up together. I'm like, you need to fix something
because you.

Speaker 3 (47:47):
Have a healthy relationship.

Speaker 2 (47:48):
You've never been in a non like a monogmous relationship.
You're always like sleeping with other people the whole time.

Speaker 3 (47:54):
Yeah. Yeah, did you also find this book hard to
get into?

Speaker 2 (48:00):
Allowed to read it?

Speaker 3 (48:01):
Like, it's not that I disliked it, Like I would
read it and be like, okay, and it was well.
And that was another review I saw that someone was
like when I was reading it was fine, but it
was really hard to pick it back up. And I
was like, bitch, Yeah, I read most of this, like
I had to like fucking sit down and read like
most of the book. And what's the thing. I don't know,

(48:22):
I don't know. It's not bad, but yeah it's no
b andrews now b c Andrews Like okay.

Speaker 2 (48:29):
Which okay is like trips? Would you want to have
turned fifty? In?

Speaker 3 (48:37):
Good question? I think, I mean, honestly, the Morocco one.

Speaker 2 (48:43):
That's a very unique experience.

Speaker 3 (48:45):
Yeah, and you're like, granted, the sandstorm isn't ideal, but
then you get to go to like a Swiss Alps
weird ass town that's hilarious.

Speaker 2 (48:54):
Yeah, I think. Yeah, I have to read Morocca. I
always want to go there anyways because it looks super cool. Yeah. Yeah,
I mean that's just it sound expensive and you gotta
go for free.

Speaker 1 (49:05):
That's sick.

Speaker 3 (49:06):
Yeah, you're just tagging on with someone else's birthday, so
it's like, oh, birthday activities, but like, yeah, down for it.
Sora sounds cool as fuck, like.

Speaker 2 (49:16):
But men a second, I guess would maybe.

Speaker 3 (49:20):
Japan. Well, oh yeah, Japan would be sick too. But
it's only a two day trip, so it's like, what's
the point of going in Japan for two days. I
need at least two weeks, not more. Give me the
five weeks in Germany, but in Japan, I don't have
to teach anything.

Speaker 2 (49:36):
Maybe not take five weeks in Japan. It's not that
big of a country.

Speaker 3 (49:40):
Oh my god, Sidney, there's so much to see in Japan.
Don't even you started.

Speaker 2 (49:43):
I mean, yeah, I'm sure there is. And I do
want to go to.

Speaker 3 (49:45):
Their Disneyland, oh and the the Mario Land or whatever.

Speaker 2 (49:50):
Yeah, you got a lot of interesting things going on, and.

Speaker 3 (49:53):
There's so many cool and like if you go, there's
like cherry blossoms. There's cherry blossoms in like every season,
and like the.

Speaker 2 (50:01):
In this book, they literally everything apologized to him for
not being They're like, sorry, the cherry.

Speaker 3 (50:05):
Blossoms are not It's because it's different regions have different seasons.
So it's like, yeah, technically, like if I wanted to
go to Japan for my birthday, there is like certain
parts that have cherry blossoms in October, but it's I
don't know when cherry blossom season is. Don't get me started.
I'm not gonna say things.

Speaker 2 (50:22):
I think it's a spring flower because they have them around.

Speaker 3 (50:25):
Here probably yeah, but like, oh, there's so many cool
towns in Japan and like, don't get me started.

Speaker 2 (50:33):
Well let's move on.

Speaker 3 (50:34):
Anyways. I don't think you think this, but like I
think this. But like, didn't Mary Anne set them up?

Speaker 1 (50:42):
I mean she did it.

Speaker 2 (50:45):
She didn't knowingly, but she did.

Speaker 3 (50:47):
Here's the facts we've heard from Brownburn, Robert whoever the
fuck their marriage was on the rocks when he met Arthur. Also,
Arthur's just talking to his on the beach and she's like,
go swim with my husband, Go get in the water
with my husband, and chook a bunch of guys. And
I'm like, you know, this man's gay and he's like

(51:08):
in a speedo with your home.

Speaker 2 (51:10):
Maybe she didn't think her husband was.

Speaker 3 (51:12):
Like I fully, I fully think that she was like,
our marriage is over. My husband is in the men,
whether that's whether he's by or gay whatever, Yeah, and
she was like, go be with that guy. It's chill.
You know, they're like in their forties or whatever. So
I think she understood.

Speaker 2 (51:28):
Like, I mean, I could see that. I didn't think
you're reading it, but I could see that.

Speaker 3 (51:32):
That was my thought.

Speaker 2 (51:35):
Okay, so was Brawner supposed to be like Jack Quack
or something, because they act like he was a big
fucking deal.

Speaker 3 (51:41):
I think.

Speaker 2 (51:41):
So.

Speaker 3 (51:41):
I think they were supposed to be like the gay
beat beat nick boys or whatever the fuck.

Speaker 2 (51:47):
Yeah, like they were the yeah beat poets, like the
that whole generation. But yeah, they they're like these guys obido.
Everybody wants to hear about his boyfriend. They's such a
big deal if people want to talk to his boyfriend.
I know.

Speaker 3 (52:03):
And I was like, okay, but like, what did it
just I don't know? And yeah whatever. But then it's
like Arthur is also like a big deal by himself,
So I was like, I just I don't know, I
don't know.

Speaker 2 (52:20):
Yeah, anyways, you used something clothes. I only had a couple,
well maybe more than I thought.

Speaker 3 (52:28):
I think I have four. My first one's on page
twenty nine.

Speaker 2 (52:34):
Mm hmm. Yeah, go for it, because my first one
was gonna be on page twenty one. But I don't
know when I wanted, so two yours.

Speaker 3 (52:43):
Okay, let's see what I wanted. Oh well, there it is. Okay,
but every author can taste the poison. Another has slipped
into the punch, and Champion ended by calling the author
himself a magniloquent spoony. Let's stared at those words like
a child taking a test. Manigloquent sounded like a praise

(53:07):
but was not. But a spoony? What the hell was
a spoony? I just really like the word spoony, A spoony,
like the rest of the book.

Speaker 2 (53:16):
Is that like a Geesler, like a spoony.

Speaker 3 (53:19):
And then I looked up maniglo quint and it means lofty, pompous,
and I was like, what a perfect fucking word for that.

Speaker 2 (53:26):
Yeah, true, Okay, mine is on page forty You might
have this one. San Francisco Leus is having a memory
from nearly thirty years before, walking out of an Erasure
concert with his friends Don't learning that the Democrats had
retaken the Senate and walking into this bar and Clary,
we want to sleep with a Republican who's Republican, and

(53:47):
every man in the place raising his hand.

Speaker 3 (53:49):
I'm surprised I didn't put that one, honestly, because that
was funny.

Speaker 2 (53:53):
Yeah, I'm allo surprised he didn't.

Speaker 3 (53:55):
My next one was on page forty four. Different vibe
on and on the plane convulses in the moonlight like
a man turning into a werewolf. That's hilarious.

Speaker 2 (54:10):
Oh, here's this is relatable. Page forty five, Name a day,
Name an hour in which Arthur West was not afraid
avoiding a cocktail, taking a classy taxi, teaching a class,
writing a book, afraid of these and almost everything else
in the world.

Speaker 3 (54:26):
Relatable. Yeah, okay, my next one's kind of long. So
let's see. This is page forty nine and page fifty
and I just said, lol, what. So let's see. We
had a very esteemed list. We had Fairborne and Jessup mcmanahan,

(54:46):
we had brought O'Brian and Tyson and Plum left swallows
this piece of information. But Harold Plum is dead. There
were changes to the list, the head admits, but the
original list was a thing abu. We had Hemingway, we
had Faulkner and Wolf, so you didn't get plumb less
contributes or Wolf. I assume we didn't get anyone, says

(55:08):
the head, lifting his massive chin. But I had them
print out there. But I had them print out the
original list. You should have found it in your packet.
I just love that. He's like, we had the best people.
None of them came, but it was fucking a great list. Like, okay, dude,
proud of you.

Speaker 2 (55:28):
Oh yeah, but yes, what you're saying is crazy that
they're like, let's have fulkner. These people are dead. His
list was.

Speaker 3 (55:36):
Dead man, they've been dead, dude.

Speaker 2 (55:38):
Yeah, he's like, who's name famous authors? Let's put Shakespeare
on the list. I mean, why not?

Speaker 3 (55:42):
Why not?

Speaker 2 (55:44):
Oh? My next one's page forty seven. Anyways, that's my
son in the background.

Speaker 3 (55:51):
So here.

Speaker 2 (55:53):
Uh yeah, so page forty seven. Yes, the stadium in
the middle of the park is named for Lindbergh, who was,
of course I fam a saw father and if you
miss fascist.

Speaker 3 (56:04):
Father, fascist, don't forget it.

Speaker 2 (56:07):
Not a pilot, nothing else, just a fascist.

Speaker 3 (56:11):
Okay. My last one is on page one, and I said,
at least he's not short. So this is when this
guy comes over and just starts calling him a bad
gay basically, so page one here. All this time, less
thought he was merely a bad writer, a bad lover,
a bad friend, a bad son. Apparently the condition is worse.

(56:34):
He is bad at being himself. At least, he thinks,
looking across the room to where Finley is amusing the hostess,
I am not short, Okay, silver lining.

Speaker 2 (56:47):
He's got that going for him.

Speaker 1 (56:52):
This is just.

Speaker 2 (56:55):
I used my last quote, but I have Walmar Page.
This is some time about his food in Italy. So
at one venue they made American desserts that turned out
to be brand muffins.

Speaker 3 (57:08):
Appointment that one was funny. That's a choice that would
be sad.

Speaker 2 (57:15):
Oh here is Oh speaking of them being called back
gay one? Is this right before or after the.

Speaker 1 (57:27):
One you just read?

Speaker 2 (57:29):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (57:29):
Probably before anyways.

Speaker 2 (57:32):
It's this is this guy telling him he's back game.
If I didn't know any if I didn't know better,
I think you were a Republican.

Speaker 3 (57:38):
Yeah what a bird?

Speaker 2 (57:40):
I know.

Speaker 3 (57:41):
That would make me rethink a lot of things.

Speaker 2 (57:45):
I don't know. Let me see the last one.

Speaker 3 (57:48):
Okayh final thoughts, Well, I didn't dislike this book. I
think it was a good book. I do love the
stream of consciousness type of writing because I can relate
to it because I'm like that is how my thoughts work,
I you know, off topic, on topic, whatever. Love that.

(58:10):
I did love the traveling. I thought it was fun,
but I did see in reviews where it was like
every country he went to he talked to like the
most stereotypical person like of that country kind of, and
I was like, oh, like, didn't think of it, but
I could see that. Yeah, but yeah, I mean it
was a book about a guy having a midlife crisis basically,

(58:32):
but like, still, I don't know, I wish he would
have found a healthier relationship or learned how to be
in a relationship maybe because I don't really see how
him and Freddie are going to work out when he's
the same guy as before basically, But we'll see, we
won't see. I don't know.

Speaker 2 (58:50):
Yeah, same it was. I didn't hate.

Speaker 3 (58:54):
This book, yeah, fee I.

Speaker 2 (58:56):
Didn't love it, but yeah, it's just some dude being
sad about a guy who's hooking up with getting married.
And I'm like, dude, you have commitment issues yourself. Really,
they're not gonna work out. They're not gonna work out
because first of all, he needs to find someone his
own age, stopping all the young guys. He was in
a weird ass age relationship before and then he switched

(59:18):
around d young dudes. Yeah, not a problem, but yeah,
I mean it was.

Speaker 1 (59:24):
Just a guy.

Speaker 2 (59:25):
I like the travel, like the different locations, was jealous
of that, was jealous that he got to make a
living as a writer.

Speaker 1 (59:32):
That's cool.

Speaker 3 (59:33):
Yeah, but you know.

Speaker 2 (59:36):
It was it was okay, it was no kid.

Speaker 3 (59:40):
It was fine. Yeah. So if y'all like that, we
have others, so you can go and find them wherever
you listen to podcasts. And while you're there, he should
give us a little five star review. Why not tell
us what's up next week? I will be covering something wicked.
This way comes by Ray Bradbury. I'm like, most of

(01:00:02):
the way through it, it's pretty fun so far. And
also the person who owned it last was some uh,
a teenager who was doing a book report. So she
wrote on every single page of this fucking book.

Speaker 2 (01:00:16):
Good for her. I hope she got a great She.

Speaker 3 (01:00:19):
Got an A. I know because the teacher left a
sticky note and it said much better A. So how
to you, Isabella? Glad you got an I like that.

Speaker 2 (01:00:27):
It's like, write notes in the margin of your book
is your grades?

Speaker 3 (01:00:31):
I did it and for when I was in Honors English,
and you know what, whatever history, I think.

Speaker 2 (01:00:37):
I did that too, So no longer judging right.

Speaker 3 (01:00:40):
It's like you could do sticky notes, but it's like,
oh am, I supposed to have one hundred fucking sticky notes.
Now I'm just gonna write in this book.

Speaker 2 (01:00:46):
Yeah, I mean I do write. I haven't in a while,
but I have written in many of my books. Yeah,
I'm not judging that. I'm just thinking that's a wow.
Tell people like you can't rent it from the library,
you have to buy it because you're writing it. I
hope they supplied these kids with these books, and you.

Speaker 3 (01:01:00):
Know they didn't. They probably didn't need to pay for it.

Speaker 2 (01:01:03):
Anyways, enough about that. You can find us on instagrament
book Call podcast on TikTok at, book gold pod and
online book pod dot WordPress dot com if you want to.

Speaker 3 (01:01:15):
Yeah, if you dare whatever, thanks for listening.

Speaker 2 (01:01:20):
You're now you're now a gay dude.

Speaker 3 (01:01:23):
You could be, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:01:26):
We're always that way though.

Speaker 1 (01:01:27):
It's not a choice.

Speaker 3 (01:01:29):
Yeah, you didn't consciously make that decision. It's just you're
born that way.

Speaker 1 (01:01:34):
Like I would say.

Speaker 3 (01:01:38):
Yeah, so no takes these backsies. That's what Lady Gaga
wants us to know.

Speaker 1 (01:01:41):
Okay, Yeah, I mean I guess you can't.

Speaker 2 (01:01:44):
Really.

Speaker 3 (01:01:45):
Conversion therapy doesn't work, and we do not endorse it. No,