Project Hail Mary Book + Movie

Today we're talking about the Project Hail Mary movie adaptation! Plus: Bridgerton season 5 announcement & All the Young Dudes being published (gross!!!) 

Transcript

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Welcome And How To Support Us

Abigail 0:04

Welcome to the Redirect Podcast. I'm Abigail Freshly. And I'm Emily Rojas. The Redirect Podcast is the show where we shift the conversation back to books. We discuss themes with some of our favorite books and how those themes show up in our real lived experiences. On today's episode, we are recapping Project Hail Mary and the book to film adaptation. Before we get into that, um, if you love the show, I would love for you to support us in a few simple ways. First, you can go on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave us a five-star review and let us know how much you love the show. You can also follow us on Instagram and TikTok at redirectpodcast. You could follow Emily on all platforms at Emily Rojas Reads. And you can follow me on TikTok at Fabigal11 and on Instagram at Fabigal Insta. And what else? Oh, sharing our show with a friend is actually the best way to grow our community of book loving nerds and the best way to help support our podcast. So if you'd like to do that, we would love for you to do that. And yeah. It feels like it's been a really long time since we've uh recorded. I feel like I'm losing. Like I lost what I was supposed to say. Yeah, we were we were recording like boom, boom, boom, all out there for a little while. So and now we're back. Um yeah, and also normally we're a little bit ahead of the game on recording like the episode, and today we are recording on the day that the episode normally comes out. Yeah. So or no, the day after. No, the day. The day. Is it Wednesday? It's Tuesday. Okay, it's it's Tuesday. It's Tuesday. Oh, yeah,

Why We Love Project Hail Mary

Abigail 1:40

yeah. Um so this is the long-awaited recap of Project Hill Mary the movie. Yes, I can't wait. I'm so excited. Remind me when did you okay, when did we first read the book? Let me pull up on my story graph actually, and I can tell you exactly. Did you reread it in advance of this movie? Okay, so I first read the book in 2021, and it took me one day according to Story Graph, which tracks. Oh my gosh. That's kind of crazy. Yeah, because it's it sucks too much. It's so good. And then I did reread it in 2023. I did not reread it in advance of this book. That's longer ago than I thought. That's interesting. I I thought I had read it more recently than that, but um, yeah, I just didn't have the that is gonna be a very interesting data point. I think it is, I think. Because I first read it like a few years ago. Maybe I first read it in 2023. Yeah, it was like 2022 or 2023 because we had already lived in LA when I was reading it. And then I um I listened to the audiobook because everyone always cites this as like one of the best audiobooks. So I uh I listened to the audiobook in advance of seeing the movie, and it it really was that good. Um like the production of the audiobook really is that great. But I think it will it helped me hold in like more stark contrast the differences between the book and the movie. Um so yeah, okay. Yes, I we both love the book. We love the book. That's been established. We've talked about it before. What do we love about the book? Uh, well, first of all, if you don't know anything about Project Home Mary, um, it's a story about a guy named Ryland Grace who wakes up and he doesn't know where he is. Uh-huh. And he knows a lot about science and he knows a lot about math. And he realizes that he's in space, and slowly over time, that he's been in a coma, and slowly over time the memories from before the coma are coming back, and he realizes that he's on a mission to save Earth from this extraterrestrial threat that is dimming the sun.

SPEAKER_02 3:50

Yes.

Abigail 3:51

At a rapid rate. And so this is a project he'll marry to save all mankind. There were two other astronauts on the on the ship with him. They did not wake up from the coma. So he's on his own, but maybe not for long. And uh it's uh the magic of the book, I think, is Ryland's inner monologue, his relationship with Rocky. Obviously, yeah. Uh, like hearing the way he like thinks through all like all the science-y stuff, I wouldn't normally like that, but I really liked it in the book. Yes. Um and I was wondering and wondering, wondering how are they gonna portray that in the movie? And we got our answer. But first, is there anything else you'd like to add about your experience reading the book? Yeah, uh, I yeah, I think you nailed everything you said. I think this is one of my go-to. If someone asked me for a book recommendation, it's probably at least 50-50 odds that this will be the book I will recommend to them. I think it's universally appealing. Like I think it has something for everyone. And I agree with you with the science, like it makes you just it makes the world feel real, I think. It doesn't make you feel dumb. It makes you feel like you're understanding what's going on, the way that um Andy Weir writes the science, but it also makes it feel like, oh, this is really happening. Like the science checks out, even though it maybe it doesn't, I don't know. But like it feels like it it does. And so I feel like that helps you feel like you're grounded in the the world. And so I love it. I love it. And I love any Yeah, we're like, oh, this is making sense. I'm getting it. And just the way that a scientist would think. It's like, oh, this like a nerdy junior high school teacher, like who's on a spaceship. He's like the experiments he does to even figure out that he's in space or what part of space he's in, like what solar system he's in, like things that that I would, I mean, I would I would die immediately. Like I would die immediately. I would just simply die. But um also just him being alone for so much in space, and then before he meets Rocky, but then even then being limited, like just it is that is so hard to write. Like he has no one to really bounce off of, except for in the flashbacks, like he's just totally riding with himself. Yeah, and I love like any version of the plot device or trope where you, the reader, are finding out things along with the uh main character, the whatever, whoever's experiencing it. Like, I just love that, and I think this is the shining example of that as a as a plot device. Like, he doesn't know anything, you don't know anything, and you get to learn it alongside him and react alongside him and like see how it affects him the more he learns. And I just love that part of this book as well. Yeah, so I think maybe we go through the movie, like kind of section by section, and then compare it as we go to parts of the book. How does that sound? Sure, yeah. Love to I mean, how were how are you envisioning this? Is that does that work? No, I love that.

First Reactions To The Movie

Abigail 6:53

I do. Can we talk like how did you feel about it overall? Like, can we talk about the movie? Overall about the movie, yeah, yeah, yeah. We forgot about that. Um, I liked it. I liked it. I think I walked away being like, I liked the book more. I thought the I I thought the book was better, but I think the movie was its own thing. So I think I still prefer the book, but it was good. I so there's a couple things I learned about the movie post-movie, post-viewing, which is that they did not use any green screens. I learned that as well post-viewing, which is crazy to me. And that Rocky uh was a puppet. I that was another thing I learned too. I think those two things looking back made all the difference. Like an actor working across, like working across from a bunch of tennis balls versus a puppet that's able to kind of express an emote. Yes, I think makes a huge difference, especially when there's no other actors on set. Yes, and um, it just didn't seem like like a friend pointed this out, like you know, like technology advances so much, and so when you have like CGI or when you have green screen, like in 10 years, it kind of looks horrible. Yeah, because your technology's advanced so far, but like it would seem more artistic, but anyways, what did you think? I I mean I loved it. Um I uh I loved it. I um I agree with you that it's interesting that I didn't reread it because there were a lot of things that I've now seen people on TikTok be like, well, they left this out, they left this out. And I like I was like, oh, actually that didn't bother me at all because I forgot that or whatever. Like I wasn't thinking about that, I was just experiencing the movie. Um, and obviously there were some like more significant changes, but I think like of all movie if to me this this is on the level of of heated rivalry, like where maybe different, I do think the TV adaptation maybe improved on the source material with heated rivalry, but just in terms of like being true to the book in the ways that mattered to me, like the feelings I felt were the same, the way I felt about Rocky was the same, like the hopefulness of it, like all of those things felt the same to me. And so I think that there were changes, of course, but some I liked, some I didn't like, whatever. But um, yeah, the vibe overall was the same. I thought if I saw this movie and had never read the book, I would think this is probably one of my favorite movies. Like it was an excellent movie, and yeah, it was one of my favorite books. I thought it was Zach. Yeah, yeah, I thought it was Zach who has not read the book, and he really, really liked the movie. Um yeah,

Big Changes That Worked Or Didn’t

Abigail 9:25

I saw it with my dad who has not read the book. I was like my things I didn't like about it. Yeah, I always heard that that yeah, Ryland in the movie, Ryland Grace in the movie compared to Ryland Grace in the book. I think in the movie he was a little dumb. Like he was a little like silly, stupid, like uh like too goofy. And like in the in the book, because you get so much more of his inner monologue, yeah. You hear him like piecing things out or like being curious or interested or feeling more of like this duty to save Earth and all this stuff. Yeah. So I thought that he lost a little bit from book to screen, but I think also that some of that was just a choice, like of how Ryan Gosling wanted to do the character, and yeah, it was like a choice to be different. It didn't feel like a cheap imitation. Yeah, I just didn't like the choice as much. Um I also in my mind, the ship of the Project Hill Mary was a lot smaller than it was portrayed just in the movie, and I don't remember in the book there being like a huge LED screen room where you can like experience Earth. No, I don't think that was uh yeah, but it it worked, I think, for the visual, like certain scenes that happened in there. I feel like you needed something like that, and really like you need something like that because I mean they gloss over how Rocky learns to speak English, like that's an incredibly painstaking process, and so to have to be like water, I can point to this picture, you know, like that's probably a little bit helpful. So there has to be something in the book world too. Yeah, I just thought that the ship was too big because I feel like the in the book, there's all this emphasis on the this was a rush job, it is tiny, like you don't have space to move around, all this stuff. I also thought, um, what else did I think? Oh, I missed, and I get why this can't be in the movie because it's just kind of boring in a movie when it's not in the book, but learning more around about like Iridian biology, learning like the Iridian culture, like there's this whole streak in the book where they're like, oh, it's Iridian culture rule, or it's a human culture rule, like whatever, like that kind of stuff. Uh, or the the the conversations and the theorizing that Rocky and Grace do about like, do you think that we like evolve from a common ancestor? Right. That's that's that's so boring in a movie, but works in the book. Totally. And that's why the book has the edge for me. Yeah, I would agree with that. But improvements. Um, the one the big improvement I would say is in the third act of the book, there's like this whole thing where the Tao Meba like infect the fuel tanks and they have to clean them out. And it's like they just kind of simplified that, yeah, with the Tao Meba like learning to adapt out of the um xenonite. Yes. And I was like, fine, that's fine. Because in the book that felt a little laborious, like, oh my god. Yeah, another like thing. That that was one of the things I actually did remember that it was a change. And I was like, there's already so much, like they do a really good job at keeping the stakes really high in the movie. And so there's already so much where you're like, oh my god, are they gonna make it out of this? And so I liked that that, even though that is kind of like the main climactic point of the movie, I like that they didn't drag it out. It it would be a little more dragged out if they had done it like it is in the books. Um, it was dragged out in the books. Okay, okay. This is the climax, but it's not drawn out. We're getting there, we're resolving it, and then we're, you know, doing the resolving action. Even that, but even to that point, like I enjoyed reading in the book about the progression of the Tao Meeba farms and the resilien, like they they cut out the whole nitrogen thing about like how there was nitrogen on board because one of the other astronauts wanted to die by nitrogen poisoning or nice nitrogen asphyxiation or whatever. So, like I enjoyed that in the book. I get why it doesn't translate to the movie. Um so I do think that was one material improvement. Um I also thought, sorry, another big character difference to me was strat in the book versus strat in the movie. I think in the book, strat is a lot more, she's a lot harder and tougher and like rough edges. In the movie, she's a little softer. And um yeah. Oh, and the big difference at the end. Yes, which is that you see that the data got back to Earth. I know, and I kind of loved that. Um and I liked I did like the change to Strat's character because I think I don't know, like uh to be the only woman in the book, it would be tough if she like I mean I get her character too, and and I don't know, I think I I've seen people complain about her characterization in the movie. Um, I understand why, like, and I do think some of her like power that is she has in the book is toned down a little bit in terms of like the access to the world government and people kind of just doing whatever she says a little bit. That's not fleshed out. But I just liked that it was like I believe in you, and also I have no choice but to do what I'm doing for the sake of humanity. And I just like that that part felt a little bit more empathetic and not just like, eh, well, you gotta go. Sorry. Yeah, you saw the cost to her. Yeah. Because there is a cost to like being in the role that she is in. Yes. And that was her the actress did a good job of portraying that junk. Yeah. Um, I mean, I know for like the movie, you just don't have time to do everything you could do in the book, but right, you know, I do feel like we missed like I enjoy learning about the other astronauts, the other people in the Project Kilmary program. Yeah. Which kind of got cut from the movie. Um, but yeah, Strat was a big difference, yeah, for sure. That was probably that was the thing I noticed the most. Um, having not very recently read the book, uh, and then the the climax, like I

The Ending Choice And What It Means

Abigail 15:33

said. So those were the two big ones that I was like, oh, okay, that's different, but I liked it. I don't know. And the ending. I just I did like that. I loved that we got it made like it brought a tear to my eye. I'm like, oh, he did it, you know? Um, and then him also not to see the ship, like the boat that she's on, like moving through like what looks like Antarctic water. Oh my gosh. And then him, I almost like him better. So we're obviously not going in order at all, but uh, we can't do that. No, it's fine. We could just talk about it. I like at the end him not being shown choosing to come back to Earth because that always did feel a little weird to me in the book because like well, he's lived almost his whole life on the like Iridian planet. Why would he go back? In especially in the book when you don't know if he was successful. Like, did he even save Earth? Is he about to Yeah? In the book, he doesn't we don't know if he goes back or not. That's left ambiguous. Oh, okay. Why did I think feel like it was for sure he like it's in the book and goes back? In the book, it's shown like he's in his little habitat on Arid. He is like kind of old. Yeah, he's like experiencing like pain on his joints because of the gravity of Arid. And they let him know that the ship is like that they're their scientists are now able to send him back to Earth. And he's like, I'll think on it. Yeah, okay. So that was the same me misremember, but yeah. I don't know. I think that was still a question. Uh after I read the book the first time, and then after I watched the movie, I had the same question, which is just like I can't decide in my own head canon, does he go back to Earth? See, I feel like I feel like he does in the book. Ryland in the book does. I feel like Ryland in the movie does not. Because I feel like maybe, and I'm maybe I'm misremembering the book. I didn't realize until we talked that it's been three years since I read it. Um, so my memory could be faulty, but I feel like in the movie it was played up a lot more. Um the whole thing of like him like the question of do you have somebody you would die for? Uh being sort of the central question of like him going back to save Rocky and then him leaving Earth, and he doesn't want to go because he doesn't have anyone on Earth that he would die for, but he does have someone in Rocky who he would die for. So I feel like that question in the movie coming up a little bit more, at least in my memory, makes me think he stays. But I feel like in the book, maybe he would want to like see, did he make it? Also, obviously, he's a lot older in the book ending, so he like is sort of struggling. So, like maybe he wants to go back and just see before he like dies. I don't know. So I don't know. That's my interpretation in my head. I don't know. I think what I want is for him, I don't know. I I think I want him to go back to Earth. I think I want him to go back to Earth and because I know that Earth was saved, so like I want him to to go back and get his flowers, I guess. Or at least have commu established communication with Earth. Like Yeah, maybe that's like to be able to yeah, to him to be able to like chat with to them about what's going on, but he's just way too far away to do that. So um so yeah, I it like both options make me feel sick. Like the idea of them going to Earth and not going to Earth, they both make me feel sad. And um I liked the reminder also that um because like in the book, there's more sadness or like longing for um Rocky about like whether or not his mate waited for him, especially because he was gone for like decades. Um I wish we'd seen her. I wish we had seen her too in the movie when he's like, How long have you guys been together? And he's like, 180 years or whatever. And then Ryland's like, Oh wow, really long time, and he's like, It's not enough time. Are you kidding me? Why is the Rocky Adrian love story the most beautiful thing I've ever heard? AO3. Oh my god, is there Rocky Adrian on AO3? I'm sure there is, I'm sure there is, but that just that brought a tear to my eye too, because it's like uh the love. Like I just yeah, I liked that a lot. I love that about this. Yeah, I love that about this and the movie and per the book too, like taking this thing that's happening not just to Earth, but to every single star in the in their solar system, basically, like uh it's happening everywhere, and it's this big thing, and also like we said, the science is really heavy in the book, especially. Um, but like it's humanized in these like two characters and their love for each other and their love for the people back on their planets and their interpretations of them themselves and their role in like the universe, and I just like that it's it's this huge thing, but it's brought down to this like individual level that makes it feel uh relatable. Like, I don't know, it's just something about that to me that's like really huge. Yeah, and you know what I think that is maybe I think I given like the connectedness between like the humans and the Iridians for the relationship with Grace and Rocky, knowing in the movie, having it portrayed that the data about everything gets back to Earth and Earth is saved, and also they're seeing videos where where Grace is talking about Iridians, talking about 40 Iridina, about Rocky and all this stuff, it's like oh my gosh, like then what even happens? Like, are crazy people on Earth now gonna go try and find Arid? Are they gonna like go back be horrible and colonize other planets? Like sort of building on Earth, but yeah, you're probably right. Yeah, because like Ryland Grace is like one person, but mankind is just bad. Yeah, yeah. Does Strat release the Rocky tapes or does she just keep those? No. Yeah, I don't think she just keeps the Talmeba. Yeah, no, I I think that's like yeah, that's top secret. You know what I mean?

Aliens And The Government Conspiracy Test

unknown 22:00

Okay.

Abigail 22:00

This is like a left turn. But I was talking to Zach about this last night about aliens because we were talking about Prophet Kill Mary. Sure. And Zach was saying, like, if I became president, like the first thing I would do is be like, okay, what's the deal with aliens? Like, what do we know? And then I was like, I'm like so sure that the government does have data on aliens. Sure. Except for this one fact. Uh-huh. Do you think that Donald Trump could learn about aliens and then keep his mouth shut? No, no. I think if there is data on aliens, he does not know it. He doesn't know it. They've kept it from him. They said we we can't, we can't because he would immediately say he would be true for the head. He would not be able to hold that in. So that's like the actually that actually, when I thought about it last night, was the that was the biggest blow to my belief in aliens. Was that like if he knows, if if anyone knows about it, it would be the president. And if the president knew about it, everyone wouldn't be knowing about it. Because there's no way he could shut up. Yes, I agree. Either that or it's so boring. Like the the data they do have is so boring that he just doesn't even comprehend or process it. No, they said it to him in a way that it's really difficult for him to understand. Like they were like using scientific language, talk about like extraterrestrials and like the most bored maps. He would they just didn't like it. He didn't see a picture of a green alien. Yeah, he's like maybe that's maybe that was a good strategy. Whoever like at the if you want to come on the podcast, it will blur your identity. A great job executed. Keep up the good work. Okay, but if you were on the Project Hail Mary, and let's say you you knew science stuff, okay? Sure. Like if if you had his technical knowledge, but you woke up same circumstances, you don't really know why you're there, and you saw an alien whip pull up right next to you, would you meet like what would you do? Because like he tries to get away a little bit, yeah, and then he can't. I mean, you have to go try and meet them, right? I don't know. I guess, yeah, you're alone. Yeah. Yeah, I probably would. It might take a long time, but at a certain point, it's like, well, I'm completely alone out here. So what do I have to lose? And I was already gonna kill myself, anyways. Like if the alien's here, the alien's here, you know. I would be so freaking scared. Like, and the boat of Ryland is so excited, and he's like, Oh my gosh, first contact with aliens. Oh my gosh, I'm like, I'm this is it. I'm contacting an alien. No, I would not I would be so scared. I would be terrified, I would be scared, I would be very afraid. Um but I liked it. I liked how uh I liked how they showed Ryland a little bit in the beginning on Earth, and how him as a teacher, like talking through things helps him figure them out. And so then that like feels like it comes full circle when it's like, okay, he has someone to talk to now. Like I it doesn't feel like obviously Rocky also contributed like information and science, like he's also intelligent, but it's almost like it he didn't even if Rocky had been dumb, it would have taken him longer, but it would have helped him get there just by having someone to like explain things to and talk things through with and to feel like he was not by himself just in a void, like he needed that. So I like that, and I like the you know, like shout out to teachers, they will be the ones to save us, probably. Yeah, like I just liked that vibe of him um a lot and how that came through in the movie, especially. Oh, the whole thing. I mean, I think I don't even want to think about what happened in the intervening years on Earth while the Project Hail Mary was on its voyage. Not great, but even the

What Makes A Good Adaptation

Abigail 26:10

idea, it almost felt like fantasy, even to think that everyone would work together to get the Project Hail Mary going to be. It was a super bomb. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. Because there's just once again, that is not real. That that would not happen if the sun was actually dimming. Um, no one hoarding resources immediately. And people might try to send individual mint missions for individual countries, but like I just don't see this happening. Yeah, and a ton of people would be like, that's a hoax, that's not happening. Yeah, it's everything's a hoax. Yes, there would be like a lot of people who do it would be bleak. People are all of a sudden believing scientists, yeah. People are like, yeah, like without any questions. COVID, yeah, yeah, global warming. Yeah, yeah, we're living through this right now. It's just a little bit more slow moving. So, you know, that's bleak. That's a bummer to think about, but at the same time, it's a nice world to live in. It's a we need Ryland Grace to save us, um, and to Rocky and to bring, you know, bring us all together. But yeah, it was delightful. I I'll definitely re-watch at home. Like I really, really enjoyed it. So yeah, I really enjoyed it. I thought it was a good adaptation. A great adaptation. Um to me. Yeah. I thought it was great. I I mean, I think my top adaptations of all time are probably like Hunger Games Heated Rivalry. I think this is not doesn't, I don't think it ranks as highly in adaptation comparison, but it's up there, like it it's a minus, I think, to me. Yeah, something I was thinking about too when I've been watching people's reactions to this, and I was thinking like when you read a book, you're having an individual experience with that book, and you're interpreting it through your lens of life. And then there's so then there's millions of people doing that, right? Like millions and millions of people reading Project Telemary and and thinking about it through their experiences and their you know perceptions and just how they interpret words, and then one director or writer or actor reads that and they do their version of it, and they probably make changes, not even just based on the perception, but like obviously, like we said, what plays well on screen and all these things. And so you're distilling a million experiences of a book down to one version based on what the one person who read it, what they felt when they read the book. And so, yeah, I think with that in mind, I like this interpretation of it. It's obviously not one-to-one, but nothing could be. And I thought, like, we can only hope. This is how I feel about everything. I we can only hope for people to adapt books who care about the books and who want to do a good job, and who put effort into making a good piece of art, whether it's 100% faithful or not. That's all I want. Like, I think about like uh Greta Gerwig's Little Woman, like I love that movie, and it's a it's its own thing, and it's an its own take on the book, and it's not like a straightforward telling. And I still think it's amazing, it's still one of my favorite adaptations, you know? Like people are like this on social media too. Like, they see something that doesn't align with their specific experience, and they're like they they feel so compelled to be like, yeah, well, this isn't aligned with my view of the world and my experience, so I'm really offended by it. I'm uh like I have one particular TikTok post right now that is it is crazy. Like the way that that I made like one, I made one little video of like using some audio, being like, I'm never gonna go on a GLP one or whatever. Yeah. The way that thousands of people are in the comments fighting each other about GLP ones and like their personal experience and then applying their personal experience to every other person. Right. It's like I'm I'm watching animals in a zoo. It is shocking. And like, yes, that's a that's a really great point. Like I think, yeah, I think I still prefer the book. Yeah. And yet you have to be able to say, like, but that's fine. This this isn't the book. Yes. There's the job of this director and writer was not to make a movie of my interpretation of the book. Exactly. It was to get in a room with a bunch of other people who are writers and directors and like make an artistic expression of this book. Just if you like the book, better, read the book. Yeah.

unknown 30:40

Okay.

Abigail 30:41

And just view this, these adaptations as their own thing. I'm begging people to view adaptations as their own thing and to judge them on their own. Yeah. Obviously, you can complain like we complain all the time, you know. I love to complain. So you can complain if it's like not the thing you wanted, but I think like I don't know. It's like back to the people we meet on vacation, obviously, a very different caliber of film. But it's like, oh, you you took some things that were word for word from the book, but you missed the whole heart of it. This to me changes things, but the heart was the same. And I feel like that's what I want in my adaptations. I mean, you can feel it. I can still say this movie that is an adaptation of this book that is totally separate was bad. Yeah, exactly. Like you can still think it's bad. Right. Like, thank God it's its own thing because a horrible adaptation of people we went on vacation did not do anything to impact the book. My book is still the same. I still read the book and I still have it, and I still have my mental image, and no one can take away the first time I read the book. Exactly. So just feel something. It's called like it's this they call it bean soup, right? Like, yeah, I need to pick out the bean, like my little thing. It's just like okay. I feel like that's like my most Republican take. Suck it up. Not everything's about you. Not everything is about you. Oh my god. So, anyways, I love this though. I loved it, and I think it'll appeal to non-book readers and readers alike. I think very much so. And Zach was like, I Zach was like, I think I I didn't think I wouldn't like this movie, but I was surprised by how much I did like it. Yeah, yeah. I can't can't wait to watch it again. It was great. And I really liked Ryan Gosling. He was obviously different, as we discussed, from Ryland Grace in the books, but I thought he did a I think it's it's a near-impossible task to ask an actor to basically do an entire movie by themselves with a puppet. And he is the most charming, charismatic person, so it works. Um, where a lot of other actors it might have been boring. So I thought it was great. And I saw that occasionally completely separate note. Oh, no, go ahead. I saw that sometimes they had his kids come in and read Rocky's lines in his ear while he was acting. So some of the he was like, Some of the times I'm laughing or like making an expression at something he says, it's because it was my daughter's or whatever in my ears. So I thought that was really nice, too. That's cute. That's really so I didn't know that. Yeah. Uh I was gonna say, on a totally unrelated note, everyone should be really careful about how much work they get done and what work can be done in reversed or not reversed.

unknown 33:12

Yeah.

Abigail 33:12

Apropos of nothing. Exactly. Anyway. Um, any last thoughts about Project Hail Mary? No, I think you guys should go see it. I think you should read the book. Um everyone should read the book. Everyone should read the book. I think I'm telling you, yeah, I recommend stuff. If you're gonna rob yourself of something, if it's not a one-to-one exchange, I think it's not even if you love the movie, it's its own experience. Please read it. Or listen to the audiobook. Go in any order. Yeah. If you've already watched the movie, I still think you can go read the book. But yeah. Do both. Yeah. Thumbs up. All

Bridgerton Season News And Fandom Lines

Abigail 33:53

right. Um, should we get into other book news or recent reads first? Let's do other book news first. I feel like we always end on recent reads if you want to discuss my news. Other book news. A little trailer announcement has dropped for the next season of Bridgerton, which is so soon because we just finished the last season of Bridgerton. I know. And there was much speculation about who would be the star of the next Bridgerton season. And it is Dunan. Francesca. Frankayla. I will be tuning in, even if you don't force me to, for once. I can't wait to see this one. And I don't even know if it will be worth it for us to read the book since it's literally so different. I'm not doing that. I don't care about all you book readers who are mad. I don't care about you guys. I really don't. I mean, if you no, actually I don't. I'm gonna say if you're in good faith, I don't think any of you guys are in good faith. I don't here's what I'm gonna say. First of all, I believe the best of our listeners. I don't think that our listeners I don't think they're homophobic. But to our listeners, if you start hearing people say, oh, you know, it should be girls and boys. Michael's a boy. Don't tell them don't share this show with a friend. Or maybe two, but no homophobes, no homophobes on this show. We want to be really clear about that. We love gay stuff. We love gay people, love gay books. I love gay. We have a mug on I have a mug in my shelf that I got from redirectpodcast.com where you can buy merch that says iHeart Gay Books. So that's what you missed at the beginning. Yeah. Um, but yeah, redirectpods.com, show your love for gay books and for Michaela and Francesca because I don't care. I don't care about any complainers. Um, and I'm so excited for this. And I can't wait to see how it all comes together. Yeah, what do you think there's going to be a concurrent Eloise side plot? Like I think so. Is she going to get it? Is she going to get a match? Is she is are they is it gonna be like a Francesca thing where we're starting to plant seeds of her in few in past seasons? Like I because I feel like Eloise already went on her a little bit of she's starting her journey in this past up season where she's kind of like not happy, but also like I felt like she was she was moving a little bit in the right direction of like wanting a match one day, maybe, or realizing how inconvenient it might be for her life if she doesn't find a match. Um, what whether those two are the same is really debatable, but um yeah, I think I think she'll continue. Maybe like maybe she's not even gonna meet someone or whatever. Um we've talked about whether they're gonna change her story, seeing as it's kind of like seems to be a departure from how they're portraying her in the show, is my understanding. Although again, I have not read her book and I probably won't. Um however, I unless I make you, however, I will say that I would Zach years years okay, excuse me. After years of being like, I don't want to watch Bridgeton, he uh started getting into Bridgerton, and so we've been re-watching the seasons and Eloise or Eloise's love interest from the books does feature prominently in season one. Okay, um, he he is the guy who ends up marrying Marina, it's her, it's her like lover's brother who's like, okay, I'll marry you and like be, you know, to like save your reputation and to like take care of your kids, you know. Yeah, okay. A la, Boaz, and Ruth. Sure. Classic. Classic. But in the book, Marina then passes away. Sure. Um, and then he and like they had children together. Right. So, anyways, it they have at some point in the series, they have soft launched the character that is Eloise's match in the book. So he's there to come back to, but also the show has demonstrated that they would be willing to take a total departure. So I'm interested. Maybe she oh, and there's this whole other thing of like there's now a new Lady Whistledown, yeah. That's not Penelope. So interesting. Yeah. So who is that? Yeah, I'm fascinated by that too. I know people are mad about that. Maybe that'll be part of shut up. Like maybe that'll be part of Eloise's arc. I don't know. Yeah, I feel like that's a little too predictable. I don't know. I feel like it won't be Eloise, but I could be wrong. Yeah. I have been wrong before. So I can't wait. And I'm really excited that this will be the next season. And that we're recording on the same day it's announced. Love it. When is it coming out? Did they say? Um, probably not till like next year. I thought they're already like filming it. Well, good for them. Season five for any least dates. Uh okay. Between late 2027 and early 2028. All right. We're all still here by then. Then we'll recap. We'll see you then. Yeah. Maybe. Um, I mean, that was a Google AI summary, so that could be wrong. No, that's the alterant. I mean, they take a long time in between these seasons. We gotta we gotta get it. You know what we speaking of like taking a long time for stuff, we never talked about this on the podcast.

Delayed Releases And Reading Slumps

Abigail 39:30

Oh. Which is that the release date for Unrivaled got pushed back. Oh, yeah, we did never talk about that on the podcast, just in real life. I think because we were so upset about it that we just yeah, we were in more like you know, I'm not like mad about it. I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed. Yes, I get it. Like, Rachel Reed, your life's got turned upside down, you have a chronic illness. Like, you know, take your time, write the good version of this book. Yes, don't write a shitty version, don't rush it. It's just surprising to me. I I did have something to look forward to in this landscape of the year. So uh it was surprising to me to find out that it was announced and promoted so heavily before it had been finished being written. Um, that is the weird part. So, you know, I get it. Her and the the publisher, I'm sure, were trying to like not miss the moment, which I think is valid. But you know, take your time, but also someone else, for the love of God, please announce a book. It's not too late for a book to be announced for this year. Anybody. This is the yeah. I mean, I know books are coming out, there will be books to read, but you know, it just feels like a drought of a lot of people I can normally rely on. So that's a bummer. Yeah, me too. Yeah. If you guys have any recks, like if you're listening to this and your favorite author is releasing a book this year and you're like passionate about it, by all means send us a DM because like we will probably read it. Yeah, we are like not that discriminating. Very malleable and easily influenced, and you wouldn't believe stuff we've done because people asked us. You wouldn't believe you wouldn't believe how little planning we do for these podcasts. Yeah, we don't have like a month-long content calendar, so please DM us. We'd love to talk about your stuff. Like you have to be amenable in this world. Um, and we are, we live for you. Yeah, we uh succession fans, we hear for you. We we we hear for we also we hear for you. We hear for you. Um okay. Speaking of books, we may or may

All The Young Dudes Publishing Rumors

Abigail 41:40

not want to read. This brings us to our next piece of book news. Emily, would you like to share that with the class? The book news is allegedly, allegedly, allegedly, maybe that famed um Wolf Star, canon compliant fan fiction, all the young dudes, may or may not, may, heavily may be getting published in a traditional book deal. Um and not by Taylor Swift. I saw something, I don't know, again, so someone posted in a Marauders Reddit. Again, this is not a reliable source, and they were like, we work at a small, like Scottish or I don't know, so one of those countries, um, publishing house, and we've it couldn't have been Scotland because it was uh some anyways, they were like, We've we picked up the translation rights for um all the young dudes. We wanna we're trying we're like a really small house. We just like we we have marauders fans on staff. Again, this could all be fake, but they were like, it did sound kind of legit, and they had the person's name as Louise McBean, which would be Miss King Bean89, I suppose. Um, and they were saying it would be a three-book series, uh, loosely following uh all the young dudes, but also that I think Sirius was supposed to be like a mate, maybe I guess that's the magic part. Like Bremus would be a werewolf and Sirius would be like a mage or something. I just don't that's just the same thing. That's the same thing, it's the same story. I don't and okay, so this if you don't know, this this is a fic. It is um something we've actually talked about multiple times on this podcast. It is canon compliant, which is one of the weird parts of this because typically the things that have been selected to be published have been fan fictions that have made it to publishing, are like completely alternate universe, not magical, not set in the canon world, which makes it a little bit easier to adapt. Um, so that's weird. This is like widely considered. This is, I think, the most popular fic on AO3 ever, or it's like top three at least. Yeah. So it is very, very popular. And the rumors are that it has been acquired for two million pounds or more. I can't fall. Why does that disappoint us? I think people I'd be like, oh, well, if you love, if you love all the young dudes, why would you be disappointed if it was traditionally published? I have so many reasons why we would be disappointed. Number one. Number one is a concerning trend lately of because like fanfiction has always been published. You know, everyone knows Fifty Shades of Grey was Twilight fanfiction. You know, it goes back farther than that. Fan fiction exists in the publishing world. Concerningly lately, publishers have been using the source material to promote the published fanfiction, which has never been the case before. And that's I don't like for a lot of reasons. Um, number one, it makes like all fanfiction feel gross because not all fanfiction, but it makes you feel gross because it's like, why are we using it? It's in such a legal gray area, and it's like that feels creepy. So stop doing that. Also, J.K. Rowling sucks. And I am on the side of people who think you can engage in fandom and read fan fiction, and it's not promoting JK Rowling, or it's not doing anything worse, it's not making things worse. I that's always in my stance. And when stuff like this happens, it makes it really hard to keep saying that because you're now using Harry Potter to sell your books. And I have already seen, like, after Manicold came out, I saw so many book influencers, like, I'm gonna read Harry Potter for the first time. And it's like, that sucks. Stop. They've got these new audible audiobooks and this whole thing TV show and so yeah. Like, I don't like that. I am willing to hold space that maybe Miss King Bing won't won't do that, but I don't feel like that's the case. And also lastly, especially when it's so like directly. I mean, I think the one thing that could save this is that many mainstream Harry Potter fans, or just people who like know something about Harry Potter, do not know about like Wolf Star, sure, you know, yeah, or like or like even really like the pre like the marauders era stuff. Yeah, yeah. So like that would be one saving grace because it's not with like yeah, it's it's it's not Draco. Yeah, which is more anyways. My last problem is that I think fanfiction, I think I think like genuinely my take is that you should never publish your fanfiction. I don't care what fandom it is, I really don't care how much they pay you, I don't care um if you've completely erased the source material or you don't use it in your promo at all. That's my hot take. First of all, I think Allie Hazelwood, some of her worst stuff is like clearly fanfiction. I think she's a better writer. You know, like that's a big example. Um, Rachel Reed, Game Changers is a terrible book. Like, she's better when she's not writing fanfiction. So, you know, like I think it's just better to write something original if you're gonna be original. And I think fanfiction is it's harder for it to stand on its own without those characters in that world. That's number one. But also, like, if you're gonna put something out there for fans, I think it should stay there for free for fans. I think that's what I love about fandom. That's what I love about fanfiction, is that it exists outside of capitalism. And I don't like this. Not that I hate the author, because I guess like it's two million, like, I don't think I would say no if someone was offering me two million dollars. Like, I don't know how I could say no to that. But like, I'm mad at this whole world that's happening where publishers are like looking for fanfiction authors to publish in this way, and it feels lazy and it feels like it should be like the anomaly, right? Like that should it should be like the exception to the rule instead of having these like industry people like yes scavenging AO3 looking for new source material. Also, like we've been on this podcast before saying one of the uses and like benefits of uh like writing fan fiction or publishing on AO3 or something like that is to like practice writing, try out your work. I mean, you could still use it to publish an original story that you want to try out. I mean, people there's tons of original content and original characters all the time on AO3. Yes. So, you know, you could still use that to test out your own original stories.

SPEAKER_02 48:20

Yes.

Abigail 48:20

And see like how you could improve if you if you eventually wanted to get something published. It's more about like drawing heavily from the intellectual property, particularly of problematic people. Correct. And then when the book transitions to being traditionally published, it's so closely aligned. So I know so pass on this. Um, I hope it's not true, but it's feeling truer by the day, and it just bums me out because I don't know. I just hate the discourse too. Like, like I don't want to go through it. So, anyways, boo to you, Miss King V. But mostly boo to the publishing industry, which has stopped A, promoting authors and B finding new authors with no established uh, you know, like platform to publish. Like that has declined on both levels, and that is why we're here. Uh, so that's my problem with them. Mostly boo to them and to capitalism. The end. Boo. Boo, tomato. Boo to capitalism. Genuinely. Um, let's

Recent Reads And Next Episode Tease

Abigail 49:23

see. I have not updated my little spreadsheet, so I gotta go look on story graph. Um, so I reread, um, I reread this book. Um Project Hill Mary. I also read a very exciting book that we're going to be recapping on our next episode, which I can go ahead and tease that our next episode we are going to be recapping Devout by David Archoletta. Um, which I'm so geeked out about. I'm so excited. Um, and we'll be doing that with a very, very special surprise guest. So um I'm back. Not gonna spoil it yet, but very special surprise guest for Devout by David Archoletta. So I will save my thoughts about that for next episode. Um yesterday, I listened to an amazing audiobook called Homeschooled a Memoir by Stefan Merrill Block. This is not a mentally ill dad memoir, it is a mentally ill mom memoir. Even better. Even better. So um, okay, this is about a guy named Stefan who um was a child of the 90s, or he was born in well, no, he's a child of the 80s and 90s. Um and he uh when he was like in elementary school, late elementary school, homeschooling had recently become legal in Texas, and his mother uh decided that she wanted to pull him out of school and homeschool him. Okay. And it's a book about homeschooling. He was homeschooled for a few years and he ended up going back to public school in high school. So he the book is partially about his homeschooling experience and like kids who sometimes fall through the cracks of the system, and then like he had to go back to high school and like figure it out, you know, yeah, after a pretty big gap in his education. I mean, it's the what he describes is that his mom kept him up on his math lessons, but everything else was like self-guided. But really, the motivation for him being homeschooled is not so much about the homeschooling, but it's about his mom and her need to keep him as a baby, like as a child. It almost borders on like Munchausen by proxy. Sure. Like she takes pretty she goes to pretty extreme lengths to um to keep him small and um to continue the illusion that he is her baby. It is really good. Um it is emotional and uh reflective. There's some funny moments. Um there's a happy ending, you know, like Stefan Mirror Block ends up, he ends up okay, you know. So like that's the happy ending in his life. But um, it really was not very long, it's only like 277 pages. Um, it's yeah, I I have so many thoughts about homeschooling. Um, yeah. Our best friend was homeschooled. She's her mom did a fantastic job. I actually as I was listening to this book, I texted you guys and I was like, Yeah, Emma, you really got lucky with this homeschooling stuff. My husband was homeschooled. You were homeschooled. Um, he I was homeschooled for like a couple years at the end of I I I be and I basically schooled myself. I mean, that's the thing. Like, yeah, I you were old enough to take initiative, yeah, and yeah, had to do it. It was like a self-guided right, whatever. And I think I still probably miss a lot of stuff. But, anyways, um, it's a discussion about homeschooling and also mother-son relationships. She's like the ultimate boy mom. Sure. So gross. I can't wait. I didn't want to read this. Big big trigger warnings, though. Sure. Suicidal ideation, suicide, parental loss. You know, try carefully, read the trigger warnings, the content warnings for this book before you delve in. There's some very heavy subject matter as well.

unknown 53:45

Sure.

Abigail 53:45

Naturally. I can't wait to read this. Yes, that's what I've read. I love a good memoir that like I don't know. You like this one. Easy to read. And yeah. Yeah, you're like, easy, but like, you know, that reads like a story, not just like facts. Yes. Great. Okay. Well, I'll come back when I read it. All right, what you got? I have not finished a book in 10 days, but the last book I read. Anyways, I've been traveling. Honestly, I've been on a really I've hit a I've hit a slump. I'm five books behind. It's not good, yeah. I I'm probably lowering my goal, and it's already low. So, anyways, I did read though, um, It Had to Be Him by Adeb Karam. And it follows uh Ramin Yazdani, and he proposes to his boyfriend, and his boyfriend says no publicly, and essentially calls him boring, like in not so many words, but calls him boring, and he's like, boring, I'll show you boring, and he gets drunk and he books himself a spontaneous solo trip to Italy. And while he's there, Italy, yes, of course, he runs into yes, very similar vibes. He runs into his high school crush named Noah. They were like, you know, like when you're kind of friends with like a jock or something at school, and it's like you're not actually friends, but like they're nice to you. That's a vibe of what very but he had like the biggest crush. Yes. Um, and at the time, Ramin, he wasn't out, um, he wasn't like confident. He like struggles with like body dysmorphia and like um, you know, stuff like that. So he like still feels that like lingering, like, oh my god, I'm such a loser, and like Noah is so cool and hot, and I'm in love with him. And he's there with his ex-wife and his son, because his ex-wife is moving to Italy, and they've brought their son here to basically see like, does he want to move there or does he want to stay in America with his dad? I stakes Lord, very high stakes. So the whole family's there. Um, and it was a really nice love story. Like, they I don't know, it was kind of like I kind of like it's okay. I like a slow burn as much as the next girl, but I also kind of like it when they get together kind of early, and it's like then they have to figure it out because it's like they have these different lives, there's a kid involved, there's family, they're like doing all this stuff in Italy. Um, because his wife is from Italy, so she has like family there, and they're like getting to interact, and Ramin and the kid and Noah, it's just like so much fun dynamics, and um, there's no third act breakup, so I really like that. So if you don't like that, this might be a book for you. Did uh their their relationship had some like Dom sub vibes, not for everyone. But if you're into that, this might be for you. Um but it's for you, isn't it? Uh no, actually no. Uh no, but I think it's fun, like it's not, it's really not that aggressive. I just like it's nothing that if you don't like that, like it's not really my thing, but it didn't bother me. It was nice, like it was good to read. But um, I think if you do like that, you would like this even better. So it was fun, and yeah, I thought it was cute. And it's very like summer in Italy, like, but you also get some flashbacks when they were in high school, which I also like, so it was just kind of cute. I like good beach read, maybe. Yeah, good beach read. It was just fun, and yeah, I've read through it in one day, it's not very long, so um, yeah, I liked it. Okay. Thumbs up. Hopefully, next time we will have more books to recommend to people who I wanted to say it's not like a queer awake, like Noah is also bisexual and open about that from the beginning. Not in high school, so Ramin doesn't know that, but I just feel like there's a lot of things that you're not getting the tropes you normally get. Um not every story is a coming out story, or yeah, you know, it's like you know, it's one of it's like a queer joy book, not a queer trauma book. Yes. Cool. It was fun. So that's it. Got nothing else. I have several books that have recommended to me on my shelf right now from the library that I need to read before they're due back. So that includes Ladylike and the Sweet Spot, and I think it might be. Oh, read the sweet spot before Ladylike. Okay. So I think Sweet Spot will pull you in more. If you're trying to get out of a slump, that one will pull you in more. Um, okay, so if for our next episodes coming out in a little under two weeks,

Where To Find Us And Goodbye

Abigail 58:20

um, we will be recapping Devout by David Archella. So if you want to read along and be prepped for the conversation, do so accordingly. And you can also go to redirectpodcast.com to listen to our back catalog, send us a message, and shop our merch. Please do. That's all. We love merch. Okay. Love you guys. Bye. Bye.