Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

There are many little moments like that that make the book very fun. When I say fun, I mean bad, and you do start to go, Okay, this is a Mean book Club book.

He gets magiced into humping her and she's like, it's cool.

There were like fifty ghosts in the book. I picked one that I said was hot, and suddenly I'm trying.

To go I would say that that follows.

Yeah, why are the magic drugs in a separate world than regular drugs? That's not how drugs work.

I don't think I would have sex with the ghosts.

I want to be clear.

I think they'd be cold, and I wouldn't like that.

Hello everyone, and welcome back to Mean book Club.

This week we read Ninth House by leap Or Do go.

Ooh magic Yeah, look a good look at us big, so many words long, Ivy.

League read.

Reading about the Ivy Leader.

Hi, Hi, yes, hi everyone, we are your host, says always to Mean book Club.

I am Sarah Burton.

Hello, I'm Clara Morris.

Hello, I'm Jonas Crabs.

And sadly, Serena b Jordan is.

Sabrina is away on a trip. But if you perhaps thought that Serena and Clara were feuding. I would understand that because it feels like they just don't want to be on the cast together at the same time.

Interesting. Interesting, It's really not my style to feud. I don't think, well, you know, the light ribbing, the teasing, but not a feud. So I'm not I mean that is I'm just trying to put up an offense. But maybe maybe I'm protesting too much.

Huh.

It sounds like it. I've never had to say I don't feud with people that type. I'm had to make that argument.

Well, you're about to be feuding with someone right now. I've been a while since I've been here. All right, there, Sarah, No, she's the thread.

Okay, all the jokes she couldn't It felt like she followed the jokes.

Yeah, she was worried she wasn't being funny. You know, she was scared.

She's like, yeah, she had to pretend like she was having mike trouble. Where are we hearing each other?

Really, she's having a crisis of confidence because we should have started so funny.

I lost all my audio from the beginning.

I think we should start again and YouTube should be more quiet, and they would just help.

My mic.

So if you were the listener, if you were believing that Sabrina and Clara were fuding, we would understand because they will not be heard together.

I don't think ever aget.

Well, it's a scheduling issue, not sort of. I'm not the feuding type teasing, yes, but it's always with love.

At least nobody.

Nobody's going to argue that like they're one person, you know, like that something people argue all the time about our podcast.

They could at this point, right, we're giving them evidence of that.

But hey, you're lucky that we're not just having one of them be AI. I mean, we have enough audio at this point. Oh you're right. Oh, we have to do fun create a little body goes you guys, what I loved it? It was so good, guys, No, you guys, that's such a fun threat.

Can we start doing that for if you miss an episode that we do that, like for I just feel like that's too good of an idea.

Okay, yeah, Like, guys, what if people like the AI of me, you guys, and then they just want it to be mean.

We'll just make sure they never hear the AI bought of you.

That's all.

That's all you can get. Are you worried the listeners will like the A I bought better?

That we will know that the listeners will like the AI bought better than you, guys, Oh, my god, better than me. I'm not worried about it.

You think that, then people will be asking for a podcast of real Clara talking to AI Clara.

Yes, yes, I understand, I understand. I'm worried about you guys.

You're worried about our future on the show.

All right, you know what we're mean?

Book Club, we were in New York Times bestsellers that you guys recommend, So Jhona, why are we reading Ninth House?

Where those come from?

So we are officially reading Ninth House because listener Ashley recommended it and her note was, I will formally nominate

So we basically this is one of those book club books that were recommended, but we're like people are like, no, no, I liked it, but like it's a lot so we'll find out.

Yeah, I'm really curious to see what you thought of it.

Oh man, I have a lot of thoughts.

Okay, Yeah. So I also I did a little post before we started reading it where I just like, Judge the book by its cover, and I was so I was instantly excited about this book.

It's a great cover.

I'll give you that.

Judge a book by its cover. This book has a great cover. It's it's great.

The snakes.

Yeah, I don't think the cover is great. It was more like the the summary and like the first page.

Oh well, you said it was Judge a book by a cover, Jonae, that's.

You're reading the back cover. I wanted to make Sarah look stupid.

All right, well, nice try, Okay. I think this book wanted to make me look stupid too, talking about Yale so much?

Yeah, all right, in the background, what is of the author.

And her I do I'm interested too, But we'll get to that first week. We should talk about how did you guys?

How'd you read it?

Of course I did an audible audio book.

Yeah did you did? I? Okay?

So I all first got it from the library and then it started in Spanish, and I thought.

Oh fuck.

I got the Spanish one and it went, oh, it's too late to fix this, and then I went and did audible and then I realized that it was just that.

Yeah, so I got I got tricked intro in Spanish. No, I thought that too, but I didn't turn it off and just kept going.

And I learned Spanish. And then of this book, I did a paperback and.

Yeah, it was.

Great read because we had like three weeks to read this one.

Well yeah, but we put it down and read another book in between.

I think the problem I I will say, Johnna, I fully believe that the book reading must have been a better experience, because this book is a skimmer if I've ever heard one, and it is hard to skim when you are in audio.

It's hard. Oh it's not a.

Skimmer at all.

Oh it's it's it's ten pages at a time skimming. I think, what, Okay, you didn't read the book?

Then you didn't actually I listened to it. I don't think you did. I wish I could have skipped.

I think if I skimmed, skimmed, I would be like, wait, did I miss something?

A real book that has content in it?

This is not I don't think I would have. I think I already felt like that a little bit, like wait, what the fuck is it's.

I don't think you would have changed anything, and you just would have like missed pages and pages of exposition that are like okay, we get it, like and doesn't actually no.

Plot moving forward, It just like sitting there, sitting there.

I think if I could have skimmed all that and I can been like, let me get to the last two hundred pages, groovy, That's what I could have done.

I think this podcast has broken both of your brain and yeah, a book, a good book came and it reached out to shake your hand and said, hey, I'm a good book, and you you didn't even know, you didn't even know what a handshake was lost at it.

I agree with you, but I think I would then feel like I missed something even though I didn't, and I would go back and try to figure it out even harder.

Yeah, I guess I wish somebody had said to me, get the book and then skip through every page that isn't dialogue, and you won't have missed anything. And then I think I would have been like great, And yeah, I think, but I understand there was so much like confusion in world building that I could have thought I missed something. But I mean again, I listened to it all, and I was kind of I was like what A lot of the times I was like, who's this random minor character we haven't met in a while.

There were random characters like that. They all were used, and God forbid, a book has world building? World building?

Yeah, like having a roommate that exists just to be raped. What world building? What wonderful development?

Jesus Christ, she got you good.

There, johonnah, she got you good. There's nothing, there's nothing we can say.

That's heavy.

Well, there's a lot of heavy in this book. Okay, we'll gotta do it. But yeah, I think it's gonna be fun. I'm not saying there's nothing good about it. I'm just saying I had this sense of, like, this book's pissing me off as I was reading it, and a little bit I had trouble putting my finger on it until like I got to the end, and then I was like, now it's making sense to me.

What was pissing me off?

I feel like, go ahead.

This book is a gentleman and a scholar, and it wanted to take you out for a nice time. It said Darlington. It was a Darlington, a character in the book and said, hey, like, you know what, I know a lot of guys at frat houses would like you just come over for a pimps and hose party, Sarah, you know, but I give you natty light and then uh, but like I'm I'm a real book that I get that. I believe that, Johnna.

And then I believe that I take you to dinner at Red Lobster and you didn't even know. I feel like then I like went to Red Lobster and I was like, this feels weird. And then the book like ripped off its cover and it was Malice by Daniel Steele, and I was like, oh, fuck, that's what I feel like happened.

Winner of the worst book.

Yes, yes, which is a well deserved Like yeah, it's there is a lot of to me. I was like, oh, what is bothering about this?

Oh?

Is it? Because there's like a main character who just keeps getting like the ship beat out of her and she's getting raped and all these horrible things happening to her.

And yeah, that's that's part of the problem with this book.

Yeah.

I love the men on woman.

Violence more more, more and more and more.

The sound I want to read about the sounds of it.

I mean, there's a script.

The writing was good. I will give you the like writing description. She's a great I do think she's a great writer.

She is a great writer.

All right, But you know we're going too far in before we like talk about everything else we got. Well this is good, though, it means it's going to be heated. Oh yeah, so Jona, it's time for Johana jokes your memories with a summary.

Okay, so.

It's you can drop on down in the outline there. I need a couple of different characters. I need let's see an Alex and a Dawes. You can be the same person, maybe, Clara, do you want to do that?

Well?

Okay, and then Sarah you could be Darlington.

Oh wow, I was going to accept DAWs but sure.

Just just.

Alex the same Yeah, and then I'll be Leathy House, which is the uh secret society at Yale. Yeah, wait, Alex joints.

Can I ask you, Clara, since you listened to the book, did you think it was Leafy House for most of it?

Because I know, Oh, I thought you was saying leafy and I was like, what a.

Weird name for at a stupid name?

Leafy? No, no explanation is what the what the leaves are about?

All right?

Yeah?

You didn't give this book a chance at all?

All right, all right, markay, let's go. Here's a summary.

My name is Alex Stern, and I'm different than all the other freshmen at Yale this year. See, I'm not from New England. I'm your classic California girl address how I want, you can't pin me down? And I see people also because I'm a character in a book, even though people call me Alex. My real name is Galaxy.

My name is Darlington.

I am Alex's mentor here at Yale. We're in one of the secret societies at Yale, which is just a club, but a really cool club because it's Yale. Picture the quidditch club that was around Sarah and Johna's freshman year at Penn State, but cool and secret because it's not Penn State.

It's Yale.

Also, because I'm a character in a book, people call me Darlington, but my real name is just Dan Arlington.

Mom Dawes, I'm the other member of the club. I'm the dunky one. I don't matter.

I am leithy House. I am the club, the Galaxy Daniel and Dawes are part of at Yale. The cool thing about our club is that we are like the office administrators of all the secret societies at Yale. We take show off that when they do their hazing rituals, like you know, cutting open the entrails of a towny they do it the right way.

Alex.

Are we so lucky to have you here at Yale on full scholarship, even though you are a high school dropout, simply because you can see ghosts I think that's really cool and I'm not resentful at all. Also, I understand you were involved in a triple homicide a few years ago.

How interesting. Welcome to Yale very good, Sarah.

I don't know how to welcome to Jurassic Park. Is that was in the notes that I'm supposed to say, like welcome to Jurassic Park. But I'm not really sure what them met.

I think I did yabingight, Yeah, I think I did a great job. It was really fun to be does It was really fun to be does it?

I thought you would have fun with it.

You didn't mention Dawes's real name, Pamela, the worst name a person that.

Such a rough it's such a rough. Oh what are you gonna go by Pammy? Which DAWs does?

Just go yeaws is we're going by last name except for Alex. I can't why it wasn't anybody call her Stern?

Yeah, think about that, Pamela Dawes ouch.

Darlington is so weird. I think I totally forgot about that fact till you brought it up.

Yeah, nickname is Darlington. Oh it's rough Darling in there. I hate it.

He's gonna get punched anywhere outside of Yale.

Yeah, and then he like chooses the club that's like the police club. I don't like. I guess like.

Office administrators is you're like, okay, making sure everything everybody's compliants, officers of secret societies.

It is.

It isn't so uncool.

Skull and Bones were at your clubhouse. Just want to make sure you guys like you practice magic. That's so cool. You practice magic makes you rich. Just want to make sure you're only doing it on third nights. Cool, that's what you want to spend your time doing. Very cool.

Oh my god, I hated hearing about the society so overre going.

All right, that's well, we got to do our Oh what's the what's the Johanna's jugs?

Okay, it's one that I've brought to you all before. But it's a wine I really like. It's Sarah. Sarah just put her head down like she was already upset, and I didn't know why.

This doesn't it was just reading on sorry, go ahead, okay, not wine related.

Okay, So I'm bringing you a pathic Red Winemaker's blend. Which here's something I like about this. It doesn't say the name of the wine on top on the bottle, it just says winemakers blend, which at this point is what I need. There's too many wines out there.

You know.

When we were kids, it was just there was this zinfandel, there was a Merleau, there was a resling, and you were good if you knew.

And we were and ask kids, that's what we drank, and that's what we did.

That's right. And now I just feel like, oh my god, I see I don't even know that's the name of a wine on the bottle. So here's what I appreciate. That pothic red. Does they just say, hey, we're a wine. The wine maker has blended some wines. It doesn't matter. You don't have to know anything about me to drink me. It's a very dark bottle with this blood red font that's like this red script font, so it's very gothic, which really fits the vibes of this does I genuinely vibes.

That's all of them. That's all of them. Yeah, I did all the reds.

And they say the flavor notes are really sweet, which is great for you know, a college wine. That's kind of what you're into at that age. I'm just saying, enjoy this gothic wine. It is good. It is very reasonably priced, and it has a great looking bottle, which gets me every time.

That'll do it, all right, all rightful, thank you.

Oh it's apparently ninety nine still the same price point it was ten years ago.

Oh wow, even better deal. You would think it price would increase.

But no, no, no inflation for them.

No nice.

No tariffs must be yeah, I know it must be us.

It's the USA one.

It's a California whoa, Okay, that's it's gonna help us.

It's gonna help you with that's tariffs.

And that was another reason because Alex.

Is from from California.

Here's a Calie gown.

I love all the references.

I put a little thought into this one, Okay, the authors from there, so I don't know.

That we need to you know, is at our bar.

Congratulations, thought into it, may specific locations.

Okay.

Let me tell you a little bit about this book. Okay. So it was an instant Sunday Times in New York Times Bestseller in October twenty nineteen, which our listeners know means it. At the moment it was released, it was a bestseller. So there was a lot of pre orders, pre sales of this book. Yeah, Stephen King called it impossible to put down. No surprise there.

Okay, well that's ridiculous, very easy.

I felt the same way, Stephen, mister King, I'm sorry.

Okay.

So there was a pre publication controversy around this book. So the author is primarily a YA author. This was her first adult book, and so copies were handed out at the Young Adult Literary Convention, and there were also other adult titles made available at the convention. But early readers started tweeting out trigger warnings about the book's content, which led to calls for the book itself to be

Yeah, I don't know the other people's work.

If you don't know about Stephen King's workman, I.

Don't know about King.

Never crossed your desk.

We never did one of his books.

Never.

I don't think so. Yeah, No, I think that that's fine.

Yeah warning though, Yeah, I feel like it's fine to have the trigger warning. It doesn't really affect me.

But I'm like, I guess, so, I guess this her concern isn't for readers like me, because a trigger warning or no isn't going to make me.

Not read the book. I don't know.

It seems like it's just good because if you don't want to read it, you don't like that stuff, and it'll stop you from reading it.

It's like nice, it seems good.

It just seems like politicized a little bit in my opinion, where it's like some books might put it, but it's does it signify something about I guess all literature signifies something about the author and the book. But I think she just brings up a good point that it's like, I don't know, there are.

So everything else. Isn't this a ya like this'ya? Oh okay? But maybe because she's yeah.

Yeah I author, because she was a YA author, and also because she was a woman, and it just like seemed easy to and it's a recent book, you know, but it does it. I I just like the suggestion that it's like we should all be doing it or yeah, so did she do it?

But then she did it?

But she did do it.

I didn't remember seeing that.

Yeah, they read a trigger warning before uh the book started.

I don't call it warning.

Hmmm.

I'm can I go see I'm really curious now yeah that's yeah.

Where are you keeping the book? I mean, go you go to a library.

Now that I have a house of multiple room, we wouldn't.

Have brought the book with you when we're doing that's surprising, I'd okay, ninth house.

Is there trigger warning?

No?

There definitely was.

I know.

I was trying to see.

Some people said why doesn't the book so I don't know if it's like maybe they did it later copies.

I don't know, oh yeah, or maybe like Audible wanted.

Yeah, that's what I don't know.

Well, Moment of Truth.

My book does not have a trigger warning.

Whoah, maybe Audible wanted it. Audible demanded, Audible demanded, you want to be distributed by us. You're going to scare people before the book starts.

Well, the other book, the first one, we did have a bunch of trigger warnings.

Yes, and it annoyed me. I don't know, I'm wrong, I'm wrong.

I no, no, no, you don't have to be wrong. I don't. I just feels like it h yeah, yeah, if it affects people.

Talking about now, yeah, I feel like whatever, it's.

A you don't you're are you anti over all the warnings? You're just like whatever it's getting.

I don't know.

I guess it's like you don't know what anybody's particular triggers are going to be. It's hard, It's like what might be. I I guess I do have things that trigger me when I read, and they're not going to be the same things that trigger other people. But I feel like those things are not going to get a warning. And I feel like if you're sensitive about certain things, you can look it up yourself and decide if.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, do a little research. I don't know. I don't know.

That's the thing.

I don't know that many people that go into books completely cold. Maybe we do sometimes, but like in general, I feel like, you know a little bit.

Yeah about I guess what I'm thinking about now is what I have liked to trigger warning with malice, Like was the surprise part of it? Horrible journey?

I mean, like more.

Main character will get rape over a different people every I think it should be like every male she meets in the book.

Oh my god.

Okay, so this book is dedicated Okay, this one is dedicated to Lee bar Duco's college roommates, which when I picked it up, I thought it was dedicated to her pets because they all have pet names.

We wanted a name.

Their names are Headwig, Nima, m and Less for the many rescues, so I thought it was definitely like, oh my god, those are yeah, yeah, I agree. If your name is Hedwig, I'm sorry, but I think you're a dog an owl an owl? Yeah, okay, this.

Is my rescue owl.

I take them on planes. It's fine.

Okay.

So Leithy House, which is the house that uh get Darling Tinner in, is actually a figure and a river. In Greek mythology, it represents forgetfulness, oblivion, and the erasure of memory, and serves as a symbol for escaping past, which I thought was very cool considering Alex's joining of Leath the House is entirely an escape from her past

Did they ever talk about that in the book, like this is called this? Because I do not think so.

It seems like weird with all the background they went over that that wasn't something they I mean, I didn't look into it because I thought it was leafy.

I thought, but you're right, Okay, it's symbolic, gotcha.

So cool. Okay, Wait, we're still just talking.

About the book, and well, I don't really know where to put that, so I just okay, okay, all.

Right now I'm putting it now. I'm going to the author, Okay. So Lee Bardugo she is y a author born in Jerusalem, grew up in Los Ange and graduated from Yale.

Duh.

Because she wrote so much about Yale.

If she graduated from Yale, I would have felt bad for her because she knows so much about it. I agree.

So a little bit about the inspiration for this book. She was walking home from the post office her freshman year at Yale when it happened. I was reading a letter and I looked up from the letter and I was standing on Grove Street. On my left was this giant white marble mausoleum covered in wrought iron snakes, and on my right was a giant New Egyptian gate that said the Dead shall be raised. And I, the young Goth child from Los Angeles, was like, I have come home.

Wait, is there really ghosts there or what.

I mean?

That's a great question. I do think she was assaulted at Yale, so that's one of the things that or maybe.

Not at Yale, but I yeah, I think I read that somewhere that she has a past experience of sex essay, as they say, which she brings up.

She's fine to talk about, but she does feel that like she felt like she had to justify writing about it in a way that like male authors don't. Sorry, thought that was an interesting point. She was also in one of the houses. She was in Wolf's Head, which is one of the ancient eight.

Now these.

Now, I didn't go to an Ivy League school, which was probably gonna surprise a lot of people, you know, but what are these houses? They don't live in the houses. They're just like clubhouses.

Confusing. These are just houses. They're frat houses like that.

It feels like some people live there, but not everyone.

We're just with their frat houses with fancy names. I think. So yeah, I think that's what it is.

If you want to read more about them, there are Okay, I just want to say her instagram has a fun gothic energy as well. She's a Halloween lover like myself. And I did notice that in many of the pictures uh at Yale she had this really cool caine, and I was like, Oh, she's so in character, Like she's like under this gothic archway she has this like black cade.

Not in this book though.

Book, so we can still make fun of her. I mean, all these things are like Mary Kane, and I shouldn't make fun of her. The whole section is like, you don't make fun of someone who's.

So good.

Luck guys, because I love the book. I'm not going to make fun of her at all.

All right, challenge, except.

I'm not going to make fun I'm going to criticize where it's necessary, and if it happens to be fun the way i'm criticizing you, it might.

Be funny, but we're all laughing, you laugh, Okay, but just to be clear, I won't.

This is so different than our experience with the seated rivalry Clara. If only you know Clara, you would have been on my side.

I have no doubt about it.

She came she came out hard, anti gay, like it was okay, I'm just Sabrina.

I didn't know.

I'm not.

Okay.

I think I'm a great ally, if I may say so. Myself is a straight white woman. Ah okay, I just wasn't slobbering on the what what was the phrase that Serena came up?

Knob goblin, knob goblin on the knob?

Maybe, I don't know. I mean that's a real thing, and goblin on the knob. I don't remember specifically. Hopefully Blake can just put a little.

Blake, do you episode?

So the first time in Shane's life he slobbed down on a dick. Now it was Ilia's turn to slob down. He was very good at slobbing. Shane was too nervous, so he bought a second house, you know, for the slobbing.

Slobbing what is it slobbing down dick or a knob usually, but yeah, slabbing nob.

The next eight years continued with one nondescript hockey thing after another in the slobbing progress to prodding, progress to full ass gobbling, to tuna melting to heart melting.

Oh that's incredible. I've never heard that one, and it's my favorite one now I like it a lot. You've never heard the three six Mafia.

Slob on my knob, that cold on the cop and do your job on the bed and give me hit. Don't have to ask, don't have.

To beg ju is my name anyway? Okay, so let's talk about the book. It's this, ladies, may I invite you to freewheel at this point my segment is over. O my god, I invite you to join in the conversation at this time.

Okay. I think.

I think my overall critique of this book is that I feel like the book was just asking like, okay, what if powerful people, like rich powerful people did really bad things but with magic?

Like I feel like that was it.

It was like and it was like weird to me. I'm like, we're just yeah, rich powerful people do bad stuff. And then they were like, yeah, like they rape, but not with a roofie, with a magic rufie. I felt like it felt I don't know, it just felt silly to me. At a certain point that I was like, what are we doing? Are we critiquing like the Yale societies or I don't know what's happening here?

What are we doing?

I'm gonna be honest, with the release of all the Epstein stuff. I'm just like, I guess this is all just real, is what it feels like.

That's what I mean.

I'm like, it feels like reality can be worse. Yes, I mean, there's a scene early in the book where they take a person was in the hospital for something and drag him out of the hospital, cut his stomach open. Do I think it's called scrying of his entrails where they read the entrails to tell how they should move their stocks around and they sew him back up and like put him back in the hospital. It does not feel impossible that that is something that really happens. That feels extremely real.

It's right, and I think my I had trouble at least I guess with Galaxy Alex's character a little bit, because it's like I guess at first, I understand why she's there, and it's like a big offering, Like it's a big deal to be able to go to Yell and you didn't even graduate high school. You know, we won't talk about affirmative action, but you know, something took place there.

And I don't know if it's a good look, but anyway.

Because you can see ghosts.

Yeah, reservative. She was a magical minority, and that's why she got in.

Okay, let's look, let's just call it what it is, all right, But anyway, I guess Yeah.

Something that was with me throughout the whole book was why aren't they using magic more to solve their pro like to sve like what where? What can the magic do? Why can't it be more magical?

Why is it just.

From where to move our stocks around? That's a lot of effort. Could you get it to be like maybe the police won't investigate this murder or something?

Or Yeah, it is hard. That is hard.

Like when you're talking about magic and then and you're in a world you're like, oh, we can do all this crazy shit.

It's like what all seems like?

Then you kind of have solutions in front of you, but we're not. But just like we're not telling you about them, or like she would only think of them at an opportune time after doing nothing for you know, thirty pages.

Okay, Well, we don't know how the magic works, guys, we're not in the houses. Okay, Well, I feel.

Like by the book I should feel clearly I understand the nature of the magic as opposed to just being like the magic felt like it was didn't It was like didn't do that much compared to like what they do in the real world, Like I didn't.

Yeah, like when you could use it and when you couldn't. She seems using it all the time.

Like they're coins that make people do whatever you want. Use that compulsion.

Yeah, like that, like you just use.

That to get the bank money or something and use that for your Just.

A good point. They could have been all of the magic. There's like the coins of compulsion. Then there's a spell where you become like pure charisma and whatever you say everyone disagrees with, which just feels like.

It's very similar to the coin.

Yeah, it does.

And then there's that drug you can give and that has makes your tongue purple or something, and that also and.

It turns you into an acolyte. But it's basically like a magic like I think some Sarah said it's a magic roof.

Yeah, yeah, So I guess that was confusing to me, but also just I think Alex's reaction to it because like at first, you know, she's a survivor, she's got a history which my god, we will get into. But she's like witnessing this ritual, like you're saying, that's like

It felt it was like confusing to me. It felt like she was trying to have it both ways.

Yeah, I think I agree. I don't really. Yeah, I think we open on like one of the first magic scenes is her in her position as administrator Entrails and like she's there because she sees ghosts like that yell, because she sees the ghosts in that first Entrails reading scene, the ghosts freak out and it's weird, and it's like, okay, well shouldn't she do something about that? Like she doesn't even tell anyone, like.

Right, yeah, it seems like back to that information.

Yeah, and also like what is her job here?

What is her value?

Yeah?

Yeah?

What are the rules for all the world building that is done? And what are the rules of the magic?

Okay? I just think you wouldn't be asking a man who can see dead people these questions? Claria, what is her value as the one who can see dead people?

Wow?

It seems like, yeah, why do they.

Love her so bad? Like she's not helping it. I guess it's because they want to.

Eat her at the end, like yeah, it sounds that because somebody wanted to eat her.

Answer, but roll does say did say that they do not nail the landing?

That was the landing? Yeah, yeah, we'll get to that.

I also sorry, I don't know again spoiler or not spoilers? Sorry, well, a spoiler, but a warning trigger warning just because we're talking about this book, like her background is insane, Like she gets raped by a ghost.

I feel like we need to know.

When she talk about that, it's when she gets her first period too. So if you thought getting your first period was a bit of a book, she was.

She got it and it was in public also, so.

It was like this this is experience of like why, what's the what's the ghost thing doing here? Cause it's like I think it's enough if like she's raped and no one believes her, but like now it's also a ghost that did it. And then it's like I feel like the ghost is like really distracting from the fact that she was raped as a child. Like I don't know, there was just I just was like I don't understand what the why that's happening, And it did. It's not like it's set up a bunch of that like ghosts

But with magic, and that's what it felt like again.

That I was like, well, it's the only way that scenario could ever be worse because no one believed her, which I think is a commentary on that. But also, yes, usually nobody believes you anyway, right, But everyone just saw her like rolling around on the floor of the women's bathroom screaming, so they all thought she had a mental breakdown as well.

Right, So that's what I mean, Like the fact that's a ghost becomes like the worst part as opposed to the fact that you were raped.

I don't know, it just I didn't understand. I mean, I'm open to the fact that there might have been a really good reason for it, but I'm just I didn't understand what the author was saying.

I didn't understand the physics of ghosts. I guess because when Hallie, her friend dies, she she reaches through her. She talks about reaching through her.

Right, that's another good business.

He didn't her, right, Like the ghosts seem like they she can like eventually find out the ghosts can like come inside her and do that. But like, was that what the ghost was doing with his penis or like, was she misunderstanding what was happening, and it was a ghost trying to go inside her and it just coupled, like I.

Believe me, you know what I mean.

Okay, but I'm just saying like I.

Feel like I need there needed to be like another like we needed to come back to it, like there has to be something like something else as opposed to just like this is here and isn't this is this is this is fucked.

Yeah, Like that's why she is the way she is. This is why her life went off the rails, and like that can yeah, that can have also.

To talk about that she's a drug addict, introduced as a drug addict in a place where there's all these magic drugs, but like that never seems to be an issue for her, like becoming to.

Turn to new leathy Sarah, Yeah, I guess you did.

But it seems like to me, I'm like, well, that's an great setup. I mean, like now there's a new thing for it.

I would have loved to see her character have to deal with that, but like, nope, not not an issue all of a sudden, and then all at the end she was like I wasn't even into hard drugs anyway.

Her she didn't do magic when she was a drug addict. She didn't. I don't think she did magic drugs, just regular drugs.

Just regular drugs.

But you're like, so you're why why you know about magic drugs?

I think she didn't want to know about him yet, but she was said she did drugs because it helped, like numb seeing the ghosts.

Yeah, why are the magic drugs in a separate world than regular drugs. That's not how drugs work, That's not how the economy of drugs work.

I don't think you know they well, I guess like that terror or whatever they were made regular drugs and then went into magic drugs.

I guess there was some overlap.

But it just says like, I don't know, if you're drug addict, you'd have tendencies and there's another even more awesome drug in front of you.

You're telling me that, you know, I.

Want to talk about it if you for her life. At that point, I'm trying to solve a crime.

Yeah, I guess that's such a good point, aren't Why aren't we Why aren't we doing that? Like drug addicts, we just need to get them at jobs as police and have them solve crimes that should help them.

Yes, put some direction into their lives by saying this is a murder. You left the alliday, get clean. Get clean because murder is going on. You never been tried before, Sarah, you might be on something.

Yeah, Honestly, we do it with my child where you're like they're they're being annoying or as hell, and then you're all of a sudden like, oh, I need you to like can you put this away? And then they're like okay, they go put the shoe in the bin, and now they're good.

All of your twist voice get going for your kid.

There can we talk about the hot ghost to the king inside her? We talked about the bad ghost. What about the hotties so bad?

Wait, that sounded gross the way you said it.

When she said came inside. There's something that happens later in the book where ghosts gives you its strength basically by like teaming you team up bodies. It's like a.

Nonsense, and then you become a Then you become like a superhero with ghost strength.

They just come inside you. They don't come inside you.

That's what I'm saying. It's confusing, It's that's what I'm saying it's the rape. Is that what was really happening, because like, that's confusing.

So I was not confused by that. But what I was into is this bridegroom ghost. Didn't he sound like uh roal haughty?

You thought he sounded like a hattie?

I don't know why you have to? Can you bring up the description of him. I don't remember feeling that way about a description.

Okay, let me work all.

Right, Okay, Okay, he just don't Yeah. I kind of pictured him as, uh, greaser type.

I don't know.

I think that's probably off.

It wasn't his fiance or whatever. She was like had a baby and from another relationship and she was am I remembering? Is this the right?

No?

I don't know, all right, I don't. Then I don't.

I don't recall that. I was confused about.

Them because it's I don't like which ghost is.

The fiance seemed like she was from high society.

Yeah that, yeah, that's something Death didn't that.

But then the bridegroom himself was was taken for entrails like he was a hobo or was that?

I don't I don't know. And holbo is a.

Word from the book. I wouldn't use it.

Okay. His name is Bertram Bryce North, and he is also from a wealthy family in New Haven, Connecticut. And he was engaged to the beautiful Daisy and everyone thought that he killed her in a murder suicide because he has uh she she didn't. He dines with a gunshot to the chest, and he does appear that way in death. But he's also described as having beautiful black hair and a well tailored suit.

Otherwise, Oh was it the suit that? Really?

I just could tell he was hot. I don't understand why you guys didn't see that as well.

We asked you for the description and we got hair color and suits.

I'm sorry, but he gave an aura of hotness. I'm certain of it.

I know anyone, Johanna, are we do we need to talk about your sexual attraction to ghosts?

Is that part of maybe she likes ghosts?

There were like fifty ghosts in the book. I pick one that I said was hot, and suddenly I'm attracted to ghost I.

Would say, no, one follows most perfectly.

He was a ghost.

Yeah, neither of us are professing any attraction to any of the ghosts.

I didn't even say I was attractive. I just said he was objectively handsome. Would agree, Okay, but you also described him as coming inside her, like you really this ghost you use that phrase before I did. It is true. I don't know how else to describe what a ghost enters into the body of a person. They come inside the person. I don't know how else to say that.

But it's hard to ape ghost. And that's not the kind that's different. This she had the bridegroom could bucked inside her to give her strength to fight another man's that's another thing.

He's strong.

Okay, that's hot. Yeah, that's sure strength. I don't know, but yeah, but yeah, or little her girlfriend or whatever. She also had incredible strength. And I don't think she was like an insanely strong regular woman. She just ghost have super strength.

She was a drug addict as well. I don't think they're usually known for their strength unless they're on the magic.

Drug when she was when she died, So she died of it.

I can't tell you the difference between all the society.

I thought that the bad drug dealer kind of killed her.

I think she died of an overdose from the drug that he gave her.

Oh, I thought it was more his fault because she I feel.

Like it must have been his fault somehow.

Alex murders him so bad that that's not really very fair. It's just from drugs.

Yeah, I feel like something. But he shoes me raped or something on.

A right, They talked about how like women don't want to be alone with that guy and he's a violent creep with women. I'm gonna say that he had something to do with her friend's death because then she murders him with a baseball.

At that and everyone else, everyone else there must have been pretty bad.

Yeah. I felt bad for the so her boyfriend who was like had been bad to her and hit her and was like cover up the death she killed him. Was like, okay, I get it. She killed the guy who I think killed her friend. Okay, get it. But then there was just another guy there who was just carrying like the feet.

Of the corpse.

She smashed him to death too. That didn't seem very fair.

I thought I would do that. If somebody did that to my dead body, I would murder them. Carried the foot, yeah, if they if you carried murder you, yeah, no, I would murder you, all right.

I would definitely about What about the e mts. Don't they need to carry you're helping.

If you're carrying my dead body with intent to hide it, I'm going to murder you one hundred percent. I'm with Helly.

Violent murder, don't get it has to be violent.

How do you know whether to violently murder or make them eat poop? How do you how do you know which one?

To Sarah's referencing another moment in the book, another thing that can happen under a magic.

Should have had a figure warning right before it happened, Like if you don't read this chapter, if you're trying to eat dinner.

Thank you exactly. This is my point. Okay, once we start, where do we stop?

You wouldn't have appreciated that trigger warning.

I would have. I didn't need that. It was horrible.

It's really fucking gross.

I bet Sarah loved it. The poop thing, Yeah, sah, pop. I do love poop.

I think poop is funny. I didn't think this was funny.

Do you want to since you brought it up, do you want to describe what happens?

Okay, so we know her roommate who exists just to be raped is raped and she watches and also gets a video of it. Very uh, you know, that's very helpful because then Alex can watch and see that she has a she's acting really into it and compliant. But then she sticks her tongue out and she could see it's a red tongue or like purple tongue. She knows it's this magical roofie, so she knows what's going on, so she goes gets some other houses magic to go

Was it?

What was it this time?

It's something else this time?

Yeah, type of magic, just a bunch of different forms, takes something like that coin and he just he gets her his gets his phone, deletes.

Evidence off the phone.

Yeah, he's been doing this to a lot of women, and he records it. I don't know what's that's pretty dumb and I don't know. I didn't understand either of those guys doing that. But anyway, and then she's like, that's not enough. I have to punish him. He's gonna he's gonna get away with this. Not she's he's gonna get away with it. Because Alex deleted the videos and is not pursuing any legal and she has she.

Has a police officer's phone number, and she does not text him the video.

And she understands how it happened, and she could easily prove it, but it's okay. She doesn't want that kind of She prefers her type of justice, which sometimes is murdering with a bat. But this time was just I'm going to tell you to go to the toilet and I'm going to film you eating poop and then I'm going to post it.

Okay.

I loved it perfect.

I feel like, maybe get real justice, like what he really did?

Right?

Are they really going to give her real justice? Though another commentary.

It might I might send him did you a video?

Rape?

But the point is it was going to get out there, people were going to see it. It was going to embarrass her, or we can just make it go away?

And how I feel like, wasn't this couldn't this been backed up anywhere? Like usually things either just leave the phone doesn't remove. I don't even notice.

I was like automatically on the cloud and.

Then the only magic that was happening was that's the magic, so that it didn't like get shared. The video didn't get shared. It's like that was like the point of the magic she was using. But it's like, how about just magic to like delete it if that's the goal. I don't understand why the magic did this and not the simpler thing.

Whdn't you used your magic to protect your friends from that in the first place.

This magic instead is like makes your Wi Fi signal week That's what like that magic was doing.

And I was like, what's that's dumb magic.

Neither one of you have been to sale up.

I think that here's the problem with having making him eat poop instead of going to the police. He's free to attack again. Yeah, and it is what happens. Yeah, he doesn't come back to rape her. Maybe he rapes again. We don't hear about it in the book. But he does come back to kill her again because he's a free man.

Yeah, and he hates Yeah didn't I don't know. I didn't understand it. It's fun, that's what it's like. She's she's got She does this like righteous stuff sometimes, but it's like, well, okay, are you a survivor are you doing something righteous? This is like.

I have a question for you, guys. Did you not find the book imaginative.

It annoyed me.

Then imaginative, imaginative and tedious.

I guess this maybe it just feels like a lot And like I said, it all ran together, like I honestly could. She kept talking about all the houses and I was like, I honestly can't tell the difference between them. Yep, I get they do different things, but like it's not like I'm like this is the good one or like this is the one that like it's the rich boys, but like but they're really trying to, you know, open up, and they let them.

I don't know. It was just like they were all the same. They all were the same and did one they did one thing that was bad, and none of.

Them were good.

And that's not very interesting commentary.

It seems like if the richest people in our world had magic, far worse things would be happening than happened in this book Andy.

And maybe they are.

That might be what's happening. I think her hands were tied with the eight houses, because that's like a truth of Yale. And I do think that was like a little too much for us.

Well, that sounds like we have the problem with comprehension. Was too many.

I was trying to be nice too, not to me, not to be in.

Sarah and you let's just edit it down.

Yeah, you know it would be like important, but my book is focusing on these three.

The top the three.

Yeah, that would help. That would have helped the three most.

Evil, the most ancient. I don't know, there are all white men.

I don't know. Yeah, I just felt like it was exciting to see a book about magic that didn't have all the same tropes. We've been reading a lot of these books recently, and you know, after Akatar, you know, I went down that rabbit hole. I read the whole series. I read the Throne of Glass series, and they're all the same. And like the other authors that do books like that use the same.

Tropes and words and yeah, that like the tang of.

Magic in the air, and I felt like this book was one where it was like I felt like she didn't read every other book and just take the same stuff. It didn't just feel like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter.

Well, I think this is like I also think this is specific, like this is dark academia. So probably what was that witch's book we read that took place at like Oxford.

I feel like maybe that's a history I feel.

I mean, and I'm not saying it's that different, but I just feel discovery of worches.

Yeah, I feel like that's maybe more or like that type is more.

Okay, So you think I haven't gone down the right genre rabbit hole, and if I did, I'd be like it's all the same. Maybe, but I think no.

I will also agree that perhaps this is distinct from others, but I don't know if that means.

I liked, yes, like are you really ready to do something new on your own?

Right?

Maybe it helped to borrow a bit.

Yeah, And I guess then it's like, oh, maybe something's happened, and that's good because like, like we said, like we haven't even talked about the ending, but it just felt so like okay, so like the only two adults, two of the three adults that we've met in this book are the villains, okay, and then like, oh, the super Bad is like a woman woman.

I don't know, it's just nothing felt. It didn't feel like, oh that really.

Came together, Like there was nothing. I mean, I guess I don't know if how you I felt like you also were saying John at the ending wasn't for you. So I feel like maybe sometimes tropes or exist in for a reason, like oh, it's to make a story satisfying in some way that like this just seemed like it couldn't do because I don't know, maybe it was trying to be too friend.

I don't know.

The super villain at the end ends up being a professor at Yale who talk about like takeing Alex's side at some point in a professorly way and been like you're really bad at this, but I believe in you or something. Basically, do you want to you can work for me in the summer as my caterer, I host parties or something. And then, oh, what do you know, she's the real bad guy. I think that was supposed to be a bit of a twist, but it was satisfying. Yeah we only it was not satisfying at all.

We rarely it was first Yeah, yes we. I think she's come up one other time in the book and there. So the way Leathy House works is there is it's a really stupid house because there's only three members at any given time, even though it has all these powerful alumni. You Virgil Dante and Oculus who or no Virgil Dante and.

Is something but I don't know if it's.

Is.

Sorry.

So there are these roles where it's like the mentor, the protege, and then the like administrator of the administrators that's DAWs again, remember, Yeah, And then they have a connection to like the police of the town, and then they have a connection to the school. So they have Dean Sando is there like school link and he was suspicious from the very beginning because he wasn't doing enough to solve the crime.

Yeah. I think you mentioned that, Like Darlington went missing and that was like the big thing, the big setup as the big mystery from the top.

Yes, and he's like he's missing.

Yeah, yeah, I feel like he was.

It was weird because it was like the dean was really focused, claiming to be focused on it, but then like not doing anything to find him at all.

It wasn't okay. He goes missing and they think he's in a quote unquote pocket realm of the world and they're like, oh, we got a wait for the new moon to get him out, and then they just missed the person. If we all know our moons, it only happens once a moon, yeah, miss it, and they have to wait for a whole second moon. I would be filipping out, guys if I ever need rescued. And it's like there's one day of the month that it works. Clear your schedules.

Because he seems so confident that's what was happening, and was like why, I mean, I guess I'll accept it because we're talking magic, but like, apparently that's not actually what happened.

Yeah, So this character is suspicions from the beginning, and at the end of the book it's like, oh, he was a bad actor. He's trying to it doesn't matter, but he's trying to empower himself. He's gotten into some trouble because he's getting divorced. He needed money, so he's basically murdering people to try to make money from the clubs.

It like.

New like so it's not like great, well, it's so funny.

It's not like a big bad is these like rich people who are like a controlling and never have their uh they they they can do whatever they want. Unchecked, those people weren't the big bad. It was the guy who just helped them out because he needed money.

For Yeah, do they even know that a murder was taking place so they could get their new magic realm hole or whatever.

Why why are we making them less bad? I don't understand. That is a very good point. Okay, I'm going give you that one.

Nice yeah, but also truly a Yale professor was also the real villain because on top of that, she shows up speaking French.

It was an academic, a tenured academic was what is this?

Yeah?

I think also like the only other female character in the.

Book of a substance Jesus Christ.

Like, I also want to say my favorite scene in the book was I think the book is so creative and imaginative. But there's this one moment where Alex has to die to get information from a dead girl. So she's about to go into the rain like this the Egyptian River. But before she goes in, she's like, oh, I realized too late. I was wearing a white T shirt. But it was no time to be modest and worry

There's yeah, there's just like sometimes little quips and stuff that you're like, okay, you didn't need that, and like like they wanted she wanted to add some I'm like this is anti like miss uh yeah, down with misogyny. Somebody says something like really, I don't know, kind of like over the top, and you're like, all right, cool.

If she could die and then speak to dead people, she couldn't do that for the murder they're trying to solve.

That's why she did. She wanted to talk to the day.

It didn't seem like.

It seems like that should be what we should be doing for all murders. Then just make it routine.

Also, I did not like hearing.

About her dying. Like I was like, no, thank you to this. Oh yeah yeah that was give me a trigger warning.

You have to read like first person perspective of being drowned, right, I was like, no, thank you.

Yeah, I didn't like that.

Yeah, not pleasant. That's super fun.

Tough thing about it being a horror book, You're gonna have.

Another question about the world and the magic and stuff. So an average person in the world, do they know that magic exists or not?

I think no, no, because like she didn't know really or she knew ghosts existed, but she knew she couldn't talk about it because people thought she was crazy.

Seems like that complicates things.

Yeah, that's the bitch people.

And I was like, does only they kept talking about New Haven and being like the reason why, like it's all all this magic's here, And I was like, do our other.

University anybody else got anything? Or is it just Yale?

Yeah?

And what is what are you saying about?

Really be that surprised if only rich people knew that magic existed, though, like for real, tomorrow we find out magic exists and like only the top one percent new would that really say?

I wouldn't believe it.

I would think that this is how they justify all their shitittiness or something like they're like.

It was just magic.

It's kind of like people like who are like really big athletes are always like give it up to God.

It's like just easier to be like there's I'm great for other reasons. Nothing to do with me and anything I might have done.

So if tomorrow you learned, like the whole Kardashian family just like did this a spell one time about for wealth and power, I wouldn't believe it.

Would have a hard time believe. I'd be like, they think that's what happened.

This is if that's what makes them feel better about themselves, Go, I go have at it.

Okay, I think I need Sabrina on this one.

Yeah, this is a tough one. When that's Sabrina, I can sense that. You know I'm not a ghost person.

You know I'm not.

Yeah, yeah, I feel like I.

Think just Sabrina would be like, yes, I could see.

I feel like they added an extra layer of complication to the book. So like she had, there's like a stuff where she had to lie to her realm mates about where she was and what she was doing and who Darlington was and why she was always off with him, And it's like we could just eliminate that and be like people know about that. Magic exists, but maybe not to this extent because like so she told her roommates

It was always the same thing.

I've got an interview and they were just like, oh, you're so mysterious, and it's.

Like she's gonna get found out. Whenever she was doing something, I'm like, how is she gonna explain this to the roommates? It was all not answered.

Like that.

I remember when it was like I have to change out of these blood soaked clothes into my leaf the house sweats. Oh it's just a symbol of a leaf or whatever.

The fuck.

No one's it's not gonna mean anything to anyone. And I had like so much anxiety. That's why I remember this dull moment.

What did I ask?

What are your roommates asked about it?

I know it's it's the most secret of secret societies. Like the other societies, at least people know they exist, but no one knows leath the House exists. And then it's just like they have leath the House so funny, like it's they were one step away from having a table at like the student there, it's a secret.

It's like why it's the house's magic? Why does an interest have nice clothes for that she could fit and wear in?

Oh?

It also the house is mad literally magic, like the house like provides your every need and it's it feel like.

Yeah, it also pissed me off, like this seems like so unnecessary in the book that a lot of the time, her excuse to her roommates was like I was going on a run, I was at the gym, And then she'd have to be like, but I never work out. I'm just naturally so thin. It's going to catch up to me eventually.

Fuck off. Why would you put that in a book for women? Can at please remind me that.

She's like on drugs or something like yes, yeah, yeah, but I never work out that.

I take You're right, okay, you guys are poking a few holes.

Gosh, I know there's probably a lot of stuff.

I don't think Darlington also like, uh, I think I also felt unsatisfying the book because like the Darlington mystery was left open. I get that's like, oh, now you have to read the next one, but I'm not going to.

His perspective chapters from his perspective early on, Like wait, maybe we could have had that.

I wouldn't be surprised that she didn't know what the ending of this book was while she was writing it, Like it just.

Felt like still have him not be rescued yet and give us a perspective where he's like, I don't know what's going on. I'm in inside the mouth of a demon or whatever. Monster or something like. Yeah, I don't, and you can still set up your sequel while not well not completely ignoring him for a book.

Yeah, so she pulled to Stephen king ending?

Is that so bad?

Oh?

Is that why you? Why do you call this a Stephen king ending.

Because he doesn't have them? Okay, notoriously off.

But there you go. Then it makes sense why he was all about it.

I think it's a compliment. I think it makes a book better.

Having not having an ending makes a book better.

It's okay, sure, yeah, I don't know, and I guess the big thing for this book is just so fucking long.

Like it was too long. It could have been edited in a lot down. I don't.

I don't think you'd take about the splits.

We just.

Okay, there's a lot you could take it out.

Oh my god, Wait, is is Alex like bye or gay or something? Sorry, nobody felt that way. I thought, like maybe that the girl there was like something going on there, but it wasn't.

I think it was just a French.

Like the girl from the past who became a ghost and inhibited her.

Oh no, I think they were just like trauma bonded, only had each other.

So yeah, and then also sorry when you talking about the flashback where like Darlington somebody like makes him take something that makes him like super horny, and then he like also kind of sexual assaults Atlex And it was confusing to me because I was like, was this like them both like they both really like each other and this is like it's finally coming out in this because he did. But then that wasn't it, And I was just like why why was why did that have to happen? She seems so chill about it?

What's Yeah, he gets magiced into humping her and she's like it's cool, and it's like, yeah, it wouldn't have been interesting if.

Like it shouldn't be drawn like her trigger in some way. I don't know.

I didn't understand it would have been an interesting if it was like we and we like each other and like it was some sort of inner thing that Darlington hadn't been, you know, yeah.

And that like oh and actually liked him and then but you like obviously their first encounter was not fully consensual, but like it's she.

Didn't know how to do. I don't know. I thought maybe something was how gonna happen.

Yeah, because there were times in the book when he was missing, and she was like, I crawled into his bed and.

Yeah, I thought me, like, right, I thought we were going to get back to I thought they for sure had sex at some point and we were going to get to that in a flashback.

But it never happened. So I was like, Okay, I don't understand what.

Allah Instead, he just disappeared a monster.

Well, I think, you know, a monster. He went into a monster's mouth, he went inside a monster.

He came inside of monster. I deemon.

I think, uh, this is the first book in a three book series, so I think they're setting up a realm.

You do, Okay, I wasn't.

I'm like, I thought maybe, but then like, because of the way you're acted, was like, is this like is this another Oh she's she's subverting a trope that. Oh you're fucked up because you thought these two characters, just because they're male and female, we're gonna end up together.

That's fucked up.

They're completely platonic and he actually assaults her.

And she doesn't even care. They're that platonic.

Like, I don't know what exactly happens, but guess I don't know, Yeah, guess Johnna, you'll have to tell us.

Oh, I will be telling you.

Yeah, please, because I don't want to even have to look it up, but i'd like to know.

Oh yeah, I'll be starting hell Bent right after I finish four hundred and thirty eight Days a Story of Survival on this scene reading list.

Oh did if you guys go to the Wikipedia and there is no plot synomous?

But I was actually it was I've never been more pissed off.

I was like, because I was like, I'll check this out just you know, see what I missed or if I'm confused about it.

I was like, you fucking kidding me.

Can't be summed up, can't be done? JOHNA, why don't you copy and paste yours?

And I'm gonna add it right now. Let's see how it goes. Let's see if I get bumped.

Oh my god, huge.

If it stays, this will be my first Wikipedia. Look, they need it.

It's there like they want it. Clearly it's set up to have it. Yeah.

Well, anyway, this book was it's gonna be on the We don't think we talked about this or did you when I was messing with my mic that it's going to be an adaptation for Amazon Studios.

It's gonna be a.

No, we didn't. We solely made fun of you doing.

Oh okay, okay, okay, well yeah, we had our own private it's gonna be that's gonna happen.

So we'll see what they do with it.

I guess yeah. I don't think I'm gonna watch it.

I did think this was because I had heard of what is the one on its skull and bones? Is that the one that's actually on netflick that's by her? I thought this is maybe the same thing, and I was like, oh, maybe i'll watch it. I didn't really and then I was like, oh, no, it's not this, it's a different thing.

The Grays ghosts were called the Grays. Sorry? Is that something you knew? Joanna?

Oh?

I love that.

Is that something you're familiar with from your time at Salem or whatever.

Salem or whatever? How dare you mean that term ghost being Grays? I think it's really cool now.

They're called the Grays because other people could see them but only in black and white, but Alex could see them in color.

I think that's true. I don't think that other people can see them unless they're like have magic. They do some magic ritual, but they only show up as grays, and for her they're like, yeah, super colorful, super.

Hot, really super hot apparently for her and JOHNA.

Okay, I it wasn't an attraction. It was just a statement of fact.

This is just like.

I don't think I would have sex with a ghost. I want to be clear. I think they'd be cold. Then I wouldn't like that.

Cold.

It sounds awful. Sounds cold to be uncomfortable, You're gonna be chillier. What if they like came inside you and then like they they like use you to masturbate.

Would that be okay?

No, No, that's that sounds bad.

It sounds really scenario for something that could happen in my life. I wouldn't be cold with ghost.

To come.

They came like they inhibited you, and then they were like I control your body. I'm taking my think he's down south. Twinkle tinkle twinkle.

No, I have the initial I still think it'd be very cold. I still still be quite really weird, really really bad. I think I'd be really really really scared because like the number one thing that's happening is a ghost has possessed my body.

Even though.

Yeah, but it's like hot. I don't think it's hot. I think it's really really if the ghost Dark is wearing a suit and has a hole in his chest, no, I just think he was attractive in life. Probably I was.

Oh, she is backed hard.

Okay, I wasn't attracted to the ghost. All of my love is saved for recent Okay, Okay, I don't have room in my heart for others.

All right, that's fair.

When maybe we'll see what she does in the second book, and if I don't know, I don't actually want.

I don't think she's going to do anything that's hot.

She doesn't seem like, doesn't approach hot.

Yeah, that's made that. Maybe honestly I could boil down to this book. It's very hot. Could be my big issue with it.

I think it's one of your issues, all that magic and nothing hot.

Okay, all right, should we get out of here?

All right? Have we done it?

We're doing We're at the our hate rates. I'm ready, Well, you should do good reaching Oh shit, yeah please.

Okay, I just want this episode because we didn't need more than one. Award winning horror author Stephen King called Ninth House the best fantasy novel i've read in years because it's about real people. Barduco's imaginative reach is brilliant, and the story, full of shocks and twists, is impossible to put down.

Something I already said it was. You thought it was a documentary. It's real, the houses are real, magic is real.

I like it five stars, so I don't think we need to hear from anybody else out there, the Master of Horror.

Yeah, I guess I'll weigh in, so you're out of five?

Fuck off what you're okay?

I don't. I don't like reading about rape. I don't like reading about poop eating. I don't like people in baseball beds. I don't like the the uh more practical stress of her roommates finding out, and I don't like it.

I don't you needed a trigger warning for the roommates stuff.

Yeah I didn't. I couldn't handle it. I just didn't like it. So I gonna get you any stars from me.

Okay, it's a lying that's so funny. All right, I'll go next.

I'm gonna give it a three out of five because yeah, I mean, I think I complained about this book a lot. I don't necessarily, but I like also compared to other books we've read, kid say, it was you know, the writing was good, and uh, somebody did a lot of research and invented things, which, you know, good on them.

I guess.

I guess. So I don't like I don't like reading about the ivy Leaku.

Yeah, I think I also have the same I also didn't talk about it was like pretentious people and but like.

They didn't. I don't know, I just, yeah, a.

Little bit of a funk off, you know what I mean?

Kind of I don't.

I don't have I don't want to hear about secret societies. I honestly don't glorified fratilities whatever.

I yeah, but I get why. I guess I can understand why some people might like the book.

Uh, Like I said, the writing was good, so I couldn't give it a three to five because I'm sure that some of you will like it.

I don't know if that's a good nut The writing was good that she's.

Like the sentence structure structure, Yeah, yeah, grammatically impressive.

Pull that for a pool quote on the back of the book. Good sentences that'll sell it. Yeah, Okay, Well, I love reading about the Ivy league, Jean, I fucking love read about secret society.

What about the other stuff? I didn't like the poop, you.

Know, the poop I didn't bother me. I thought it was funny that he had a shit eating grin and then he had to eat shit.

Literally was funny.

I don't like that. That's punch.

It was an eye roll.

Yeah, John, I thought you hated puns.

That's a good point.

Who said that you like puns? I feel fun about puns. I think a good well placed pun here like.

Can you from episode three oh five where she said she hates I thought.

You found puns to be the lowest form of humor. I feel like I have we have been aligned on that. I feel like you maybe have a tattoo about how puns are bad humor or low humor.

Yeah, I feel like I have a tattoo about how important the Oxford comments.

Yes, and also this tattoo right that I'm talking about, do'se go together? I feel.

I actually think poop jokes are some of the lowest form of humor.

Wow, attacking me?

I see, Okay, so a puon poop joke you're totally down for.

But somehow that it came together. It transcended the form, and I came around on it and it worked. It worked in the end. This book is clear five out of five. I'm so glad I read it. If Mean Book Club hadn't brought into my life, I might have missed this one, and that would have been a tragedy. I would have missed a great book that's out there.

So read it.

Don't hesitate to pick this one up. Have some fun, treat yourself to a nice piece of literature.

Three weeks.

I think that's a very reasonable amount of time to have to read a book. I hope you have three weeks as well. I hope you can luxuriate in it. And I would say, don't feel like you have to finish. You could stop somewhere around page four hundred and just set it aside and never come back to it, but then on the bed, and that'll be the best experience.

You guys still do little fucker.

Or we're doing We've been doing little fucker.

And if you're curious for how both Johnna I believe and I have one little fucker in previous apps.

Okay, I'm pretty sure you've won before.

Clara.

That's what I was afraid of.

I think James James Koker might have.

Oh no, I don't think Clara won. I think James voted for her.

Vote for me.

Yeah, okay, because you weren't there.

This is problem.

I'm not there to deffect yourself.

I guess I'm going to vote for John because she liked the book and I didn't like the book.

It's not a good reason, I I I understand that.

I mean, obviously, for me, I'm glad John was here because you know, it's nice to have that different perspective.

But she also is really annoying.

And about she was really backtracking on being horny for ghosts instead of just.

Except leaning into it and speaking proudly of it. And then she came at me with like the of course you like the poop eating part. So I'm also going for Johnna.

Okay, okay. I have caused for Sarah for this little whole little segment, for her question of whether I would want to go goes to come inside my body and forced me to masturbate, and whether I would like.

Iry ways to help you, like you want to get the ghost?

You were like, oh, you're like afraid of the cold touch of the ghost, so I was trying to help.

I also have cause to come at Clara because I think her little fucker. It was also an attack on me, but worse, it was phoned in, And so for that reason, my little fucker is Clara. I don't I don't ever think little fucker should be phoned in. It's you know, you're attacking someone, You're coming at them, You're ending the episode by taking them down a peg. And to do it, but also to not even care and give an effort into doing it, I think is insulted.

Okay, I guess I could have gone specific. I guess I could have been like sarahen said, you are annoying.

And loved it there.

I guess that would have made you feel better.

Huh.

That would mean yeah, she likes when people are mean to her.

I had a hard time pick. I guess I should preface it with like, I don't have a strong feeling against either of you, so if I have to do it is for this small reason.

All right.

I don't know. I think you should blow up the small reason, but I agree.

But anyway, John, Okay, it's because she said she tried to make it be like I haven't been to Salem.

Also, John, I've seen something that says animal hero of the episode.

Is this mean.

Proudly present animal hero? Oh the episode?

I thought that might be a fun segment to add where we talk about an animal hero, like.

The wolf thingy is that live at the house that came in?

Oh?

No, I just it was it's unrelated to the book. I thought we could anytime it's your time to produce, you could bring an animal that you think was heroic.

Okay, well here's your animal hero of the episode.

Okay, so my first, my inaugural animal hero of the episode goes to a goat. I don't remember the goat's name, but so he was thrown into a tiger cage to become food for a tiger.

He's alive, he had, yeah, he had in shape and stuff not yeah, so after the people at the zoo.

Sure. So the thing about this goat is he had such bed in the book that I don't think you're understanding animal heroes. It says the episode. I guess I really thought that this must be.

Something that happened in the it's not.

It's just talking about an animal hero and the producer of the episode will bring in their animal.

Okay, all right, I mean to agree, all right, His goat.

Was thrown into a tires pen enclosure to be food. But the goat has such bde that dick energy. The tiger didn't eat the goat, and eventually within a couple of days, the goat was living in the tiger's house and the tiger had to sleep out.

What's wrong with the tiger.

And lived with the tiger for years.

It's not like a nice inter animal inter species friendship the goat somehow, No, it's just like dominated the tiger.

And tiger made the tiger scared to even go into its own house and just ran the enclosure. And then subsequent goats were thrown in the tiger.

Oh that is funny. What the fuck.

Live together?

When? When bo is that?

Well, if that's important to animal Hear of the week, I can include details like that.

Well this one, yeah, for this one? Yeah?

Why is this not?

Why are we not studying what happened.

All of it?

I just think it's all about, you know, attitude. You know, people like to have that hang in their kitten on their office walls. It's a kitten hanging on to a little string by one claw. I think we should all know about Timmer. Okay, two thousand and fifteen, he was placed into Siberian tiger's enclosure as live prey at the Primorski Safari Park in Russia, and instead of being eaten,

Wow.

Well yeah, well taking they were friend I think it was just a power thing. But I just think it's all about your attitude. Imagine you're meant to be food and you become CEO, and I think that's we all should be a little bit more of a Timmer and less of an Amber.

Oh the goat and the goat did die in twenty nineteen. That's so sad.

Ye rest in peace. Oh they spent their days walking, playing with the ball and resting together. I think the tiger was afraid the entire time. I'm not trying to make this an unlikely animal friendship. I'm trying to make this about Timmer's power.

The taking is Home thing is big, Like, yeah, they might have played together, We've all played the that kid who like hits you in the face with the ball and laughs like.

Yeah that they stay together. All right, Well you know what? Interesting? Okay?

Yeah, yeah, so anyway, pretty cool.

So I don't know that when I'm the producer, I'm gonna do this.

I'm not gonna look for this.

Na.

I enjoyed it, Johanna, And if you want to do it again, I think that I would like to hear it.

I want you to top it. But yeah, I keep telling Okay.

Good, all right, We've got up a new project for Jenna.

This has been another episode, uh animal hero Oh the episode.

All right, guys, this is Mean book Club. You can follow us on Patreon. Become a patron of the Mean Arts. Our next episode is going to be Powerless by Lauren Roberts, which I.

Don't know has anybody started that yet? No, I have no, I can't be. No cheases will be given for we have not even begun.

No spoilers.

I somehow have two copies of the library so you can read it twice as fast.

Now, right, yep, that's works?

Yeah, yeah, all right, but uh yeah, please give us your ratings on iTunes wherever you listen to us. Spread the word Uh just you know, help other people find us.

I guess. But yeah, we'll see you next time on Mean Book Club.

Bye bye bye