The Readirect Podcast
Harry Potter and the Biggest Bag Fumble of All Time: Deep Dive (Part 1)
Major Disclaimer: This podcast and its hosts do not in any way, shape, or form endorse or support or agree with JKR and her awful, transphobic viewpoints. We encourage you to avoid supporting her financially or in any other way.
All June, we are raising funds for The Trevor Project in honor of Pride Month. Consider donating at this link!
For part one of this deep dive, we're discussing background, problematic behaviors of the author, and books 1 and 2 in the series.
Recent Reads:
Major Disclaimer: This podcast and its hosts do not in any way, shape, or form endorse or support or agree with JKR and her awful, transphobic viewpoints. We encourage you to avoid supporting her financially or in any other way.
All June, we are raising funds for The Trevor Project in honor of Pride Month. Consider donating at this link!
For part one of this deep dive, we're discussing background, problematic behaviors of the author, and books 1 and 2 in the series.
Recent Reads:
Welcome to the Redirect Podcast. My name is Abigail Freshly and I'm Emily Rojas.
Speaker 2:The Redirect Podcast is a show where we shift the conversation back to books. We discuss themes from some of our favorite books and how those themes show up in real lived experiences.
Speaker 1:On today's episode, we're discussing a beloved book series with a less than beloved author Yikes Harry Potter.
Speaker 2:But first, before we go there, if you've been enjoying the pod, we would humbly ask that you support us in a few simple ways. First, you can leave us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts and let us know that you love the show.
Speaker 1:We'd also love for you to follow us on Instagram at redirect podcast. And finally, if you really, really really like to show, please share it with a friend. Sharing our show with a friend is the best way to help us grow our community of book loving nerds. I feel happy about the way the podcast is going and I feel like we have like a you know, a modest but mighty community who enjoys episodes and talks about it, and that's all I could really ask for.
Speaker 1:It's been great and would love to bring even more people into it.
Speaker 2:Um I know good vibes, I was gonna say that and we just obviously got back from your wedding. Congrats clap. But there, like I talked to your sister yeah, applaud in your cars. I talked to your sister about the podcast a little. I met some of your friends from la. It was like, wow, this is so fun. Like you know, we just talked in our houses by ourselves, but it was nice to actually, like you know, talk about it in real life. Yeah, or just my mom, you know what we're saying yeah, okay, so you know what's occurring to me.
Speaker 1:It is june, it is pride month I did think about that.
Speaker 1:we've chosen this time to talk about harry potter, but I want to before everyone is just like cancel them. Here's what I want to say. I think that this is actually a great time to talk about Harry Potter, yeah, and that is because we have an opportunity to reclaim something that is beloved and cherished and shared, and also do it on our own terms, and so this podcast is going to be raising money this month for the Trevor Project in honor of JK Rowling. I put that on our fundraising page.
Speaker 1:All the donations are in honor of her and kind of reclaim, actually, the spirit of the book, like the courage and inclusivity and openness and like good over evil, yeah, um, so yeah, and I think also pride is not just about like celebrating love is love, but also talking about the real um challenges and obstacles and oppressions that people in the lgbtq plus community specifically those who identify with the t as transgender yeah, are experiencing in our world and um, you know, it's our obligation to talk about those things and as well as just like celebrating queer love I love that.
Speaker 2:Um, yeah, and it felt, I think, weird to like not talk about harry potter with our book podcast. I think it had a big impact on both of us, probably in our reading lives, and so I think we can talk about it obviously, uh, hopefully no one's going to buy the books we would not endorse that and we're not giving her any money and obviously do it for a good cause also. Um, so, yeah, I was thinking to encourage you guys. Like don't feel like you have to go donate a bunch of money. But I looked up like the cost of the first harry potter book. It's like 12 dollars. Like you could think about that, like, okay, I'm gonna go throw this over to the trevor project and, uh, skip buying this book if you don't already own it.
Speaker 1:Right or like, if you're like man, I haven't read the Harry Potter books and I really want to or I have, but I really want to own them. It's also a good option to buy them secondhand you know, JK Rowling is not getting enriched by you buying it from thrift books or from a thrift store or Go to any Goodwill. I'm sure you can find a couple of these books you know, right, you know that is that's an ethical way to enjoy the story. Um, so if you're sitting there being like, wait, what's wrong?
Speaker 2:with JK Rowling. Yeah Well, just I don't want to dwell on this negative stuff too much, but just to give context about why we're doing what we're doing.
Speaker 1:Um, jk Rowling was really one of the most successful, wealthy, cherished, beloved authors of the late 20th and early 21st century, and then, in June of 2020, she released a series of insane tweets that really just resulted in her fumbling her own bag.
Speaker 1:She identifies as a TERF, which stands for Trans, exclusionary, radical Feminist. So basically, her whole thing is that she felt that, in the middle of the world melting down and everything already being horrible, she decided I'm going to throw in my two cents and just let everyone know that I think that trans women are bringing down women as a whole and they should be excluded from discussions about feminism. I don't know, it's just crazy. What a wild take, yeah.
Speaker 2:I will say, too, like I first of all didn't realize it was like 2020 doesn't feel like that long ago. I feel like she's been this way for a really long time. I guess it was four years ago, but anyways, that is like whoa to me. And second of all, I have her blocked on Twitter, but I did go take a peek while we were prepping for this episode and it's like it's just gets worse and worse with her, and that's why, a while ago, I think, we mentioned something in our podcast like JK Rowling is weird and problematic, and my parents were asking me like they're not chronically online as I or you are.
Speaker 2:So they were like, oh, what's going on? So I was trying to explain to them like not only my thing with her is not only obviously being a TERF is bad, being transphobic is really bad, but she's also just so freaking weird about it. It's like you don't have to make this. It's literally, if you go to her twitter, which I don't recommend it is all she talks about and it's so bizarre to make this. You are like this beloved figure.
Speaker 1:You could have just been chill, uh, and you would have shut up and been transphobic with your pile of money, but just did it quietly. You know which is also bad. Right, it's also bad, but it's like. This is just stupid. Yeah, it's just weird, yeah it's.
Speaker 2:She's a weirdo and a bad person. You know you can, yeah, yeah, so anyways, I don't recommend looking into that, but uh, just so you know. It's genuinely. I scrolled for quite some time and couldn't find anything else, and she tweets a lot, so you know also that's um, maybe that's not obvious, but we'll make it obvious now.
Speaker 1:That's clearly not what we stand for as people, or this podcast stands for.
Speaker 1:Um but there is something also to be said and I'm familiar with this both in my relationship to Harry Potter and JK Rowling, but also with some other areas of life that very broken, messed up people can break your heart and kind of taint something that was once very cherished and lovely to you yeah, and that also, like it, doesn't take away from the fact that the thing that they were associated with was very lovely and beautiful to you and added positivity to your life and helped you when you were in a dark place, and I think a lot of the Harry Potter fans felt that way specifically, probably trans and uh, another queer Harry Potter friends just being like which there are many, you know like, wow, what a stab in the back.
Speaker 1:This is so heartbreaking and I want to say that, um, I don't think that they're like, while she is not a good person and I don't align myself with her beliefs, yeah. If you can find something that is inspiring to you and like lovely and brings life and love from Harry Potter, then guess what it's still does. And you don't have to. She doesn't have the power to totally erase that. She brought this work into the world, but she shared it with the world and it no longer just belongs to her.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think. However, obviously neither of us are trans, so we can't speak for that community, but I think in general, however, you want to engage with Harry Potter, like if you don't want to listen to this episode, then please don't, and if you don't want to engage at all and if it's like this is not it for me, then don't. And if you want to still engage in ways that are uplifting to you, then I think you should and not let her like ruin everything about it. But yeah, it's just, it's really bizarre. It's when you were talking to, actually I mean not to go on too much of a tangent and we can cut this out but it kind of reminded me too of like, maybe an experiences of growing up in church and like exactly, what I was looking to yeah, okay, good.
Speaker 2:Where it's like sometimes people in church hurt you or you have traumatic experiences, religion and for some people that means they can't engage with it at all. For some people it's like okay, I can take some things of this, or there were a lot of great things I learned, or I cherish so many memories or beliefs and you can take those. So, however you choose to get engaged with something that may have hurt you, I think, but it was important to you at one time, it's okay. Obviously, I don't endorse supporting J Rowling, so I would say that one maybe not okay, but everything else, like you know, then do you.
Speaker 1:I think there are ways that you can still enjoy something that was really important to you as a child or as a young adult and found you in a dark place and maybe you know was part of your formation without you know. Continuing to like financially enrich JK Rowling, which is what we're attempting to do here today.
Speaker 1:We don't she's not getting any money from this, and it's just like why we've put this off. We've had this podcast going for like two years now almost, or like a year and a half, I don't know and almost two years and we haven't talked about it yet. And that's why because it's like we want to do this with lots of grace and intention and thoughtfulness, and I think about this in terms of my faith. A lot in terms of my faith, a lot where I'm like I don't want to, for instance, donate or tie the money to a church that is homophobic or who stands for things I don't believe in, but also that they don't get to tell me what my faith is about either.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I know this is like a weird comparison to Harry Potter, but it's like there are things that you can reclaim from it and enjoy, and what we want to, what we want to emphasize in the next two episodes because we're making this a two partner is um cause a behemoth of a book series. It's just to talk about what positivity has contributed to our lives and other people's lives, and also just have fun with it and be silly and talk about some of the other ways that JK Rowling is problematic in this book series. Because there are many others, yeah, or at least several others.
Speaker 2:So anyways, let's go.
Speaker 1:Please, while from the rest of the month of June, we're going to be raising money for the Trevor Project in her honor. The Trevor Project is a leading organization that prevents suicide among LGBTQ plus youth. They're really amazing and we would like to counteract some of the negativity and evil that um jk rowling is putting into the world this pride month. So there you go.
Speaker 2:That's our, uh, almost 15 minute disclaimer, and now let's talk about the books, okay all right.
Speaker 1:So history and backgrounds I mean almost everybody in the world has heard of har Potter in some way.
Speaker 2:Sure.
Speaker 1:But let's do a little storytelling about how it came into our world. Does that sound good? I love it, okay. So JK Rowling first had the idea for Harry Potter while she was sitting on a delayed train from Manchester to King's Cross Station in 1990. King's Cross Station in 1990. Seven years later is when Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone or the Philosopher's Stone, depending on where you live was published. So we can only imagine what happened in these seven years. Yeah, the answer is that she spent five years from the time that she came up with the idea, mapping out the plot of all seven books. Yeah, and it's crazy.
Speaker 2:It shows. And I think I was thinking about, like, what is it about Harry Potter? Because it's obviously not, like it's not the best books. You know they're great, whatever, but they're not like necessarily so unique, so groundbreaking. But I think this foreshadowing is what made me fall in love with it. Because, you know, especially like I personally, as you know, if you listen to the fan fiction episode of this podcast I was like so obsessed with the Snape storyline when I first read these books, so obsessed with the Snape storyline when I first read these books and you know, questionable as an adult, but I just like it blew my mind that you could go back to book one and see how maybe there was some elements of foreshadowing.
Speaker 2:It just didn't come out of nowhere and there's seven books, so that's hard to do.
Speaker 2:But like, without giving anything away, it was like okay, she was able to build up this whole Snape reveal where he's a double, triple, whatever quadruple agent and was in love with harry's mom, and like that moment was so powerful.
Speaker 2:There's so many things like that and I think it's hard, like I think that must be very difficult if you don't plan things out in advance, um, or if you know, sometimes people, I think they have these book series that become really successful and then they like I'm not super familiar with the Game of Thrones series, but I feel like, well, unfortunately, like they're never going to get an ending because, like, it became so successful, became this TV show, and now it's like, well, I don't know what I'm going to do with this, you know.
Speaker 2:So I think it's hard to do to have this plan, to stick to it, and especially if you're a child, which I was, you know we can talk about our experiences reading these books, but we were both young. You know that is very mind blowing to a young person and I don't think there's like a lot of things that exist like that. Um, I feel like most book series that are seven books long are normally like, not that don't have that much depth, um, or continuity necessarily, and you know, to get something like that that you spend all this time with, you grew up with the characters. I think that is part of like what makes it so appealing to so many people.
Speaker 1:so yeah, and also to write the plot out of seven lengthy books in an entire world that you made up before you even had a publishing deal for the first one.
Speaker 2:I mean, that's foreshadowing to her. You know unhinged yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean whatever.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that is, yeah, that is a lot.
Speaker 1:And also the other amazing thing, or just the human of the unique things about these books, is that the first book starts with our main character, harry is 11 years old and it's really written at an 11-year-old reading level. And then, as he gets older, by the end of the book he's like 17. And it's written at a late high school reading level. And so she wrote the book so that they would grow up with her readers. And to be able to do that first of all is challenging. That's, that's very challenging.
Speaker 1:But then to do that and also have these like plot payoffs and like the subject matter of the books becomes more appropriate to the age of the reader, like being 13, 14, having your first crushes you know that's like where she first mentions those kinds of things Like um, it becomes more mature and more serious the later the books you get, but it doesn't take away from the fact that she planted the story like the seeds of the storylines that play off in book seven in book one, yeah, when she was writing at like a you know, fifth grade reading level yeah, exactly, and it's.
Speaker 2:I think that was for me like a big series of unfortunate events, girly, where I was like analyzing the clues for the taylor swift girlies who were getting the you know, inserts in her cds to find the capital letters. For those of us who love a good mystery and some foreshadowing, I think, um, that's very appealing because it's like you know, it's not super complicated and I obviously I read them once all the books had been released, which, again, foreshadowing my own experience but so I didn't have to wait super long, but there there's like nothing like trying to figure out what's going to happen next and having like little crumbs, um, planted for you. So I think that is, yeah, definitely, was what hooked me into these books for sure. So what was your experience?
Speaker 1:reading the books. When did you start reading them?
Speaker 2:so glad you asked. So I I think like you was not allowed to read these books, um, in a chill way though, like were your parents really strict about it. I don't know.
Speaker 1:I feel like my Not to spoil your experience, but yeah Well, my parents. They just thought I wasn't allowed to read them because they had to do with witchcraft and they didn't actually know what the content of the books was. They just heard from other people in their culture, in their subculture, that we weren't reading them.
Speaker 1:So we just weren't reading them. And then, whenever I did read them, I didn't read them until high school when I did read them. I like watched all the movies with my mom and she was like super into them yeah, exactly like. Okay, so this is cool yeah, so, sam, basically they thought they were doing the right thing, yeah, whatever I feel like though it wasn't.
Speaker 2:I don't know, maybe my parents can weigh in as listeners of the pod, um, comment on this post and let us know, and. But I didn't feel like once I did read them. So I never read them when they were first coming out or whatever. Um, just because I guess I wasn't allowed to. And um, I do actually remember my I think it was like my sixth grade um health class, I think was right after, uh, half-blood Prince came out and it was sometime in middle school, and I remember my friend Caroline coming into Health Class like sobbing, holding the book and being like Dumbledore is dead, like bawling. So I knew Dumbledore died before I read any of these books, but I didn't know, obviously, who he was.
Speaker 2:And then I don't know what, I don't know, I was like maybe it was being on Tumblr at a young age Something made me want to read these books and I started. Probably I think I was like in ninth grade when I started reading them, either like end of eighth grade, beginning of ninth grade, sometime in early high school. But when I did read them I didn't feel like I had to sneak around. So that's what I'm saying, like I don't feel like my parents were very strict about it because I don't like I was openly reading them. I had the books you know out around my family, so I wasn't like you cannot read this. I think it was more just like and don't read that. You know, when I was like eight, when they were first becoming popular, and then, by the time I was old enough, I feel like my parents are like whatever about it yeah, I feel like, yeah, I wasn't hiding them from my parents and I was right.
Speaker 1:I think in high school I was just like hey, I'm reading these, yeah, I'm just gonna. They were like okay, whatever, you're old enough to like yeah, no, that magically about it or something. Also, I again I don't think that they really had an understanding of what they were when they were saying it.
Speaker 2:That's what I think it was, just like we're going along with the crowd.
Speaker 1:Yeah, whatever. I read them into high school. When I was in 10th grade I started reading them and these books found me at a time that I was going through a lot of friendship problems at school. Found me at a time that I was going through a lot of friendship problems at school. I was like losing a bunch of friends. And I specifically remember like reading these in the cafeteria during lunch, like I wasn't sitting withshirts without me and I was like we were all waiting in, like you know the class for like it was like half day of school and then it like let out for field day and I was sitting in the back of the class like reading um Goblet of fire or something like that, and just like it was a total escape for me, like it truly helped me get through this time whenever I think about harry potter, I think about being in that time and um and reading these books.
Speaker 1:And I called my parents to come pick me up, and so they picked me up before field day. That is so sad then when that, when that, um, yeah, it was crazy, I kind of deserve it yeah fair but still um, and then yeah, I'm not saying I'm blameless in the 10th grade yeah but um, still tough times, yeah tough times. Just being a 15 year old girl is just really hard really, really challenging.
Speaker 1:And then that summer after school was finished, I just spent the whole summer reading the rest of the books, like five, six, seven, and just I just remember being like it was the first time in a long time that I was just totally engrossed and just like I couldn't do anything but read these books. And then I spent after I finished the books, I spent the rest of the summer watching all the movies. Yeah, that was right around the time that the deathly hallows, part two, came out.
Speaker 2:Yep, that's what I was gonna say.
Speaker 1:So then I saw it in person um, so I guess that was like 20 um I want to say it was in 10, 2011.
Speaker 2:Yeah, 2010, 2011.
Speaker 1:I think it was like summer 2011 okay, yeah, so that was right around the time that I was um we too.
Speaker 2:We probably got each other into it.
Speaker 2:One of us, I don't know, I think you got me into it, that sounds for sure, yeah, um, but I was gonna say something similar like to me, this book, yeah, like ninth grade was really hard. I wanted to be homeschooled and during that year in 10th grade as well, but really ninth grade was super hard and I just felt like I didn't know my place. And especially, I was going to say shout out to Harry Potter for getting me into podcasts, because the first podcast I ever listened to was the Mugglecast podcast, which is all about it's still going.
Speaker 1:Oh my God, it is still on. You just unlocked a crazy memory for me Mugglecast. I totally forgot about that. Shout out for Mugglecast.
Speaker 2:They're still out there, I think. I think they're still going or they very recently stopped, if they did, but I would listen to that. I was always the first person to be picked up on the bus in the mornings and the last one to be dropped off in the afternoons, so I'd be on the bus for like an hour and a half and I would listen to Mugglecast on my MP3 player. They went chapter by chapter through all the books. I would try to listen as I was reading the books and, yeah, like you said, it was just such a really hard time in my life and I feel like it consumed me in a way that maybe not much, maybe like twilight is other.
Speaker 1:A life raft it was. Yeah, everything else feels so. I mean, in hindsight it really wasn't that big of a deal. But in the moment, that's the hardest thing you've ever gone through, yeah, and having this world that you can escape to, totally, where, like it's just, it's amazing, yeah, and there's so much like other.
Speaker 2:There was so much other things to discover, like muggle cast, but like, um, you know, I don't even know what I'm trying to say, but there's so many like online communities and, yeah, like pinterest, pins and tumblr and fan fiction facebook flair, like there was already so much content because by the time we got to it, like you said, the only movie I saw in theaters was harry potter definitely hollows part two.
Speaker 2:And so there was already so much out there. There was like things I could buy and, um, participate in, and things I could go back and like I loved seeing what people's theories were before the last book came out, like just to think, what did they think was gonna happen? And there was just so much out there to immerse yourself in. Like I I went to the harry potter studio tour in london with my grandparents when I graduated high school because like that's the reason we went to england, because, uh, I wanted to go see that like so bad and so that's awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like that's pretty dramatic of like. So basically my entire high school career I was just consumed with these books and, um, it didn't really die off until, like, obviously things got a little problematic, but it was, yeah, I don't think, besides twilight, any other obsession in my life for a book series like obviously I love the hunger games, I love series of unfortunate events. Maybe that's another one that comes close. But to me, harry Potter and Twilight were like like. Twilight was like my middle school obsession, harry Potter was like my high school obsession and nothing's really come ever in my life close to like the immersion I felt in those two series.
Speaker 1:Right, which is why I have such a resistance to letting this dumb transphobe ruin it for me.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Like this belongs to us too. It's like my whole thing. I'm like she doesn't get to ruin the whole thing just because she sucks and yeah.
Speaker 2:I know, and it's so sad, like I went to universal, you guys know, over the holidays and it's still like kind of magical to go to Hogsmeade. You know, and even though you're like I don't want it to be and I'm not gonna buy any of your freaking merch, but I, I just like walking around in here, you know, um, so it's weird.
Speaker 1:We uh in like right after I graduated college. So 2017, um, I went with megan and her little sisters to Universal yeah, and her little sister got chosen at.
Speaker 2:Ollivander's.
Speaker 1:Uh-huh, it's very lit. It's amazing. Yeah, it was just so magical.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So there's a lot of magic, all right. So our plan is to kind of talk through the book summaries, yeah, and see how many you can get through today Probably three or four and then we'll do part two and kind of talk through them and just kind of no notes here.
Speaker 2:We're just kind of, I think um when's the last time you read these books, by the way, do you think?
Speaker 1:uh, gosh, I have. I think I have all of them at my parents house with my heart with my hunger games, books r, which we'll get to that, we'll get to that, we'll get to that. But um, I gosh, I don't know, probably a few years ago, I, I've all. I'll sit down and be like I'm gonna reread these and then I'll read like the first two and then quit I was thinking for, for maybe by part two.
Speaker 2:I'll try to instead of trying to start with one two. Honestly, those are tough to reread as an adult. But like, maybe I'll dive into some of the later books before the next one. But I'm very up on the fanfic lore, so yeah, okay, that's another great way to enjoy the magic of harry potter is yeah, fiction you're hurting.
Speaker 1:No, I'm enjoying them okay so okay harry potter and the sorcerer's stone we are going to be reading from the spark notes summary and then we'll just we'll stop everyone smile and share our thoughts. How does that sound good, great sorry, I was muted.
Speaker 1:It sounds great harry potter and the Philosopher's Stone Excellent. Mr Dursley, a well-off Englishman, notices strange happenings on his way to work one day. That night, Albus Dumbledore, the head of a wizardry academy called Hogwarts, meets Professor McGonagall, who also teaches at Hogwarts, and a giant named Hagrid outside the Dursley home. Pause. Hogwarts and a giant named Hagrid outside the Dursley home Pause. When you were reading this the first time, if you can try and remember, were you so surprised that Professor McGonagall was the cat.
Speaker 2:Oh man, wow, I don't remember that but probably so Dumbledore.
Speaker 1:It's like Dumbledore like walks up to 34 Privet drive or whatever. Yeah, and there's like a little cat sitting there and he starts talking to the cat and then the cat turns into McGonagall and you're like oh okay, what are we doing here?
Speaker 1:McG Okay, and a giant named Hagrid outside the Dursley home. Dumbledore tells McGonagall that someone named Voldemort has killed a Mr and Mrs Potter and tried, unsuccessfully, to kill their baby son, harry. Dumbledore leaves Harry with an explanatory note in a basket in front of the Dursley home. Is this the moment that Dumbledore becomes the villain?
Speaker 2:I was going to say shout out to the smallest man who ever lived.
Speaker 1:Albus Dumbledore, You've sent someone, literally, who wanted, wanted.
Speaker 2:What a horrible guy like I'm sorry, there has to be another way you guys could have kept harry safe. First of all, dumbledore's gone, I mean voldemort's gone. So I get that there's lingering, but like after a year, couldn't you have been like hey, seems like this voldemort guy's gone. Maybe we can bring him over someone. I'll adopt him, you know, I'll raise him up in hogwarts myself hogwarts, allegedly the safest place on earth. So what the heck? I can't even whatever why?
Speaker 1:yes, this is when he becomes ever explained why he has to do that yeah.
Speaker 2:So the vibe is. I don't know that this is like in the movies as much, but in it is explained that when um lily died for harry because at first he wasn't going to kill lily because snape had begged voldemort like don't kill her and she was like I'm not gonna move, and so he kills her to get to harry. So since she died for harry, her love was like the strongest magic in the world, like the ancient magic that raised out uh wait, I was gonna say albus, no, aslan from the dead. That same ancient magic puts like um ancient spell that's like beyond, you know, from prehistoric wizards or something that protects harry and the only way I guess for that protection to continue is for him to still be around family, but obviously he's still protected when he's at hogwarts I totally forgot that stuff there's no family there, so y'all couldn't have.
Speaker 2:just, I mean, I'm sorry, I know it's not really like traditional to have a baby at hogwarts, but surely that's better than a child being raised underneath the stairs, being completely neglected, abused, like in a horrible situation, not knowing who he is, not knowing who his parents are, and like he knew that was going to happen. Yeah, he knew. He knew what was going on.
Speaker 1:He was definitely checking in on him. So, yes, this is when, as evidenced by ten years later, the Dursley household is dominated by the Dursley son, dudley, who torments and bullies Harry. Dudley is spoiled, while Harry is forced to sleep in a cupboard under the stairs. Okay, low-key, though it's kind of cozy down there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but for your whole room. When there's extra guest rooms, no. I mean it's wrong, but there's got to be no air in there. There's no fan, there's no ventilation. That can't be safe.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's true. Anyways at the zoo on Dudley's birthday, the glass in front of a boa constrictor exhibit disappears, frightening everyone. Harry is later punished for this incident. Yeah, Okay. She speaks Parseltongue to the hope.
Speaker 2:We don't know that yet, though we don't know that yet.
Speaker 1:Yeah, this is an example of the foreshadowing, because that comes around In book seven In book seven, Like honestly I mean yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So Mysterious letters begin arriving for Harry. They worry Mr Dursley who tries to keep them from Harry, but the letters keep arriving through every crack in the house. Finally he flees with his family to a secluded island shack on the eve of Harry's 11th birthday. At midnight they hear a large bang on the door and Hagrid enters. Hagrid hands Harry an admissions letter to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry learns that the Dursleys have tried to deny harry's wizardry all these years boo, boo dumbledore.
Speaker 2:I blame dumbledore for this. Again, I blame him for everything.
Speaker 1:Man, who ever yeah?
Speaker 2:like honestly maturing is realizing that dumbledore is the villain of these book series that he could have really done so much differently he.
Speaker 1:He really did raise Harry for slaughter.
Speaker 2:He did yeah he did, and yeah, and then at the end he named his son after him. We'll get to that one in part two, but my God, anyways, would you like me to read a couple of paragraphs for you? Sure, yes. The next day, hagrid takes Harry to London to shop for school supplies. First they go to the wizard bank Gringotts Problematic.
Speaker 1:Okay, pause. So you're telling me that goblins run the bank and they are miserly, money-hungry, obsessed, money-obsessed guys with large noses. Okay, anti-semite, that is crazy, but okay, whatever, continue.
Speaker 2:Okay, blah, blah, blah Money. They shop on the wizard's commercial street known as Diagon Alley, where Harry is fitted with a square uniform. Diagonally, harry buys books, ingredients for potions and finally, a magic wand, the companion wand to the evil Voldemort.
Speaker 1:All right, so that's mentioned by Mr Ollivander. He's like only one other unicorn gave. Or not a unicorn.
Speaker 2:I remember every wand. I thought it A unicorn here. Yeah, I thought it was a unicorn.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I thought it was a unicorn. Anyways, no, no, no, it was a phoenix. No, no, no no. I thought it was a unicorn, Only one oh phoenix feather.
Speaker 2:No, you're right, ron and. Hermione have no. Ron has unicorn, hermione has a dragon, something Okay, phoenix.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, all right, let's keep it pushing. He goes to Hogwarts on the train. He befriends other students, okay. So he gets to the thing and he's like platform nine and three quarters. I honestly thought this was lit. Yeah, yeah, this was. This was amazing. It's cool and yeah, this was amazing.
Speaker 2:I still think it's cool and I didn't at the time really understand what a train like. We don't have trains here, you know, basically Right. So I was like what's a train platform?
Speaker 1:Hostile infrastructure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what does that even mean? Like I had no idea, but I now I do, but I still thought it was awesome. Like this whole, everything about this is like there's this other world that you didn't even know existed.
Speaker 1:And if you know where to look. It's there, I think, even more so because we're American, because like British stuff is already like a different world to us Right. And then on top of that, it's magic British stuff, yeah, okay. So Harry makes friends on the train with Ron and Hermione. Be honest, how did you pronounce this in your head the first time you read the book?
Speaker 2:I don't know. It's so hard because I feel like I had an understanding. Like again, we read it so late. I do feel like I had heard, like Ron and Hermione, before.
Speaker 1:I read it. I in my head, full, full throat, was Hermione.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I probably could have been, but who knows. I just feel like I kind of already knew Hermione somehow. But anyways.
Speaker 1:So at school the first years take turns putting on the sorting hat to find out which residential house they will live in. Here's where we are introduced to all of the different houses Gryffindor, ravenclaw, hufflepuff and Slytherin and Ron. Hermione and Harry all end up in Gryffindor, but when Harry puts on the hat, he's given a choice. He's given a choice between that or Slytherin.
Speaker 2:And I actually think you know, if we want to say like things, maybe we would have changed about the series if we could. Like I wish JK and obviously she's writing whatever she's writing from Harry's kind of point of view, um, but I wish you would have done a little more to make slytherin not like that's the evil guys, because it's like well, harry almost went there. I guess we're supposed to believe that's like the voldemort part of him or whatever. But I think like not everyone in slytherin can possibly be evil, or they would be like hey, let's get rid of this freaking evil house that keeps making everyone be evil what did they say?
Speaker 2:they were like there's not a dark wizard who didn't come from slytherin yeah, I think they said that like there's not a wizard, that went bad. I think harrid says that like they're in a wizard that went bad, that wasn't in that house, you know. So this is again maybe where we should play dumb or whatever. Because if I was a headmaster of such a school and I'm like hey, repeatedly these Slytherin guys, they keep being bad, let's mix it up, let's not have this house anymore.
Speaker 1:Let's do some. You know, diversity, equity and inclusion training.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Like let's close down Slytherin. I'm sure everyone in there can either be brave, smart, nice, you know, like they have one of those. So let's, let's integrate them with the other groups and let's shut down that wink. You know it doesn't think they got weird energy. So, anyways, I wish maybe it wasn't so black and white, because it is kind of weird, like why would you guys keep doing this?
Speaker 1:yeah, okay. So the school year gets underway. Harry discovers that his potions professor, sever snape, does not like him, and hagrid reassures harry that snape has no reason to dislike him another adult lying to you, harry, yeah all adults are lying to you. You can't trust anyone. Yeah, facts. During their first flying lesson on broomsticks, the students are told to stay grounded while the teacher takes an injured boy named neville, my homie. I love you, neville, he's my favorite character in the book obviously, um. So basically harry figures out. He's really good at flying.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he got that from his father? Yeah, I don't think that's how it works, but okay, yeah, whatever do you start with on halloween?
Speaker 2:yeah, on halloween a troll is found in the building. The students are escorted back to their dorms but Harry and Ron sneak off to find Hermione who was alone because she was all crying because they hurt her feelings. That's not in the Spark notes, just filling in some blanks. But then they lock the troll in the girls' bathroom with Hermione. They were so mean to her. Yeah, they were 11. So I mean yeah, at 11, during harry's first quidditch match, his um. So then they become friends, whatever. Then his broom jerks out of control and hermione sees snape staring at harry and muttering a curse, so she thinks he's jinxing her and she sets his clothes on fire. And then he gets control of the broom and wins the match, which again, I don't know that 11 year old should have been allowed on the Quidditch team, but also.
Speaker 1:Quidditch, crazy sports, super dangerous, like also. I here's the thing I've never really gotten about Quidditch yeah, Like, is it really? How often does it happen? So there's okay. There's multiple ways to swim right, Score goals or get points. You can get the quaffle through the little rings right um and you score like a few points for that, I think it's like 10 or 20 per score, but then if you get the snitch, you get 200 points, yeah, and the game's instantly over.
Speaker 1:So so there's like how often has it happened that someone caught the snitch but didn't win because, like there was enough quaffle points to overcome that, like? That seems like very unlikely, right? I agree.
Speaker 2:I don't know. Something I was also thinking about recently is there's only four houses and they don't play other schools. Thing I was also thinking about recently is there's only four houses and they don't play other schools. So, like, how many games can there possibly be and don't they get bored of just playing their friends? And why does each house have a team? Like how many? This is not a big school, presumably because every single, like the group of first years, they go through all of them. It's like 20 kids, so we're talking like not that many students. So how does each house have enough students interested and athletic enough to have their own team and all they do is play each other? Have a lot of questions? Okay, yeah, anyways. So then he gets his invisibility cloak and again like, why did he get this? Probably not again good for an 11 year old, but yeah so it's implied that dumbledore gave this to him.
Speaker 1:I've always thought that, okay, because also fast. Another, like foreshadowing here the invisibility cloak is one third of the deathly hallows, right. So dumbledore was like eventually he's gonna have to have these earthly hallows. Am I gonna tell him that he's gonna need those to?
Speaker 2:fulfill his purpose no, I'm not.
Speaker 1:I'm just gonna make it like a fun little clue that's my question.
Speaker 2:He's like sadistic he is. But honestly, albie, why didn't you just off him when he was a baby? If you figured this out, why make him grow up? I mean, I know killing babies is wrong, okay, but you're gonna kill this kid anyways. You let him have his whole life. You know, I think my assumption is okay.
Speaker 2:Again, we're jumping into what happens in the last book, but my assumption is dumbledore didn't necessarily know that he would be able to come back to life, that he thought he would just have to die, and so, um, hmm, why didn't you just like take matters into your own hands? I know you were trying to get all the other horcruxes, but what is the point of letting him like? I don't know? Maybe I'm looking at this, but I feel like albus is always trying to pretend like he has the upper hand and he's like morally superior, but it's like you knew all along that he would have to die and you never even told him and you let him figure it out for himself and it's like I don't know, it's just wrong. I don't like it is wrong. Anyways, he figures out that the basically the philosophers or sorcerer's stone is being guarded by a three-headed dog in hogwarts and it can give you a mortal life again. Why are we guarding this in hogwarts? I don't, I again.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So then he and the homies eventually are like all this stuff happens and they're like Snape is trying to get the elixir of life. I know that he is Right, but nobody will believe them. So the three of them like have to sneaky, go in through all of these crazy obstacles, including a magical chess set and a bunch of flying keys, and use conveniently the magic they learned in all of their intro level magic classes to eventually get there. And then they see, you know Voldemort's essence on the back of Professor Quirrell's head.
Speaker 2:Yes, Gross the back of professor quarrel's head yes, gross. By the way, shout out to my fellow friends of um, why can I think of a very potter musical? Because, uh, starring darren chris? Because they have. They play out the events of this book and voldemort and quarrel are, like, romantically involved, but they're played by two guys sharing one giant cloak, standing back to back. It is so funny, it's so funny. So, anyways, yeah, it's very bizarre, and it's weird in the movies too. He looks like and I don't really still understand how that even happened Like, how did his essence live on when he died? Did they not find a body? Like, did he used to have a different body? I don't really understand any of that, to be honest with you and then how did he?
Speaker 1:the phoenix came? No, no, that's in the second book. Yeah, what happened? He pulls the thing.
Speaker 2:No, that's the next he looks in the mirror of erised, and then he sees the stone oh right, so because it can only give it to the person who doesn't want it.
Speaker 1:Basically yeah, yeah, exactly, or like who wants, who wants it, but not selflessly. Right, right, yeah, convenient, I don't know whatever. This first book is kind of like.
Speaker 2:It establishes a lot of stuff, but it's kind of right, it's a big setup for everything else, yeah, and then he goes to the banquet and gryffindor wins which yeah, okay, this is another thing. The this would have enraged me if I went to Hogwarts.
Speaker 1:It's like every year Gryffindor is down like 300-400 points and it's like no way they can come back. And then Dumbledore is like hey, I'm going to like to award 201 points to Gryffindor.
Speaker 2:Can you imagine though?
Speaker 1:if either of us were there, how mad it would be. I would be irate.
Speaker 2:I'd be like you. Mean, he was trespassing, going to one place y'all told us not to go, putting himself in danger. May have, like, encountered Voldemort and you're letting him win for that and he didn't earn that. Meanwhile I've been like you know, doing my homework, getting my marks.
Speaker 1:I've been like you know doing my homework, getting my marks. I've been showing up to class. Yeah, I've been raising my hand.
Speaker 2:Yeah, time okay no, I would have been so mad, I would have cried out of rage you know what?
Speaker 1:I would have turned into an evil wizard, and I get it I get why they're getting pushed to the point of a mental break yeah, it's not their fault.
Speaker 2:Yeah, facts. Anyways, that's book one. All right, but there is something, like you said, finding this in a really hard time, when you don't want to be at your school, when you wish there was a magical place you could go, where everyone would love you and you would be famous and they would all know who you are. And also there's magic tables where food just appears, um, like that. All, of course, we loved it, you know, because it's like sometimes you wish someone would show up and be like hey, the reason you felt different all your life, it's actually because you're a wizard, because you're freaking weird out you know, honestly I feel like I got so into these.
Speaker 1:I kind of felt like it was real or like that's what they thought would happen. Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:All right. So things are heating up when we get to chamber of secrets. So, yeah, harry gets home for the summer and guess what? The Dursleys are on their bullshit again. Yeah, and they're being super mean to him. They have, like, barred his windows. They decided to give him his own room. He no longer has to stay in the thing, but he's there with his awesome owl hedwig shout out hedwig rip hedwig, shut up, rip the goat.
Speaker 1:So anyways they are. The Dursleys are having over some people for dinner because they're trying to make this big sale, and that's where we get this amazing meme where Harry is like I'll be up in my room, being quiet, pretending.
Speaker 2:I don't exist, yeah, same yeah.
Speaker 1:Honestly, when this weird looking naked creature named Dobby RIP Dobby the goat shows up in Harry's room and is, like Harry Potter must not return to Hogwarts, you're like what School of Witchcraft and Wizardry? Yeah and he's like dobby if you don't shut up, you have to be quiet.
Speaker 2:I'm gonna get my ass beat yeah and dobby's like I don't care yeah, I'm gonna make you get in trouble so you can't go to hogwarts oh, and then.
Speaker 1:And then dobby says you want to go back to school and your friends haven't even written to you. And he's like wait, how do you know that? How do you know my friends haven't written to me?
Speaker 2:He's like I can't be mad.
Speaker 1:I've been, you know, interfering with the British Postal Service. Yeah, felony, felony Anyways. So then Dobby is terrible, like he gets him in trouble, basically he gets him in big trouble. Yeah, so much so that harry is basically imprisoned in his room and very chill again albus. Very chill all 12 year old should be barred yeah, that's when the Weasley boys show up in the magic flying car. Yeah, to rescue him. Yeah, and then they fly him back to the thing. Then they go to Diagon Alley. Oh, we're introduced to the flu network.
Speaker 2:Yes, classic Diagon Alley.
Speaker 1:I never really understood why you use flu powder.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because they can apparate and they can fly cars and you can just bring kids with you when you apparate. Why would you have to?
Speaker 1:use flu? I don't know.
Speaker 2:I think it's supposed to be really hard to apparate and takes a lot out of you maybe. So it's just maybe like chiller to um do flu um.
Speaker 1:So in diagonally, we are introduced that he has an encounter with lucius malfoy, who is draco's dad. Oh, we didn't even mention our king, draco king, germani king. But yeah, you cannot convince me that Draco is bad, I'm just gonna.
Speaker 2:I think Draco is a wonderful mirror to Harry because he similarly had no choice in his life. Like you're meant to think, Harry is like super good and like has all this independence, but again he's being corralled by Albus Dumbledore and very similarly, Draco is being kind of corralled by Deathbus dumbledore and very similarly draco is being kind of corralled by death eaters and I don't think either of them are responsible for where they end up at the end of this books.
Speaker 2:Shout out draco and if senlan u is to be believed, he really has a redemption arc after the conclusion of the yeah yeah, but also like again I on the note of jk rowling being weird the cursed child exists, and I think in that I've only read it once, so and I don't plan on doing it again, but I think isn't it like draco's son and harry's son or something like they're friends? I don't know so yeah, you know something like that.
Speaker 2:Um. So I do think he I mean he at least is like not in, like the, the wizarding nuremberg trials after voldenborg, you know he's a free man.
Speaker 1:Here's the thing. So, okay, this is when we really get introduced in this book, as we really get introduced to this idea that, um, that there's people within the wizarding world, or the wizards in the wizarding world, who think that it's wrong to not have pure blood. So they're basically like wizard Nazis Literally, and this is big. We know this because Draco is the new Slytherin seeker and he's like beefing with Harry and the homies and he calls Hermione a mudblood.
Speaker 2:Right, which is like a slur.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's just kind of crazy that she's like Like I don't. It's just, it's just weird to me that she's like yeah, let me like draw on the ideas of like shameful part of our. Go out of my way to exclude a group based on their identity.
Speaker 2:Yeah, my life, that's just yeah, it is odd, it is she completely missed the point actually. Anyways, um, yeah, so then, draco, I mean, harry starts, starts hearing voices, and every time he hears this weird voice then someone is kind of like attacked and is almost killed. So he's like that's weird. Oh well, I have no trusted adult to talk to about this, because Dumbledore just avoids me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and like all the kids are like running around the school and they're like always basically found at the scene of the crime. Running around the school and they're like always basically found at the scene of the crime. But the key here is that all the victims there's some sort of reflective medium around them.
Speaker 1:So there's like a mirror or a camera or a puddle of water, yeah, and so that's important, because later on it's because they didn't look into the eyes of the monster. But basically they've heard this lore that there is a chamber of secrets that um salazar slytherin built in the bottom of hogwarts and it would be released by the true heir of slytherin. And so everyone's like who's the heir of slytherin?
Speaker 2:probably draco, probably this racist blonde kid yeah everyone starts being suspicious of harry right, because he's hearing voices.
Speaker 1:He's hearing voices a, always at the scene of the crime, b and c. He does like this um for class. He does this like object lesson with gilderoy lockhart, the defense against our dark guard teacher, and he has like this duel with draco and he accidentally speaks in parcel tongue and everyone's like that's weird, that's suspicious.
Speaker 2:And again, he doesn't ask too many questions about like hey, how come I can talk to snakes?
Speaker 1:he's just like I don't know, weird anyways and then harry ron and hermione try polyjuice potion because they're like we're going to go undercover to see if Draco is the heir of Slytherin and what he's doing. Right, but this is where we get introduced to polyjuice potion. It's really important in the rest of the books.
Speaker 2:It seems really like they need to get some tighter regulations on it as well. Like why?
Speaker 1:is it so easy to make?
Speaker 2:Because this seems extremely problematic. Identity fraud, very so yeah. Like why is it so easy to make?
Speaker 1:because this seems extremely problematic identity fraud, very so yeah then hermione, also, like you, would think there would be more ways to like stop its effectiveness. I don't know.
Speaker 2:Yeah like a counter antidote or something I don't know. Anyways, hermione and a ravenclaw girl get petrified as well. So then, harry and ron like looking to figure out what's going on, and then, before they can go, ask Hagrid what's going on, the Minister of Magic another villain and Lucius Malfoy, another villain take Dumbledore and Hagrid away from Hogwarts Because, hagrid, they was accused of opening it the first time this happened.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's right. That's right, and he was expelled, which is why he's like allowed to like technically use magic anymore. Yeah, yeah allegedly so.
Speaker 2:then he tells him to follow the spiders, and ron's like I really hate spiders, something like that. And then they find all these giant spiders, and then they discover a piece of paper with the description of a basilisk on it, in hermione's hand, and they understand that there must be a basilisk, which is like a massive snake in the Chamber of Secrets. Okay, pause, yeah.
Speaker 1:Harry and Ron are basically useless. Basically, yeah, they cannot do anything without Hermione Facts, and this is fulfilled in the incredible work of the Manic Old Bison Lin Yu. When, in that alternate universe, like Hermione isn't so involved in like their lives and like isn't really like an active, you know, like a fighter, things go off the rails because she is like the entire brains and brawn of the operation, literally like she is the one brewing this potion.
Speaker 2:Okay, she's the one trying to figure out how to get in the chamber of secrets. She's the one who was smart in book one, and that goes on forever. So thank you, harry is useful for his genetics wrong?
Speaker 2:yes, I fear he was a good friend, though I do feel like he's there for a good time. He was not portrayed very well, maybe by the movies, but I do feel like in the books, like obviously he had the family, he welcomed Harriet and he was a really good friend and he was an important part of it, you know, but him and Ron, that's like wow, two dum-dums meandering through the plot.
Speaker 1:Oh, another thing that happened in this book is that there's this ghost that lives in the bathroom. Her name is Moaning Myrtle, and they figure out that she was the person that was killed by the monster the last time that the Chamber of Secrets was allegedly opened. So, through this description of a basilisk in Hermione's hand and through process of elimination and interviews with Moaning Myrtle, they figure out that they have to go through the pipes to find the chamber, and they go down there. Why? Oh, because Ginny is down there.
Speaker 2:Yes, ginny has been taken to the chamber.
Speaker 1:Ginny is Ron's sister.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Harry's future wife, yes, oh, also one thing we totally didn't talk about is that Harry has been interacting with this magic diary this whole time. Right right, that like writes back to you. Yeah, Very bad idea.
Speaker 2:No, don't do that, don't get involved in any magic diaries.
Speaker 1:So bad. Yeah, so he goes down there. He is able to beat the basilisk, but it like gets him. But then, conveniently, dumbledore has like dipped. Okay, he's not there but he sends his Phoenix to cry on Harry and heal him. Yeah so he's a huge manipulator. Manipulator en Not there, but he sends his phoenix to cry on Harry and heal him. Yeah, so he's a huge manipulator Enabler, Manipulator enabler.
Speaker 1:I just feel like he's like always getting the credit for, like saving the day, right, but all the problems are manufactured by him, right? Like if you knew about this?
Speaker 2:why didn't you, freaking kill the basilisk?
Speaker 1:earlier. Why are you letting kids be taken?
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, why are you letting kids be taken? Yeah, no, boo boo. Then they. They stab the diary and tom, oh yeah, the diary is possessed by tom riddle, which is oh yeah, that's how you find out who voldemort is, and it's a horcrux which you don't know yet. And the basilisk fang kills it and he dies and jenny wakes up. So, yeah, that's just that's the second attempt at voldemort infiltrating hogwarts.
Speaker 1:We find out that, lucius malfoy, the reason that they got a hold of the diary was because he slid it into um jenny's like school bag. Yeah, he is trying back when they ran into him in diagonally.
Speaker 2:So he's obviously still running with the death eaters. Yeah, then Harry Freeze, dobby. House of Frights House of Spew.
Speaker 1:So, anyways, that's where, like, maybe that's a good place for us to stop on our Harry Potter journey today.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm thinking this might have to be a three-parter. This might be a three-parter.
Speaker 1:And maybe this is boring, I don't know. I'm having a good time.
Speaker 2:But I this is boring, I don't know I'm having a good time, but I think I do think the first two books to me kind of stand alone. The third book is definitely a big turning point, and then four through seven are like completely different beasts yeah, um so I think this makes sense. Like these two are, almost could have just been like a little duology and then book three is like its own thing, which is crazy, and then the, the ending.
Speaker 2:So I think it's a good the world is starting to get cooking. Yeah, and these two are. Honestly there's a lot of, obviously, drama, but they're really fun and light to me and they obviously get a lot darker. So, um, it's just interesting like these two are fun, like happy little books with a lot of fun. We don't cover the fun stuff as much, like the christmases and sweaters that ron's mom knits them and oh and all the food happy christmas.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I don't know, pumpkin juice never sounded amazing to me, but what other foods do they?
Speaker 2:eat. I don't know, I just remember it. Like to me the best part magically appears. Yeah, that was the best part of harry potter was like these feasts would just magically appear for you every day and you don't have to clean anything off the Halloween vibes Christmas vibes, yeah, yeah, yeah. Harry gets his first Christmas present like ever in life, ever Dumbledore again.
Speaker 1:It's just, it's really, it's just really sweet and like happiness, happy vibes. Yeah, it's so good and it's really setting up. Oh yeah, it's going to be a crazy conclusion.
Speaker 2:So, this is part one and we'll be back for part two and probably part three.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I guess Maybe we'll space them out with other things in between. Yeah, maybe I don't know, we'll see.
Speaker 2:TBD, TDB.
Speaker 1:Okay, emily, have you read anything recently? Oh, have I ever?
Speaker 2:oh, no, okay, what's up? No, no, no, okay. So, since it is a harry potter episode, I'm gonna keep you guys involved in my, in my fan fiction journey. I have a real book. I have a real book and a fan fiction to share. This has consumed my life, though I just finished, literally before. I planned on, like you know, finishing earlier today, but it is so long. I just finished this um fanfic called the cadence of part-time poets. Okay, okay, according to people who would know, this is actually longer than the bible.
Speaker 2:Oh, my god, it is over a million words I don't know how many words is the bible hold on, let me google it I've been reading this for quite some time.
Speaker 1:This is a real book.
Speaker 2:It's a fan fiction, okay, okay. So the king james bible has 700, 000, 83 000 words. This book is over a million or no, fan fiction. Sorry, it's called the cadence of part-time poets. I won't talk about it too much, but it is go off.
Speaker 2:It is a muggle alternate universe, so purely human, of the marauders. It is takes place mostly at a boarding school in scotland where and it's remus, lupin, pov and it they're just regular non-magic people, non-mag um, but they, he basically is okay. So, like his mom died, his dad is a jerk and he's a troubled youth and he's kind of in with all these not so good people, but he's very wealthy, but, you know, troubled, and he gets kicked out of school. He's like 15 and he gets kicked out for punching a teacher because the teacher was picking on like other kids and he was mad. And his dad's like yeah. His dad's like okay, there's one more school I can send you to, um, like your mom went to the school and it's your last chance. Basically, if you don't shape up, this is the last place you can go. You've been kicked out of everywhere else and so. So he sends him off and he becomes roommates with James Potter, sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew and they were roommates and it follows them all the way through their careers.
Speaker 2:This is the fan fiction I read that I'm most like. Oh, this is a book, because there's no magical elements to it. The characters are so unique and like kind of different than what they are. I think in the canon world. Um, like remus, is a lot more rough around the edges and kind of like a bad boy, but um, just struggling, have a lot of problems anyways. But they decide to form a band and this is like they're a rock band, a rock band. It's set in the 70s. They decide to sort to form a band and this is like their, like a rock band, a rock band. It's set in the 70s. They decide to form a rock band. It's like their journey of being friends, of going through school and forming a band together and there's no James Potter.
Speaker 2:Oh no, james is there too. Yeah, they're all, four, all four, yeah yeah, and they call the band marauders. So that's where that guy's in, and apparently there's gonna be a part two, because this is my one gripe with this.
Speaker 1:I have been reading this non-stop it's a million words and there's part two yeah.
Speaker 2:So it kind of ends like right after they basically, okay, I'll just you know who's actually gonna go read this. It goes all the way through them in school and then they decide after they graduate, we're gonna, like, their parents are obviously all very wealthy, they go to this really rich school, they want them to go to college. They're like give us one gap year and we'll do one gap year and try to make this work, and if it doesn't work by the end of the year, then we'll give up, you know. And so it goes like through the end of this gap year and like is there, you know, journey to being successful.
Speaker 2:But there was this this is my gripe with it there was some foreshadowing of things that like don't pay off, because I guess this author planned a part two. Um, because it's very like sometimes we very daisy jones-esque almost where you're like it'll be like kind of a flash forward of like 20 years later, freemus would remember this or whatever, and like so you kind of see what's going to happen, but none of that actually pays off because I guess there's going to be a part two. Anyways, it was so good, I really think. If you're deep into this Marauders lore as I have become. It's good, but it's long. It's taken up my whole life Like I've been reading nothing.
Speaker 1:But I did read another book for the real book people out there, um, yeah, yeah so so for the, for the fig, yeah, do you feel like the I mean it's in a non-magic world do you feel like the integrity of the characters was or where? Did she kind of just develop her own characters and just use their names Like their personality traits and things like that? Was that consistent? Because I feel like their personalities are so tied to their magical abilities?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that's what I was saying. Like I do feel like very easily this could be its own completely standalone book series because she definitely like I think there's again also these characters like aren't the main characters of Harry Potter, so there's not like a ton to go off of. But I think like, for example, james Potter in the books he is comes from a wealthy, like magical family. Who's supposed to I don't know, you think they're nice probably. So that's like still part of his life. He's from a wealthy family like serious, is still kind of like an outcast from his family. They're not good people. He was abused. I think that's consistent.
Speaker 2:Remus, I would say, is the most different in this one. He's more like again he has kind of like this dual life of being very wealthy and coming from a good family, but also most of his friends outside of school are very like um, rough around the edges from a bad part of town or like drug dealers, basically. So I think he's the most different. But I think it would not be hard for this to be its own book. But I do think there's again there's like a lot of similarities as well because I think like in this one remus really struggles with like his mental health, and that to me is kind of very similar to struggling with being the werewolf part of him. So I think there's like overlaps there with some of the struggles, um, but you know it's not a one-to-one like some others, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah okay, interesting I. I just wonder why she chose to use those characters in a non-magic world. I.
Speaker 2:I know, but it's still great I believe you that it's good.
Speaker 1:It's just very, very interesting.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So anyway, I'm assuming it's a she, yeah, I don't know, but I think she, they, whoever you are. Okay, then I read A Flicker in the Dark by Stacey Willingham. This is a. I think this was a book that someone said they liked on the episode we did where we did listener recommendations and I thought it sounded interesting, so I got it on Libby, but anyways.
Speaker 2:So this is follows Chloe Davis and when she was a kid her small town, basically, was haunted by a serial killer and six teenage girls went missing and some of their bodies were found and by the end of the summer her dad was arrested for being that serial killer. And now it's 20 years later. She's a psychologist living in Baton Rouge and getting ready for her wedding and she's trying to like overcome her childhood trauma of her dad being a serial killer. But then girls start going missing again, but her dad's still in jail. So what's up with that? So maybe your dad isn't still a serial killer, maybe not, maybe not? Who knows? Who knows? Or is there a new one? Is it a copycat killer? So many questions. This book was good. Is it a copycat killer? So many questions.
Speaker 2:This book was good. It was like good, um, good, not great. It is definitely like, if you want a mystery that will keep you engaged, this is great for that. I also listen to the audiobook, like off and on reading, and it's told in first person, which is kind of interesting. Like I don't feel like there's a lot of books that are first person. So it's like I went to do this, I did this, so you really get a very limited perspective, which I think works for this book. I will say also, I did guess like the twist. There's like three twists, you know. It's like one twist you think is a twist, and then there's another twist and then there's a third, really big twist that explains everything. You know, I guess the third one, and so that I never like that, like I personally like to be like swept away, you know, but I think that means like it was well foreshadowed. So I don't know, I can't hate on it, um, but yeah, it was very interesting people aren't as smart as you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're stupid.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, but I think I don't know. There's something about thrillers where sometimes, like, there's only so many ways it can go, because the like characterizations of people are pretty limited and you know the formula, and so I think that is what happened here, but I don't think it was bad by any means and I thought it was really interesting and it's very like, if you like the, this is like the next generation of the red wine drinking divorcee who witnesses a crime and no one believes her because, also, chloe is addicted to prescription pills, so she has some substance abuse problems, unreliable narrator yeah, and so I mean makes sense.
Speaker 2:If my dad was a serial killer, I probably would have some you know issues issues as well. So, yeah, I thought it was really good, I read it really fast and I liked the audio book. Again, it's in first person, so I think the audio book really works because it's like this person's talking to you a little bit, and I liked it.
Speaker 1:So there you go, gosh there's so much to read and so much.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if you're, you can't see, guys, but I just organized my bookshelves and this stack back here is a small selection of the physical books I have not read yet that I own, and I just bought five more. Literally, I just bought five more books. I don't know I went blacked out and uh anyways. So, yeah, there's too much to read, and I so.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's too much to read and I have to reread hunger games because of the news about yeah, obviously sunrise at the reaping, which let me talk about my book and then we'll talk about that before we log off. Um, all right, so I read the gunkle abroad.
Speaker 2:I just started it, so I'm so excited.
Speaker 1:But don't spoil, oh okay, I will be very careful, yeah but you're good or I can talk about it.
Speaker 2:No, no, talk about it. Just, I mean, you know like I feel like I get the gist of what's gonna happen. Okay, and I started it, so I know the premise just go hold off, okay. No, no, talk about it.
Speaker 1:Talk about it so I liked it. Um, I would say it is fan service for folks who liked the first book. Is it, as I don't think? Okay, here's the thing it feels like a sequel to a book that was never intended to have a sequel, sure, sure. So I enjoyed it, did I think that it was like as much of a hit and like as a punch as the first one.
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 1:Right, but that's okay, because I really like Gup.
Speaker 2:I really love Gay.
Speaker 1:Uncle Patrick, I really like Maisie, I really like Grant, I really like everybody. I like that they traveled around Europe. That was really fun. I totally guessed what was going to happen in the end. Sure was really fun. I totally guessed what was going to happen in the end. So to that extent it was a little bit boring knowing what was going, basically just knowing what was going to happen, right, right. But the really bright parts of the book were, for me, the humor.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Great jokes, great wit. The main character Patrick has an amazing sense of humor. The main character Patrick has an amazing sense of humor Also. I think some of the big themes discussed in this book is a continuation of discussion about grief, Also about misogyny and sexism within the gay community, which I was really surprised by. I don't know why I was surprised by it. I was just like, oh okay, Because the children. The premise of the book is that the children's father is remarrying and their soon-to-be stepmother has a sister who's a lesbian, so she's their lant, and he has this funny rivalry with the lesbian aunt. And also it's Patrick investigating kind of investigating some of his own misogyny and, um, the fact that as, like a gay man, he doesn't have a lot of female friends and like why might that be? And some of the ways that he belittles women. Which interesting, interesting and unexpected conversation. Yeah um.
Speaker 1:And also like the ways that, like the relationship and the allyship between gay men and lesbian women and what else. Also, there was just more conversation about the experience of being a woman, because Maisie is, you know, 14. She is, you know, 14, she is, you know, experiencing puberty, and like this transition from childhood to young adulthood. Yeah and um, there's this really impactful quote, um, that stuck with me after I read it. Where the wedding is set?
Speaker 1:on Lake Como in Italy and they're talking about this lore that there's a monster that lives in the lake and one of the characters one of the female characters actually, palmina who's the lesbian aunt the lant she was like. That's what it's like to be a young woman, where you have this monster inside of you and once in a while there's like this peak that people get to see. But you have to spend your life shoving down the monster and pretending the monster doesn't exist and hiding it, whereas young men they can just let their monster out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and they never have to hide it and I was was like okay, stephen Rowley consulting a woman about this book.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely Must have.
Speaker 1:So that was really nice and it was delightful. So I'm curious to hear your thoughts. I liked it, but it wasn't as much of a hit as the first one.
Speaker 2:Sure, sure, that's okay yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's okay that it wasn't, is what I would say.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was going to say, yeah, it's okay that it wasn't is what I would say. Yeah, I was gonna say too, like the first um few chapters I've read is like he is so good at, I feel like especially. I mean I've read his other books, but especially with like patrick, his voice is so distinct and clear and funny that you, like I've already been laughing so much at the some of the quips and dialogues. They're just so good so they're rat good so they're rat-tat-tats, yeah, yeah it's, and I think that's hard.
Speaker 1:I'm sure that's hard to write like humor seems very difficult, especially like conversations between people that are funny, you know so, yeah, I'm very impressed and, like, one of the fun things with the first book was that it's set in palm springs.
Speaker 2:It has this very strong sense of place, and then this one does too, because they're traveling around europe so that's also fun and um a really enjoyable part of the book yeah, I'll let you know what I think I recommend, probably by the next harry potter part too. We would have been done.
Speaker 1:We've really gotten ourselves into it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I hope that when we listen down, it wasn't boring yeah let us know let us know.
Speaker 1:Let us know, leave a five-star review either way.
Speaker 2:but you can tell us hey, this was a boring episode, but just smash that five stars, okay.
Speaker 1:So also this week in book news. Suzanne Collins has announced that next year she will be releasing another Hunger Games prequel called Sunrise on the Re games, prequel called sunrise on the reaping, which starts at the reaping of the 50th hunger games yes I would like to say something. Yeah, well, first, something I'd like to say is can you hear the ice cream truck outside my window? Quite, a lot, yes, quite a lot that's going to be hard to edit out.
Speaker 2:Yeah just enjoy the background music we might just have to rock with it yeah, enjoy the background music, you guys anyways, everyone.
Speaker 1:So 50th hunger games obviously for those who participate in this fandom is hamish abernathy's hunger games.
Speaker 2:However, I don't actually think this is going to be about his hunger games I've been seeing a lot of people say that, or like it's not going to be from his perspective, or um, what are your thoughts?
Speaker 1:yeah, so I think it's been teased that some of it doesn't say are going to be like totalitarianism right propaganda. I think it's going to follow the time of his hunger games, but it's not going to be told from his point of view right, maybe from somebody who's watching live on tv, or from multiple points of view from people outside of the 50th hunger games following the events of them yeah I mean, we know what happened in his hunger games.
Speaker 1:I think like the way that he won he did, I think like, if I recall, he did like a lot of like hiding and like tricking, yeah um, yeah, I think he like outsmarted it and he outsmarted people he used.
Speaker 2:He like threw an axe or something into the force field.
Speaker 1:Because that was a key point yeah, so it highlighted even more in detail in uh pita's games on archive of our own. By icky grace, yeah, don't tell me you're a fan of the hunger games.
Speaker 2:You haven't read pita's games those are canon again, as you're a fake fan, yeah anyways.
Speaker 1:So I kind of have this feeling that it's not going to. I mean I would. I love haymitch, I would love to follow his games, but also so depressing because we know that it ends very sadly with him being like a very miserable alcoholic. Um, also, I've seen a lot of discourse that I think is right on the money, which is that Suzanne Collins doesn't write books for money, or she would have been writing a ton more books since she's published.
Speaker 1:Hunger Games and she just hasn't yeah, she writes them because she has something to say yeah and um, so I'll be very interested to see what she has to say I agree again.
Speaker 2:I texted you this, but I'll say it on the record here, like I didn't like sub ballad of songbirds and snakes, but it wasn't because it wasn't a good story or because the writing was bad or because it felt like retconned or fan service, like you know, it just felt like I don't like snow at all. I don't want to read about this guy anymore than I have to, which I guess it was the point. So, you know, I think I'm very interested because I think she has a very clear idea of the world she's created and she's not just writing things, like you said, to make money or to milk the Hunger Games. It feels like she's very much has this like clear story in her mind and so I think, whatever it is, whether I enjoy the main character or not, I think the story is clear and I think it will be a good story with a purpose, you know and it'll be interesting to see like there's more potential characters too.
Speaker 1:So I mean there'll be President Snow in middle age. That will be part of the book. I'm sure Also other people that are around the age of Hamish back in District 12 would be like Katniss's parents, right, right, peeta's parents. Caesar Flickerman may also be part of this world now. Yeah, be part of this world now. I'm even thinking other people that are in the capital that we meet during the Hunger Games, like Sina. How old is he Tigress Snow's cousin?
Speaker 1:who ended up being a stylist. Yeah, they all could be. There's lots of possibilities, which makes this kind of fun, because we did see in Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Suzanne Collins like alluded to things that happen in the Hunger Games.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:And like planted little seeds. You know, yeah, some like band lore, so I'm interested to see how that plays out too. I agree. I just can't wait for it to be here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I agree, I just can't wait for it to be here. Yeah, excited, and the movie although I saw. Have you ever watched the ballad? Of songbirds and snakes movie. Yeah, did you like it no, it was.
Speaker 1:I mean, was it terrible? No yeah, it was kind of weird yeah also.
Speaker 1:I just it's hard for me to. Here's the thing, the difference between the book and the movie. One thing I will say the book was like I'm gonna make you empathize with president snow and then also hate him even more. Like I'm gonna. I'm gonna like, let you see his point of view and by the end of the book you're gonna hate him even more because you're gonna realize, like the choice that he made to become evil, that he's not just like a victim of his own circumstance, like he had many choices, right to choose, like which path he was going to go through and like he chose wrong to be a bad person right, right that commits genocide on people.
Speaker 2:Yeah, let's not forget yeah, like and poisons his enemies right yeah, that's what he chose.
Speaker 1:He's bad and you can see him as a human and still know he's bad. Yeah, um, I would say if the thing about the movie is that, I don't know if it's about the movie, I think it's just the culture around the movie, where there's all these like fan camps about yeah coriolanus snow and I'm just like don't do that? I don't't know. I get it, but like, maybe do we have to make them hot.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know what I mean. Yeah, yeah, I agree, that's my sense.
Speaker 1:I think there was some things that were a little cringe, like weirdly everyone in district 12, like all of a sudden has a Southern accent. Yeah, yeah, oh you should watch it.
Speaker 2:Okay, I Watch it. Okay, I'll let you guys know. I mean, I still haven't finished the book.
Speaker 1:So and maybe never will. Yeah, okay, this got to be a long episode, but fun. I think We'll try our damnedest to do the next Harry Potter one-in-one episode. I think we could do it. I think we can.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we had a lot of preambling. So yeah, the next of preambling, so yeah, the next one will just be mostly the book.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, okay, all right, this has been great. Bye.