The Readirect Podcast
Shifting the conversation back to books. Hosted by Abigail Freshley and Emily Rojas.
The Readirect Podcast
Nicholas Sparks Deep Dive | Emotional Manipulation, Poorly Written Women, and Eternal Sunsets
We're here to deep dive and debunk the allure of Nicholas Sparks. What were beloved books to us at one point in our lives, are now bizarre, hilarious, and at times, genuinely disturbing.
First, some...concerning allegations about Nicholas Sparks, with receipts. If it's not clear by the content of this episode, we strongly disavow any homophobia, racism, or other discriminatory practices. And, there are simply much better authors to give your time and money to!
As for books we've read recently:
- The Pairing by Casey McQuiston
- The Will of the Many by James Islington
- The Charm Offensive by Allison Chochrun
As always, we're on TikTok and Instagram @readirectpodcast! Follow us over there for more fun and unhinged bookish content.
Welcome to the Readerick Podcast. My name is Abigail Freshley and I'm Emily Rojas.
Speaker 2:The Readerick 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 diving into a world of emotional manipulation, poorly written women and eternal sunsets. That's right. It's a Nicholas Sparks deep dive.
Speaker 2:But first, if you've been enjoying the podcast, we'd like to humbly ask that you support us in a few simple ways Leave 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 and tiktok at redirect podcast and if you really really like the show, share it with a friend. Please share the show with a friend is the best way to help us grow our community of book loving nerds and make it clear to them, if you share that this episode, this isn't a nicholas sparks Stan podcast. This is a we have to talk about it, because this man plagues our lives.
Speaker 1:If you couldn't tell by this you originally had this idea because I guess he has a book coming out today.
Speaker 2:Who knows what it's called. Wouldn't recommend reading that, but we felt like it's timely because he has a book coming out today that we need to talk about why you should not buy I mean, maybe it's called counting miracles.
Speaker 1:Okay, see, that could be any book he's ever written. Yeah, I think let's maybe step back. Like I have read so many like in preparation of this episode, I realized I have read so many like in preparation for this episode, I realized I have read so many more Nicholas Sparks books. Yes, or maybe some of them. I'm hallucinating because I just saw the movie and I think that I read it. Sure, but I'm thinking like A Walk to Remember read and watched. Yes, safe Haven read and watched. Yes, dear John, read and watched. Yes, definitely, dear.
Speaker 2:John, I read it, the Notebook.
Speaker 1:Dear John, read and watched. Yes, definitely, dear John, the notebook.
Speaker 2:Also the.
Speaker 1:Choice, which is about somebody deciding whether or not to pull the plug on their spouse. What else?
Speaker 2:A lot I've read like so many, and now recently, for this episode.
Speaker 1:I read the Guardian, which was really bad. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I did so many books I don't know't know why I didn't think as well.
Speaker 2:When I suggested this, I thought like I knew I had seen a lot of the movies, but I definitely did not realize how many books I had read by him. But then, when I was reading through the list, I'm like, oh, I actually have read a lot of these and I remember, um like reading them in preparation to watch the movies or whatever. So, uh, yeah, I agree, I read more than I thought I had, um, and now, unfortunately, one more, but I do remember liking them.
Speaker 1:But I also think I was like 11, uh yeah, at this time I did not like when I was, when I was reading this book. Yeah, the one I read today, which we'll get into later.
Speaker 2:We're going to talk about what we read.
Speaker 1:But I think the reason I read these books is because when I was a younger lady and these movies were coming out, I was like, oh, this is just the most popular thing I should read it. Even though it's like, definitely marketed towards, like women older than I am now.
Speaker 1:But I would say, like the book that I read for this episode. The only circumstance in which I would read it organically is if I was like at a beach rental. Yes, and I didn't bring a book for some reason and I didn't have the internet, and there was like a bookshelf and it was like all books by like L Ron Hubbard or like, or like you know something crazy. I just like didn't want to read or like culting, and then there was like a couple of dusty paperbacks and one of them was the guardian by Nicholas Sparks. That's when I would read this book and finish it.
Speaker 2:That's true Like or for this, Forcing myself.
Speaker 1:It's only acceptable to read by body water, I think and like only if you. It's cloudy outside. Like you can't even read this if it's sunny outside because this is like you're feeling better for that. This is like a sad it's always sad.
Speaker 2:Yeah, something too like, um, something too like. Uh, we were really deeply obsessed with the walk to remember.
Speaker 1:Yes, still I am honestly that movie. It's it's like a god-tier experience in my opinion. So I think actually zach watched this movie, so I made my husband watch this movie like less than a year ago.
Speaker 1:It's within the last year and he'd never seen it. He had no frame of reference for it. He was shocked, yeah, at every twist. Yeah, that's amazing. All of the jokes that I'm gonna put you in all my plays the kiss on the uh during the play, uh-huh, and when she's like I have leukemia, I mean spoiler, whatever, this book has been around for like 30 years, so yeah.
Speaker 2:So I think most people probably got into nicholas sparks through the notebook, but I feel like for me and you, we were definitely in through a walk to remember, like I loved that movie first and then I got into the books and then I got into the notebook later on. Um, and I also want to say like, despite the steaminess of the notebook movie, his books are incredibly chaste and so they are definitely appropriate, even though they're marketed to older women, I do think. Know, if you have to be an 11 year old reading a romance novel, like although I wouldn't classify these as romance necessarily, but like they're very appropriate.
Speaker 1:Some of them are about to cross into historical fiction. Yeah, because, like in my book, there was like a fax machine.
Speaker 2:He does a lot like where there's a dual timeline, like there's a present day story and then there's something in the past. Oh, mine was all 2003.
Speaker 1:Oh, and so it was like no one had cell phones. You're saying it's about to become historical fiction, it's about to cross over into like, oh, I'm going to read this book. That's a time capsule.
Speaker 2:I mean it kind of is.
Speaker 1:Except for that, like I was alive during that. But you know a lot of people who, yeah, exactly, it felt like a time capsule, for sure, yeah, so, before you go any further, I want to say we disavow Nicholas Sparks.
Speaker 2:If you couldn't tell, I found out, unfortunately, through the research for this. Well, this is not a surprise, but I did find it out for the first time that he's definitely homophobic and, um, allegedly racist. But I really I think we should know. Yeah, I linked this. I'll link it in the show notes. Uh, you can read it later. But he has a? Um private school that he's involved in and, oh, some emails were released about his feelings about, uh, an lgbt student club and why there's no black people at the school. Just, you need to read that. I'll link that. Uh, so disavow to him. None of that surprises me. I just was surprised. It was so like, if you had asked me, is nicholas sparks homophobic, indefinitely racist, I would say yes, but I didn't. I didn't know. There was like evidence, like email evidence. So disavow to him and don't support him and don't buy his books. Like Abigail said, you can find these in the dusty corner of your next beach rental.
Speaker 1:In this thing that you're going to link in the show notes. It references the quote homosexual agenda yeah, like that's what we're dealing with here. Homosexual agenda yeah, like, like that's what we're dealing with here. I mean some of the. Sometimes, whenever I hear that, I want to be like have you guys ever met a homosexual? Person yeah do you know what their agenda is like?
Speaker 2:it is not what you think yeah, the answer is no, it is like no, like it is just hobbies, that you're not interested.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like that's the agenda.
Speaker 2:That's the agenda okay so, oh, my god so what's the deal with nicholas sparks? First of all, he wrote the notebook based on his wife's grandparents love story more on that when I talk about my book. But just know that the notebook is directly based on his wife's family uh, his ex-wife, I should say. They're divorced now. Um, which is part of his downfall. He got one million dollars advance for that book advance. So a year in, like 1998 or six 19 late 1990s, like around the time we're born. Oh yeah, and I read message in a bottle too.
Speaker 2:Yes, and then that was the second book, after I didn't realize the notebook was his first book, so props to him. He really hit his hit on the first hit, you know, uh, out of the park, I don't know sports metaphors, anyways and then walk to remember was his third book. Importantly, he really, like, has a lot of disdain for the romance genre and often says his books aren't romance in the sense that, like, he will actively say romance books are trash and he'll be like romance is stupid, my books are very like, not stupid.
Speaker 1:So okay, pause here. Yeah, I think he's correct and incorrect. Yes, he's correct in the sense that his books aren't romance they're not yeah romances and happily. Yeah, that's a requirement. This is sexist. Yes, it's pure sexism. Yeah, he makes his money off of women. Yes, but he also hates them. Yes.
Speaker 2:I yes, there's so much to say about this. I was listening to a podcast the other day and they were saying like you know how, sometimes you just meet a man and you can tell that he doesn't like women, like, not like he's gay, but like he just doesn't like women as people. And that is how I felt reading Nicholas.
Speaker 1:Sparks, it can be any orientation and feel that way.
Speaker 2:Yes, and that is how I feel about Nicholas Sparks. He clearly does not like women and like will say things about women, the way he writes women and the way he like it's all everything he does. You can tell so obviously that he just doesn't like women, and I think that has a lot to do with why he says such horrible things about the romance genre, because he feels like that's like oh, women can romance. I do something that is different and better and like it's really not.
Speaker 1:I'm thinking about trying to come up with some examples and like trying to find a through line here of the way that he writes women in his stories, because he does write from the women's POV a lot. Yeah, in my book that I recently read, the guardian, it was um, multiple perspectives, all in third person but from different perspectives, um. But yeah, I think often in his books women make poor decisions or are, you know, maybe overly emotional, or maybe one note kind of thing Like I only really want this one thing, or like I'm just I'm not thinking clearly, or something like that I don't know it just seems like it's not like this openly like misogynistic, like women are stupid.
Speaker 1:No, it's like subtle, they're just not full people.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 2:That's what it feels like, and something I think that is very telling of that is when he talks about romance. He has said multiple times like in a romance book, the formula is that a woman meets a man and has to fix that man and change the man and then the man becomes better and then they can fall in love and be happily ever after. Like that's his perception of romance novels. And he says, like in his that doesn't happen the man, like tragedy will strike, the man doesn't have to change though. Like the man can just be this, like almost like all his men are very typically very stoic, um, non-emotional, uh, and they don't really change and some life events happen and they can maybe fall in love, maybe. Whatever the tragedies happen, there's romance involved.
Speaker 2:But I think that's just interesting, that that's his perception of romance and that's also his like. He doesn't believe that that is a thing that should happen because, like women come and change a man and that's stupid, you know. So I feel like it's kind of similar to that of like yeah, that's not like inherently, inherently like horribly misogynist, but it's something about the way you're viewing like the woman's role in this relationship and like a naggy woman stereotype type thing. That is not great also you.
Speaker 1:You quoted something in the outline here, uh, where he's like sophocles and euripides wrote their plays the intention that the audience experiences the full range of human emotion, including both love and tragedy. More than that, they want to genuinely evoke these emotions without, without being manipulative. Yeah, and to me I'm like. But I think one of the things about his books and others like this is characteristic in other books I don't like. Yeah, is when you include trauma to make it's like the calling over thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's like you want to make the book seem like it's good just because it made you upset. Yes, exactly reminded you of some sort of traumatic memory you have. In my book, a dog died, oh my god. Yeah, the whole book is about this great dane and how he's the guardian of this woman and at the end the dog dies by rat poison. Okay, and I'm like sitting there and I'm like, oh, am I supposed to be crying right now? Yeah, like this, the whole point of this dog storyline is to make a guy cry, yeah and I'll think that this book was good because I cried.
Speaker 2:That doesn't get you, that doesn't make your book good just because someone cried in it yeah, exactly, and I, yeah, I think he has this one definition of manipulation that is not accurate, because I would say his books are incredibly emotionally manipulative, and that's bizarre that he doesn't see that. To be fair, though, his life has had a lot of personal tragedy. I thought this was kind of sad and interesting His mom died in a horseback riding accident when he was 23, his dad then later died in a car crash and his sister died of a brain tumor. Um, his wife had suffered like some miscarriages, I think, and so like he does have like an inordinate amount of freak tragedies in his life, um, so that obviously informs his writing, uh, I mean, you can write about tragedy without being emotionally manipulated.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely it's. It's like doing the actual experience justice, and I think that's the thing that we're trying to say. Yeah, is that like throwing in cancer for like emotion points, isn't the same thing as like writing a book that discuss the discusses, like the complexities of the emotions that you would go through if you were diagnosed with a terminal illness or your loved one or something like that.
Speaker 2:Well, I think, even like in the notebook, it's like you could tell a great story about these. Like the notebook love story in itself is already great. Like them having being separated, him like pining over her, like many years passing, there's war, there's being engaged someone else. You could do all that without having to have her have alzheimer's at the end and forget everything. Like that part is not act like super necessary, but it's what it's, that kind of thing where he just throws it in there of like this grenade, of the most emotionally depressing thing you can imagine, to do a plot twist at the end. Yeah, so I agree with you. There's ways to do that authentically.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's not to say and he is. The thing is like he is capable of writing a good story, yeah, yeah, you know, it's like some of his stories are really good, I agree. I mean, a lot of them do follow a formula.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a formula yeah, there's usually a traumatic event, formulas there's, yeah, there's a girl meets boy, and then there's something that's keeping them apart, whether it's a ghost from her past, normally it's or a family member, or an illness or some sort of life event, and then they come back. Yeah, exactly yeah. And then there's might be like one final plot twist, yeah exactly, and at the end something really sad happens um, exactly, so I really wanted to.
Speaker 2:I spent a lot of time actually trying to figure out, like, how did he become so popular? And, uh, just to kind of put him in context, especially for those our age who were babies or not born yet when this kind of started happening and you kind of were born into a world where Nicholas Sparks was ubiquitous. So I really feel like it's aligned with Christian romance, even though he doesn't write Christian romance per se. I would classify these as Christian romance, especially the one I read. It was pretty explicitly Christian. How do you feel about the one you read?
Speaker 1:Or, like A Walk to Remember, is definitely there was premarital sex. Oh, not described, yeah, but alluded to Okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're on that edge where he definitely they're very chaste. Obviously there's a lot of his books have sort of Christian values put in. The one I read dealt a lot with faith. A Walk to Remember deals a lot with faith, but not all of them are, so it's like, interestingly, he's kind of on the edge.
Speaker 1:I would say mine was more like your guardian angels or, like you know, the spirit of people who've passed before you Interesting the spirit of people who've passed before you looking out for you, kind of thing.
Speaker 2:Okay well anyways, redeeming love is the big one which we have to talk about one day. We're not there yet, so that one came out in 1991 and that was a hugely popular book. If you don't know, just please google that I can't get into redeeming love right now, um, also in america.
Speaker 1:Redeeming love is a fictionalized story set in like the 1800s, based on the bible story of hosea and gomer. Yes, and gomer is a prostitute, yes, so that's what it's about but it's huge.
Speaker 2:It's still huge, but it was very big obviously when it first came out in the 90s. Also in america, the the 1980s 1990s were very big for evangelicals. They're growing in popularity too and also, for the first time, christian publishers I didn't really know this history like Tyndale House, bethany House and Zonderman. Yes, they started branching out into fiction more, which before that they were doing mostly nonfictionfiction, and christian bookstores became a thing.
Speaker 2:Um, and there was just like because of all of this, there was more of a demand for cleaner romance, like back then the main romance were like the bodish rippers, the harlequin, like super, uh, explicit and not like what it is today. I feel like there's now such a range of romance novels and they're so much more popularized. Back in the 80s and 90s there wasn't as much diversity in any way and obviously, because he's a man, I think that leads to him being more successful. I just think men can write an extremely simple romance-adjacent book and get a million dollars for it, and if a woman wrote the same thing, it would be, uh, just in the trashy section at walmart. It wouldn't, it wouldn't get a million dollars.
Speaker 1:You know, I'm just trying to like I'm, I'm trying to get into his head and think like, okay, you had a traumatic childhood. You want to heal that with your art? Yeah, which makes a lot of sense and it's like a normal journey that people take. Yeah, but why is he always writing, I guess, not romance, but romantic dramas?
Speaker 2:I literally think this is it. I think he had this story about his wife's grandparents that he was compelled by. He got a million dollars for it and then he said I'm just going to keep doing this because this is now what I'm doing.
Speaker 1:I really think that's as simple as that and essentially he was like I could sell stuff to women while also hating them, Not like making, not like doing them justice in the characters that I write or like, not like including more of them in my process or telling diverse stories about women and many different experiences.
Speaker 1:Most of the women in his stories are like victims of some sort. You know they are of an illness or of domestic abuse, they're fleeing someone or, you know, like a Romeo and Juliet situation. Like the women are never the hero of his story.
Speaker 2:No, no, ever, ever the man is someone saving them, Even when the man, which I'll get into, is the source of all their problems yeah, even then they can't save themselves.
Speaker 1:That was like the thing of like okay, well, you don't want, you don't you want all men to go away like who's gonna, who's gonna save you when, uh, someone's chasing you down the street at night and it's like who's going? To be chasing me down the street at night. There's no men. Exactly, exactly Okay.
Speaker 2:That's my background on Nicholas Sparks. Now can we talk about the books we've read, please? Sure, I'll go first. You should, you should. Yours is more true to form For Nicholas Sparks. Mine's a little bit divergent as a teaser.
Speaker 1:Okay how I picked this book. I went on to Libby and I saw which ones were available immediately. Then, from there, I pared it down to what seemed the most interesting to me. I chose the guardian. This book was published in 2003. The main character, the female main character of the story, is named Julie. Julie has an insane backstory that never comes back up. So that's, julie is homeless in Daytona beach and she's, like you know, digging through a dumpster, behind an IHOP, basically. And this guy named Jim sees her and he's like here I'll buy you breakfast. And she was like, yeah, but as long as you don't make any advances on me, you know and he's like no, I don't, but whatever.
Speaker 1:And so he's like here's the deal if, um, if you move to this town in coastal North Carolina where I live, I'll help you get a job and a place to live, and you know, that's it like whatever. Because basically he like loved her or something, okay, but he was like but I'm still not like trying to like woo you. And so she like decided to buy a bus ticket. People are always buying bus tickets in these books. By the way, he loves a great house, that's true yeah.
Speaker 1:So she gets on a bus, she goes to daytona and she ends up working for his um aunt at a hair salon, okay, and gets a house, and then they end up getting married. Oh, um, then he dies of a brain tumor. This is all in the first, like five pages I thought her backstory was done with being homeless.
Speaker 2:I didn't know that was involved.
Speaker 1:Her husband died being homeless, never comes back. Okay, it never resurfaces, did they say?
Speaker 2:why, like? Why was she homeless in the first?
Speaker 1:place. Oh she, like her mom, sucked and she ran away from home okay, uh, I think maybe her mom had like an abusive boyfriend or something and she was like I have to get out of here and she'd know where to go, so whatever, okay, well, anyways, never comes back up, never pays off, um, so that's like that's the number one indicator for like trauma porn yeah like there's no point that this is so dramatic because she was homeless.
Speaker 1:But no, there was literally no use for it except to make you feel like it was more traumatic, right? Okay, so she gets to this, uh, this town. She lives there for years. Oh, so jim dies.
Speaker 2:Okay, so she's married to jim for years, yeah um in this town and then he dies.
Speaker 1:But he knows he's gonna die because it's a terminal illness so he arranges for the christmas after he dies for someone to deliver her a gray dane puppy.
Speaker 2:That is his gift from him to her, if I my husband died and then I got a puppy from him a year later. I would bring him back to life to kill him again, like that's the worst gift you can give to someone who doesn't want it.
Speaker 1:And then the note on the puppy is like I'll be watching over you and so you know, and I got you this dog to watch over you. Well, that's nice. And the dog's name is Singer. Singer is this magical Great Dane that's never had to be trained and fully understands English. Literally it says that. So Singer is like you could be like Singer, like go get my lipstick for my nightstand or something like that, and Singer will go do it, like he's just magically, like smart. Okay, singer runs Free Rain in the town, goes to work with her every day.
Speaker 1:Um, also, jim's best friend is a man named mike. Okay, mike is in love with julie. Let's see where this is going. Julie sees mike as a friend, of course, but it's been a year since jim's death and it's not long enough. She's like I think I'm ready to get back out there. So she starts dating people, sure, and she dates one man.
Speaker 1:One day. This very rich and fancy man comes into the salon and she does his hair and his name is Richard and he starts taking her on dates and like wooing her and stuff, and Mike is like, oh, my God, I'm going to miss my chance. Right, everything that Richard does is very extravagant and she's like, yeah, maybe I like him, we'll see. Well, then mike is like I have to shoot my shot. She, oh, oh uh.
Speaker 1:Richard gets her like this locket. And one day he comes into the like the salon and she's not wearing it and he's like, why aren't you wearing it? Like he's like really weird about it. And she's like, oh, this is kind of weird about it. And she's like, oh, this is kind of weird. So she says she kind of wants to break up with him, and so then mike swoops in, whatever. And then she ends up having to tell richard, hey, like it's been great getting to know you, but I don't want to hang out with you anymore. So now she's falling in love with mike. This is happy. We like mike. He's cool, kind of like.
Speaker 2:He's like a mechanic, right, blue collar, that's the thing too like the extra, like any guy who's extravagant and romantic is like might as well be the devil. To nicholas sparks and the like yeah, blue collar, stoic, normal guys are not that there's anything wrong with that, but like being romantic is like a negative trait for a man in his world.
Speaker 1:Yeah, if you are like give gifts or extravagant anyway, or have a stable job or whatever. Doesn't like that. He likes blue collar grease wiped on the thing yeah, grease under my fingernails yeah kind of thing.
Speaker 1:So anyways, we have this like basically montage of julie and mike falling in love. Meanwhile, cut to, richard is a psychopath, sure, like exactly, and he has, um, made one of the uh rooms in his rental house a dark room and has been taking crazy photos and stalking julie all across town. And we learned more about his backstory, in which, like, his mom was abused and everyone's abused and then, like, he ended up like accidentally killing both of his parents and then he got married to this other lady and then he ended up killing her and her name was, like also started with a j, and so when, when he gave her the locket, it was his, like dead wife's locket. Also, his name is not really richard. Naturally, he's been changing his identities over time because he keeps killing people sure sure you're just like what the?
Speaker 1:so, anyways, it turns out he's crazy and he starts calling her I get really jealous harassing them, chasing them.
Speaker 1:They have no proof, no evidence, and then it all culminates in uh, there's also like this side quest, where there's, like this female cop that's new on the scene, from new jersey just came oh, absolutely yes it all culminates in this very dramatic scene at the end where they're staying at like a friend's beach house to get away from him while the police finish out the investigation and he like creeps up there poisons a singer with rat poison because singer like knows good people from bad people and already like, tried to attack, uh, richard several times and then he um, he dies.
Speaker 1:Yeah, uh, but before he dies he attacks, uh, he attacks richard one more time. Saving julie from murder by richard, uh-huh, saving Julie from murder by Richard is not savable. And then in the end he's dead and Julie and Mike are together. That was insane.
Speaker 2:So how did you feel after you read that book?
Speaker 1:Pissed. I was just like what I don't like. There was opportunities to do more cool stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was like if he had taken out a bunch like it would have been interesting to um, like if, for instance, the reader didn't know that richard was yeah, that would be interesting and he had kept it a secret and there's more clues to find it out, because for a while you think, oh, maybe Richard's not the guy who's calling, like calling her house and breathing on the phone. There could have been a twist where it wasn't actually Richard, it was somebody else. Yeah, like there were opportunities to do this, just a little more nuance.
Speaker 1:Oh, and also one of her co-workers gets killed by Richard and left in a ditch. Oh my gosh, that's too much going on. There's lots of killing, yeah. And at the end I was just like, okay, well, we all saw this coming Right, and then you just killed the dog. Like for what? Because, why did you kill the dog, the?
Speaker 2:tragedy, because he can't have a happy ending. A pure, unadulter, unculturated happy ending Cannot exist in his life.
Speaker 1:Also like whatever. I just feel like there's a lot to be said about. Like you can kill people in books, yeah, but killing dogs it's just cruel. It kind of feels like a lot. Yeah, so I was kind of pissed.
Speaker 2:She's already lost her husband, and then this is the guardian dog. Now he's dead too. It's the dog, maybe.
Speaker 1:Now he's dead too.
Speaker 2:It's the dog, maybe the dog is going to send another dog and one year from the dog's death another puppy will appear. I don't know.
Speaker 1:I'm just like, or you know, it's just it's all so dumb, so it was just. It felt like it was just like a Mad Libs of traumatic events that could happen. Yeah, and at the end I was really glad it was over.
Speaker 2:Wow, I don really glad it was over.
Speaker 1:Wow, I don't think it's his best, for sure.
Speaker 2:Well, you know, I'm not sure he has the best. I actually think probably the notebook was his best. We should have read that, yeah.
Speaker 1:One trick pony. Oh my God.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Well, so that was long winded, but that was what I did.
Speaker 2:So did so. I hope that was a good synopsis and I gave it two stars. On story graph, two stars might as well be zero stars. I've never given one star, so if I get something in two that you just know, that's the worst one star that's even a one star actually feels like colder than zero stars yeah, I would never do it.
Speaker 2:It would have to be offensively bad. But yeah, two stars is like that. Don't, don't waste your time, okay. Well, speaking of two stars, I read the wedding to also gave a star. So this is a sequel to the notebook, which is what drew me to it. Um, it might be one of the worst things I've ever read. It follows the son-in-law of no, so noah and ally if you haven't read the notebook, they are the main couple in that book. They, as we said, fall in love and then she gets alzheimer's hold it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he based this off his wife's grandparents.
Speaker 2:Yes, and now he's writing about the son-in-law, and if you don't know why, his father-in-law. I think it's himself. Yes, he's divorced. He got divorced in 2015. I think this is a self-insert novel. I think this is about him, um, and that's my theory, and it reveals to me that he is not a good person or a good spouse okay, say more, okay.
Speaker 1:So this is like semi-autobiographical it feels like it.
Speaker 2:Yes, it feels very autobiographical, so it's um, it's really kind of confusingly written because the perspective is of this son-in-law and he starts off by telling us that a year ago he screwed up his anniversary with his wife. It it was their 29th anniversary and she had been like dropping all these hints that she just wanted. Like she wanted to have this like romantic night where he got her flowers and made a reservation and bought her like a new outfit and like she had been so clear about what she wanted for this anniversary and he didn't do anything. And then he got his assistant to buy her a tennis bracelet the day of and then he drove home was like here you go and wait.
Speaker 1:Did the character think that this was a good plan?
Speaker 2:no, he knew he had messed up, okay, okay, but he didn't seem to care about his wife enough to just do what she asked, which was explicit, like she was so clear. Um, so that was a year ago and so he's telling this like a year ago I did this and I've spent the last year trying to fix it, and so it's like the whole thing is written like in past tense, like first person past tense, so that I didn't like um so you're reading.
Speaker 1:So it's like I went to the store and I yes, and he's also like telling you it's like so, so tell, don't show.
Speaker 2:He's like we have three children. Oh, this is what I said.
Speaker 1:I hate this guy oh yeah, do you think that's part of his schick too, too? Is it like he knows that women are reading his books, so he never leads anything to be like a surprise. He's like let me spell it out for you. Yes, it is because I know that your brains are so tiny. You're so dumb.
Speaker 2:You can't possibly understand if I don't clearly tell you. So yeah, he and like he feels like an outsider in his own home and he kind of hates his children. It seems like it's disdain for his kids is like dripping off the page, except one, anna. She's the firstborn, she's a daughter. He's like she's my favorite. I wouldn't tell anybody that.
Speaker 1:Well, you're telling me okay, so anyways, he.
Speaker 2:he keeps describing like how he's not romantic. And he's like he says he's dependable, faithful, but I am not romantic. And then his wife goes off after this anniversary, she's upset, she goes to stay with their son in New York for a few weeks and she's like I'm going alone. And he's like okay. And then he's like wait a second, should? He's like, wait a second, I think my wife is falling out of love with me, so I have to get back on track. Um and so, for a year he doesn't seem to do much, like there's, it's just he's, it's just him describing how their marriage has fallen apart. For example, she should have divorced him 30 years ago because they this is he's talking about when they had a newborn. This is a quote. Good morning, I might say. When I saw her staggering into the kitchen, how did the baby sleep? Instead of answering, she would sigh impatiently as she moved toward the coffee pot Up a lot, I'd ask tentatively. You wouldn't last a week. She said, bro, why aren't you having a baby?
Speaker 1:she said, bro, why aren't you with the baby? Do you think the character's motivation is to get his wife to stay with him?
Speaker 2:or to make his wife happier to stay with him. Oh yeah, oh, oh yeah. We'll get to that, that's, that's clear. So that's when I said jane should have divorced him 20 years ago. Um, my god, yeah, because if your husband is asking you, how did the baby sleep last night when he's watching you and you don't already know like what the also like you, how did the baby sleep last night when he's watching you?
Speaker 1:And you don't already know Like what the Also, like you didn't hear the baby, that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:He's just casually, like such a d*** anyways. Okay, so his whole thing, his whole thing. Let me just tell you his whole thing. Okay, he was an atheist when they met, but he was, oh jeez. He was an atheist when they met, but he was yeah, he, she was a christian and he was studying to be a lawyer and for he was like, I will not have a girlfriend, or even look at a woman until I have, um, a stable job. So I have to get through law school, get through college. So he basically has never dated. She's the first person he ever kisses, um, even though he said he's had six girlfriends, but she's the first person he's ever kissed. And then she like has to convince him to date her because he's like I will not date until I get out of law school and like and partner in a law firm. So she convinces him to date eventually, and then he was, he's 26 and they get married, um, but again, he brings that up a lot. So, anyways, he like goes to her dad for advice.
Speaker 2:Noah, who's from the notebook, he's still alive. In this version. In the movie they both kind of implied to die at the end. In this book noah's still alive, but ally is dead and so noah believes this swan is ally. So he's always out there feeding the swan because he thinks it's his wife reincarnated, and he always sure, this main character is always going out there to talk to noah and he's like what should I do? And noah's like you need to like woo her again, basically. And she's like he's like I have the perfect idea, okay, but you don't know what that idea is. That's just like hidden from the reader, even though he's telling you in excruciating detail every other aspect of his life.
Speaker 1:So a year passes oh yeah, he loves doing that, he loves explaining every. I picked up the watch from the nightstand then I slipped it on my left wrist and put it on the second notch. Yes, yes.
Speaker 2:So it's a year later, nothing's changed between them. But then all of a sudden, his daughter calls them and is like hey, I'm getting married and we want to get married before grandpa dies, which seems like it could be any day now. And so we're getting married next week and hope you'll be there. So the wife is like projecting, because when they got married again he was an atheist, so he wouldn't allow a pastor to marry them. He wanted why did they get married? Yeah, I don't know, he wanted a justice of the peace and so, and then he was like I have to work. So they just like got like married at a park or something with a justice of the peace and what he went back to, okay, well, then they went to a B and B made love for the first time, which he describes, and then he went back to work the next day. So, yeah, they had no honeymoon, they had no real wedding.
Speaker 2:They and she's like projecting now because she's like I'm not going to let that happen to my daughter, and so she's like we will make a wedding happen in one week, and then he kind of sees this as his chance to like win her back and he's like leave it to me. I'm going to do everything. You guys just go. You do these things. I will call all the guests, I will get the caterer, I will fix up this old notebook house that's been abandoned since ali and noah went to this retirement home. I'm gonna fix up the house so we can have the wedding there. So he's got like construction people, he's got cleaners. He's taking a whole week off work, which he's never done. She says he has never taken an entire week off work in their 30 years of marriage, ever. Um, but he's doing it now and he's gonna. He's gonna win her back this way. He makes dinner two times and this blows her mind so much.
Speaker 1:Oh, it's so sad and then he's like let me try to have a conversation with my this is like that scene from fireproof, when he brings the chick-fil-a soup, you know, and she's like in a tile. Yes, who is this man? I'm like, oh my god, girl, put respect your head up. She should have so over the course of this week she starts falling back in love with him he thinks.
Speaker 2:Over the course of this week she starts falling back in love with him. He thinks, and literally he has this revelation. I have to read this. This week I hadn't been focusing on my problems and doing my best to correct them. This week I'd been thinking of her. I committed myself to helping her with family responsibilities. I listened with interest whenever she spoke and everything we discussed seemed new. I laughed at her jokes and held her as she cried, apologized for my faults and showed her the affection she both needed and deserved. This was like his revelation and I was like bro you've been married for 30 years and I like how did you make it?
Speaker 1:How have you gotten this far? How did she put? Up with you for 30 years and you just now realize Friendship in a working relationship.
Speaker 2:He's like man the craziest, darndest thing. It's just the thing.
Speaker 1:It's like hearing men talk about things that me and the girls went over in our third grade sleepover.
Speaker 2:Yes, and he's 60, okay.
Speaker 1:Look, I don't want this to just be like a shit on men podcast.
Speaker 2:No, but this episode is.
Speaker 1:But like it is kind of this is like a for real thing. It is kind of shocking like how late in life a lot of men discovered the concept of like empathy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't even think he did discover. I think he discovered if I just pay attention to her, she'll love me again. Like it's still just self-centered, but I agree, okay. So to wrap it up, they have this this the night before the wedding is their 30th anniversary. And she comes home and he has laid out a dress on the bed.
Speaker 2:Ew, he's picking out her clothes. That's what she wanted. Okay, she says multiple times to be fair. She's like I'm glad you worked so hard. I'm a traditional lady. I wanted to stay home with the kids. I don't want this like modern marriage. Okay. So he lays out the clothes, he draws her a bath and he leaves like oils and stuff and he's like take a bath, relax. I know you've been stressed this week about this wedding you've planned in one week, um, which again you guys are projecting, because your daughter was totally fine. She's eloping anyways. Um, she, he's like a limo will be there to pick you up at eight, so be ready at eight. And he's like also, there's a dig in there. He's like don't take too long to get ready, because he always keeps mentioning throughout this whole thing how she'll take a long time to get ready and like a long time to him is 20 minutes for your approval, thank you um, so he's like, don't take too long, be ready exactly a day, because you, there's someone waiting for you.
Speaker 2:Um, yes, master. Then he, he's at the notebook house and he has, like, cooked dinner there for her and he set up like a table. It's ready for the wedding the next day, so it's all decorated, but he has a private table for them. He makes dinner. They go out and like, look at the stars and she's in love with him again. So everything's fixed.
Speaker 2:The next day is the wedding. Her, her, like her kids come, their kids come, they're getting ready. She, their kids come, they're getting ready. She's getting ready. And the kids are like man, you guys really seem happy again and his son is like she seems like she's been really sad for a long time, but actually she seems happy and I was really mad at you and I was like y'all need to leave your kids out of your marital problems anyways. Yeah, literally. But um, because you know she went to stay with him in new york and she was venting about all her sadness.
Speaker 2:Anyways, the mom comes down the stairs, everyone's there, and then this is the grand twist of this book it's not her daughter's wedding. Her daughter's not engaged, the wedding is for her to have her, the mom to have her redo wedding with the dad that she never got. He's been planning this for the whole year. You didn't know this, but he was planning this all year. That was his whole plan all along and that's why it was able to come together in a week, because he's actually had had everything booked for like a year before and he was just faking it.
Speaker 2:So they get married and then the part that's supposed to make you cry is that earlier in the day, um, noah is all depressed because the swan's not there. He's trying to go feed it and it's not there. And he's like Allie left me again. I thought she wouldn't leave me again. Why did she leave me? He's crying and they're like come on, grandpa. Like everyone's like you're a crazy grandpa. But okay. And then at the end of the wedding it's the reception, everyone's mangling and the main guy goes out and he sees Noah by the pond and he's like what are you doing out here, old guy? And then Noah's like she came, she had to be here for the wedding. And then the swan is like majestically in the water.
Speaker 1:I'm so mad. And that was the end. I do not recommend him planning the wedding secretly for a year is horrible. It's horrible. I would be so annoyed. And he didn't let her in on it like he also didn't change his like.
Speaker 2:He makes it clear he did not change his actions of cooking dinner or talking to her, treating her like a human being, until the week of this wedding. All this falling in love again happens in one week, but he's been thinking about this for a year, so that's even more annoying. I don't know. She should have divorced him a long time ago. If this is how he is, I know why he got divorced in 2015. I just like this guy there. He just he just seems like the worst. Respectfully like she. It blows her mind on page 359. Um, she's like you're someone new. All of a sudden you apologize for not being around, tell me you love me out of the blue, listening to me talk, ordering pizza and having fun listening to me talk.
Speaker 2:Oh my god of your marriage is like listens to me talk, uh, has fun with me, apologizes when they're not around. A lot like that is such a baseline.
Speaker 1:That is so sad. And then if I was treated like that for 30? Years let me tell you one thing One week would not repair that.
Speaker 2:One big, grand romantic gesture would not have been said that's nothing, and it shouldn't have, and she should have left him a long time ago. She should have left him when he started asking was the baby up all night? I would have committed a homicide, respectfully.
Speaker 2:Anyway, so we had a great time with our nicholas sparks books. Um, if you like his books, that's fine. Not here to yuck yums. But you know what we should do. How we did for calling hoover episode, we should do a read this instead for the nicholas far yeah, we're gonna do that because to me, calling hoover and nicholas sparks are cut from the same cloth. If he was just a little more graphic, uh, he would be writing calling over books so, yeah, it's the same.
Speaker 2:It's the same same vibe same which is fine if you like that, but I don't. And I like men who, like women, call me crazy personally. Anyways, what have you been reading recently?
Speaker 1:Meanwhile, zach has gone an hour with a pm. I'm like I love you. Literally, you're like, okay, okay, I'll just go cry, exactly. Oh, my God, that's an unrealistic standard and I know that.
Speaker 2:No, I was talking to my mom about this book and I was like you know how sometimes people will say that romance novels give too high of expectations for men. Like this book actually does the opposite. It gives too low of expectations for men and if you read the Wedding and you're like, wow, I wish my husband would act like this, I am really begging you to get a divorce. I am just imploring you from the bottom of my heart because this is like, while no fault, divorce is still a constitutional right while we can do it while you can, because your window might be on
Speaker 2:november 5th even at the end, this guy still sucks. So raise your standards, oh wow. Anyways, I'm proud of nicholas sparks's wife, ex-wife. Good for her If this is what he's like Write a memoir?
Speaker 1:Yeah, please, would you like to come on the pod? Please come on the pod, we would love to have you. Okay, read anything good. Yeah, well, I mean, avi, I've been texting you a lot about the pairing which you talked about and read which you talked about and read. Um, I'm almost done, sadly, like I've had a really fun busy weekend.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um, I keep on having to put the book down and I'm really close to the end, but also like I kind of want to drag it out a little bit. It's so good. If you love food, you'll love this. If you love descriptions of food specifically. If you like europe, yes, you'll like this. If you like second chance, love, but in a good way.
Speaker 1:Good way, not like we just broke up, now we're gonna be together like you broke up and now you're gonna grow and, yeah, you're way back to one another, exactly, um, if you love really sweet, like golden retriever, yes, energy, like kind, artistic, just it's so good and I keep squealing and I'm you were like, don't tell you, don't tell me if you don't like this book. Yeah, and I can tell from like the first 15. I was like, no, I love this. Yeah, it's so good, so good, it's so good and I just want to be in in it.
Speaker 2:Yes, I know okay, so thank you for the recommendation.
Speaker 1:It's so good and I highly recommend that people read it. And then this book also inspired me because, like, one of the characters is a sommelier and I watched, like on the side, this great documentary called Psalm and it's about four guys who are. It looks kind of bad because it was made in 2012. And back then I don't even think it was good quality, but it um follows four guys studying to take the master sommelier test, which is like only 197 people in history have ever become master sommeliers.
Speaker 1:It's like very, very, very difficult and um, and that was really funny, I like it. If you like this book, okay, good to know, I really love this book. Okay, what about you?
Speaker 2:okay, first, really fast, I read another book you talked about recently, which was the will of the many. Oh yeah, good, so I don't need to it was really good, right, but it was really good.
Speaker 2:I think if people I I keep saying like, if you like the part of fourth wing that's like the magical school and the fantasy world that's accessible enough for people who sometimes have a hard time with fantasy, I think you'll like this. If that's the part of fourth wing that you really like, I think you would like this book it's like dark academia, vibes.
Speaker 2:Yes, and I also have read a lot on reddit about this author's other series, which was his first books that he ever published, and people have said like they're a little more rough around the edges like this one's, more polished, but they said the ending was like the most amazing tied up all the loose ends ending ever like so well plotted, and so I have a lot of trust and faith in the plotting for this book that everything will be wrapped up Because there's a lot of questions unanswered.
Speaker 1:But I just have a lot of faith in this author based on what I've seen. It's classic fantasy in the sense that at the end, like the last, like 20 pages or 15 or even maybe five pages, like there's a you know, that always happens in fantasy books I feel like it's like the craziest thing happens right before you're done.
Speaker 2:Yes, um so yes, I had to reread the last few pages multiple times because I was like wait, what, what, what?
Speaker 1:yeah it's very yeah, and unfortunately, like unfortunately, the second book is not out yet no, so if you are somebody who like has to have that, maybe wait.
Speaker 2:I've seen early 2025. So I think it's coming down the pipeline. Yeah, it's coming.
Speaker 1:And it's not a short book, no. So if you want to take your time with it, yeah, it would be great. Fall reading it would be great fall reading.
Speaker 2:The second book I read I think you would really like it is by another author. We both really liked a recent book by, which is allison cochran, and oh it's the charm offensive yes, the charm.
Speaker 1:I've heard so many good things about this. It was so good.
Speaker 2:So it follows um dave, who is a producer for essentially the bachelor and he wants to be a writer but he feels like there's not a lot of um, there's not a big market for like he's. He writes queer love stories and also he, I believe he's Indian American and so like he's kind of like there's not a lot of like people of color writing queer stories in general in Hollywood and so he's kind of settled for being a producer on the show. But he like genuinely believes that true love can be found on this bachelor-esque reality dating show. He is a true believer, will not accept any criticism, is deep in it, and so they have cast this lead. His name is Charlie.
Speaker 2:He is a famous tech mogul guy but extremely smart, extremely mega genius, extremely smart, extremely like mega genius.
Speaker 2:Had started a company with one of his friends and then recently so he struggles with OCD and had not disclosed that diagnosis to anyone he worked with and like was triggered at work, had a panic attack, had kind of a breakdown publicly, has tanked his reputation because his supposed best friend forced him out of the company. And so his way of like redeeming his reputation is to go on this dating show and appear normal, which is a bigger challenge than he expected because, like, certain things that uh trigger his ocd is like being touched and um, new situations. And so he uh is paired with with Dave to be his producer and Dave's like okay, I am so committed to the show, I will do whatever it takes to make sure you can come across well. We saved the show because it's been struggling in the ratings and you're going to be a big boost for us and we can help you. And so he's like why don't we start going on practice dates so that you'll feel more comfortable? Why don't we start going on practice dates so that you'll feel more?
Speaker 2:comfortable Like, I will act the part and we'll do things that you're comfortable with. We'll help you feel like confident and then when you go on these dates on the show you'll feel more comfortable. So in their off time they're doing these little practice dates. It's like it was. I was laughing out loud. I listened to the audio book, which I really do recommend. It had great voice actors um two different guys uh, portraying dave and charlie, because it's a dual perspective um book. But I laughed a lot. I felt emotions.
Speaker 2:Um, it's like a compressed timeline, but friends to lovers, because they really do form this really nice friendship before they're able to admit like we love each other um, and it was really I've heard amazing things and I think allison cochran's great with like uh, she kind of incorporates like people who struggle with mental illness into or like neurodivergence into her stories and I thought this was a really nice uh story that shows like all kinds of people deserve love and can find love and it doesn't matter like who you are. So it was really really cute, and if you like the bachelor, I think you'll like it.
Speaker 1:Okay, I'll put it on my list. Yeah, enjoy. All right, all right, y'all. Bye, bye, bye.