I, Medusa

This week on the show, we're traveling back to ancient Greece to unpack Ayana Gray’s adult debut, I, Medusa. Forget everything you think you know about the ultimate mythological "monster." We’re getting to know Meddy—a mortal girl just trying to live her life, see the world, and make it through priestess training before the Olympian gods decide to be absolutely careless.

When her locs are transformed into snakes as punishment for a crime she didn't commit, Meddy goes from victim to vigilante. We are breaking down every bit of the heartbreak, the plot twists, and the righteous feminine rage.

Grab your drinks, find your favorite seat, and get ready for us to read the Olympians for absolute filth.

In this episode, we’re unpacking:

• The Hair: Let’s talk about the gorgeous and powerful reimagining of Medusa’s locs as a symbol of identity, culture, and power.
• Olympian Petty Drama: Why are these gods so messy? We are dragging Poseidon and side-eyeing Athena for being the ultimate complicit bystander.
• Reclaiming the Narrative: How this book holds up a mirror to our modern world and shows what happens when women refuse to be footnotes in someone else's story.

Whether you’ve read the book or you just want to hear us scream about Greek mythology, pour yourself a glass and join the circle!

Content & Spoiler Warning: We are going all the way in on plot points! Also, please note that both the book and this episode contain discussions surrounding heavy themes of sexual assault, victim-blaming, and violence.

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_03 0:01

Hey, hey, hey, book lovers. Welcome to Plot on the Rock, the podcast where representation is crucial and it's always for the plot.

SPEAKER_00 0:17

We got some hot takes, some spoilers, don't worry, we'll always warn you, and deep combos on culture, identity, and everything in between.

SPEAKER_03 0:26

Each week we dive deep into a new book, share our unfiltered thoughts, and celebrate the writers who are reshaping the literary world one story at a time.

SPEAKER_00 0:41

Grab your favorite drink, curl up with us, and let's talk books. The ones that move us, excite us, and keep us flipping pages way past our bedtime.

SPEAKER_03 0:50

So lower your expectations and let's get into the plot.

SPEAKER_02 0:59

Welcome back! The Fot on the Rocks season two, episode two.

SPEAKER_00 1:06

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:07

Today we're gonna be talking about I Medusa. I actually have the the book. If you're watching this on like YouTube or whatever, which we will be posting YouTube videos eventually. Just yeah. Anyway, I Medusa by Ayana Gray. It is a retelling of the story of Medusa. But before we get into the story, before I hit record, I was talking about heated rivalry with Ricky and Tia who have never seen it. No. Or heard of it.

unknown 1:40

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:41

Anyway, so I know we don't be talking about white books in here because I never read the book. I just saw the TV show. And it's basically a hockey show. It's a sports show. Okay. And it's about two opposing hockey players. And they like each other. They're gay for each other. Did you say Ilya what for each other? They're gay. No, we shouldn't say they're gay for each other. I love that. Well, Ilya's by. I think Ilya's bi or whatever. But anyway, what I was saying is like with Jeremy, like, he always walks downstairs with like the worst parts of P Valley. That was Heather Robert was one show that I could not watch with him being home because literally, ass. Immediately, hunching, immediately every five seconds. It's like, it's like, hey, I miss you. And then it's like all of the stuff, but there's a plot to it. But anyway, it'd be like that. You should I enjoyed it. Gotcha. Gotcha.

SPEAKER_03 2:40

I heard it was the I didn't know it was a book. I didn't either. Me either.

SPEAKER_02 2:44

Me either. I didn't either.

SPEAKER_03 2:46

So I I heard yeah. I remember you telling me about the show, but I didn't know it was a book that was which is I'll probably never read any of them. Yeah, no. I'll never read any of them.

SPEAKER_02 2:58

I don't and it was normally like I don't I don't really read sports romances anyway. Like I tried. And it was like something with like Yeah, it was like an MMA one, and I tried to do it. I was like, this is stupid.

SPEAKER_03 3:15

The closest thing I've ever read was sports romance, I think, is that Talia Hippert book where she was dating the rugby guy, but it wasn't really sports romance. It was more like this nigga plays sports.

SPEAKER_02 3:30

I like it. Okay, yeah, yeah. Basically, which one was that? That was the Danny Brown one. I don't think that was. Yeah, that one. Alright. The one, the one book where she actually has like a POC male character in it, but anyway, that's it on Taliban. Wow. Yeah. This episode's not about her. Because we can we can have a whole 30 minutes on.

SPEAKER_03 4:05

I just got thoughts about it. That's all. I like the books. I just got thoughts. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 4:09

Mm-hmm.

unknown 4:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 4:11

Oh, yeah. We are we have we have wine. I have wine today, guys. It's a little red wine. This is um duplin. It's like the Hatter's Red from like it's named after the ones back home. I like it. Oh and it's like a higher percent. I think this one's like 12, 13, 14, something like that. Get you right. Oh damn. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:32

Okay. Ronaldo's Roll Noise.

SPEAKER_03 4:35

What do you?

SPEAKER_02 4:35

What do you got for all? What do you have?

SPEAKER_03 4:37

I'm drinking sangria. It was five dollars.

SPEAKER_02 4:41

We love that. That's the good sangria. So good. So good. So good. I just have my little my Nello Supercon once again. And lurks because I'm just too lazy to get anything. I have wine downstairs. I do, but it hasn't been refrigerated, and I don't know if it needs to be.

SPEAKER_01 4:59

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_03 5:00

So I'm paranoid. Well, I have some wine is fine if it's not refrigerated. Sometimes I drink it at room temperature, but like it's certain ones that I really need. Yeah. Like I put this one in the refrigerator.

SPEAKER_00 5:15

Or I wash it down. This fancy lady, even if her wine is room temperature, she puts the wine glass in the refrigerator so that is cold and it kind of chills the wine without ice. I was like, ooh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 5:28

Yeah, because is it isn't like frowned upon to like have ice in your wine?

SPEAKER_01 5:32

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:39

This is where I realized I need to put it in the refrigerator because I drank it room temperature and I was like, and I'll put some ice cubes.

SPEAKER_01 5:47

We need it cotton. I'll have alcohol next time. I'll have alcohol next time. I promise. I promise.

SPEAKER_03 5:52

No, we do not shame non-alcoholic than you can have your calm or if you're juice.

SPEAKER_02 6:01

Or a little water too well. Y'all know I'm more of a other thing.

SPEAKER_04 6:11

I love that.

unknown 6:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:14

Yeah, it's just I like it. But um, yes, today we're talking about I'm a deucer written by Ayana Gray. I have like my notes on her with my notes on her being her Wikipedia page pulled up on my phone.

SPEAKER_03 6:28

Wait, before you start that, let me do our business, y'all. If you are listening to us for the first time, first of all, welcome. Hello. Follow us on our socials. We are on TikTok, we are on Instagram, we are on Facebook, and we are on YouTube. Let's look for Plot on the Rocks book podcast. And you should see us little black hands with some glasses in hand. That's us. And the background is pink. Yes, yeah. That's true. Follow us, like and subscribe, share with your friends, you know. We are friends. That would be great.

SPEAKER_02 7:07

Okay, we're friendly. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 7:09

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 7:10

We're friendly. But hold on. We're gonna cut this part out. Young adult fiction. She had her debut novel come out in 2021 called Beast of Prey. And it's actually, I think yes, I think it's actually signed to be a feature film on Netflix. Nice. So that got picked up because I think it's a trilogy. Um, and it's a story that's like Pan-African inspired, and it follows two teens and Kofi and Nakan, um, as they venture onto a magical jungle to find and hunt down an ancient monster. So that seems pretty interesting. Yeah, and I Medusa is the villain. I hate calling Medusa a villain because I never thought she was a villain, she was a victim of circumstance, but it's her first young adult, not young adult, it's her first adult novel. So boom. That's gonna lead me to my first question. But before that, how many clinks? How many clinks do we give Amedusa? Out of five. Out of five, you're scaring me. I give it three.

SPEAKER_00 8:22

Okay. Okay. I give it three point five.

SPEAKER_02 8:31

I was gonna do the same. I'll give it. We need to get better glasses. This is mine's always this is massive. Why is this me doing that? Oh no. Hear that? Okay, one, two, three, five. Three point five.

SPEAKER_01 8:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:45

That's I think I can't. So that leads me to my first question, which I actually didn't write down. It's just because I couldn't, I didn't know how to word it, like in our in my notes. But being that this is her first adult novel, yeah. You know what? There's a nice way of questioning this. Could you tell? Could you tell this was her first adult novel? Yeah. Oh yeah. I definitely could.

SPEAKER_03 9:12

We didn't really like an adult.

SPEAKER_00 9:15

It read very childlike, not the overall vocabulary, but just the cadence and the flow of it. And I was like, okay. Like, I didn't dislike it. I it just didn't capture me as a whole. I was like, I was just like, okay.

SPEAKER_04 9:33

That's how I thought.

unknown 9:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:34

Yeah. I think I was I was thrown off by it because I think hearing that it's an origin story about Medusa and then it being an adult novel, I guess I had an idea in my head of what it was gonna be. So I was really shocked, but she's like 17, right? In it? Yes, the whole time. Oh yeah, I was not expecting that, like, at all. And I was reading that like she made it an adult novel, like given the the heavier themes of it.

SPEAKER_03 10:10

But I mean, categorized as an adult novel because of that.

SPEAKER_02 10:14

That's what's because she wants it like that, so it's not still not young adult, but like because I don't know, but I feel like there's so many teen books. Like, what's that what's that book that was like that people were freaking out over? 13 Reasons Why.

SPEAKER_03 10:27

Yeah. Honestly, it put me in the mind of like speak. Y'all remember that book?

SPEAKER_00 10:32

That was like, isn't it like gray and speak is in like red or something like that? Is that what I'm thinking about? Yeah, okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:42

Oh my gosh, that was such a great book. Like, I love that book, and I read that in middle school, and that had these same things. Um it put me in the mind of that type of, and I wasn't necessarily I think I think I went into it with a preconceived notion of kind of like the tone that it would take me. Maybe because I'm used to reading when I read mythologically inspired books for them to be more darker. Yeah. I mean, it was dark as in the theme was dark, but the book itself was very yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:21

YA. Yeah, it w it was in the the lower end of YA, not the the higher end, like almost kind of like eighth grade, ninth grade, tenth grade is what I got. What me personally, not like I said, not in a bad way. It's just like certain books, you know, you just don't really take to. And I this is a part of talking about books and reviewing books that kind of makes me sad because it's like, oh, I don't we don't I don't I didn't not like it, it just you know, it's just kind of yeah, yeah so yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:51

And I agree, it wasn't a bad book. Um, I think it was just definitely geared toward a younger, yeah. Um and then it wasn't bad, it just didn't like it was like as an adult, it um annoyed me at certain points, but then I had to keep remembering, oh, he's 17, she's a baby.

SPEAKER_00 12:10

Yeah, yeah, it's and I think sheltered 17.

SPEAKER_02 12:14

Yes, sheltered, yes, and I think like because the only other book that I've read where the author did Young Adult and then did adult was it's a book series that you like, Rikia. That I never actually never finished it. The love the neighbor favor, Christina Forrest, and that's that that yeah, that trilogy. Like I she I think she did Young Adult and then she did adult. And even though I read the neighbor favor, that still was kind of like why not YA, but it was obviously it's an adult, there's a sex scene in it. But the way it was written was still very like, oh, okay, you you're not used to writing. It was like bubbly, it was a bubbly book. Yes, yeah. So maybe like if she writes more adult stuff, you'll get yeah. Yeah, I don't want to say better at it. I mean, it's a different voice, it's a different voice of it. And um, but yeah, so that at least the second question. Um, because Medusa is so even that too, like her being called Medi the whole time, that was very young. I did not like that, I did not like that because like Medusa means like protectress, like it's a strong name, and I feel like she didn't like have she yeah, yeah, yeah, but anyway, um in what ways does the novel mirror, I guess, like traditional coming of age tropes? Um, and how I hate this question, I hate this question. How does Medusa's transformation, both physical and internal, shape her journey into adulthood? Which is hard because she didn't really like she didn't get to the calling adult.

SPEAKER_04 14:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:08

I think one thing we got to see her lose lose her naivete in the worst ways, unfortunately. First, she realized the world was not safe and her friend saw the consequences first. You know, her lover, but like for Apollonia, she got the consequences of Moby Medusa being naive first. Girl, when she left oh that that part, when she left Ooh, I was like, I was so by the way, just a another reminder. We do the spoilers right now.

SPEAKER_02 14:49

Like when she left Apollonia, like I I was I wanted to put the book down.

SPEAKER_00 14:56

Yeah, yeah. That's girl code 101. 101. If we come together, we are leaving together. If and then first of all, y'all drinking wine for some men that y'all don't know. That's number one. Number two, you have to go to the bathroom. Cool. Everybody go to the bathroom. When you start drinking, you gotta go, you gotta go potty, okay? Yeah, that's cool. They should have gone together. And even when all of that happened and Poseidon saved her or whatever, okay, he saved you. My thought, we're gonna go save my friend.

SPEAKER_03 15:33

Yeah, yeah. Yes, so new to her. Like, not only do you leave her and tell her not to come and choose the bathroom, but now you're gonna leave her there with these two strengths. Listen, drunk or anything. I don't listen, I have unfriended people for less.

SPEAKER_02 15:46

Like, you don't do that, you're not like I think I'm wondering if it was like because she's so the whole different world that she comes from, like coming from like a god and goddess like world. There's so many things like you don't think about, or at least or at least like her, like she doesn't because like we said she was sheltered, but like her parents very much shelter her of what these Olympians like could do. Like her mom was fucked up for the lack of better words because of what they did, and it's like she that broke my broke my heart too. But like when she left Apollonia, I was like, and I think that I think that was when it started chipping away. No, no, I guess when she killed her her sister's yeah, yeah, like murder, yeah. But she okay, sorry, but I think that I think that whole part with Apollonians seeing Athena also not being a girl's girl, that's another question. Yes, yeah, yes, anyway And maybe maybe that's what the book should be a coming of age story.

SPEAKER_00 16:55

But I feel like she versus she stopped midway because I feel like I guess I feel like everything she did was more childlike. Like you noticed that your sist this man had abused your sister, and now you're gonna turn around and put yourself in a position to be alone with him to try to bribe him, knowing that he's of higher status than you are. So, what are you really giving him? And then you accidentally kill him, and then you go off to do, I guess, better things, but you're still stuck in this. And again, it's not her fault because I feel like her parents did that to her purposefully, and I feel like that's a common theme with some of the books that we read a lot. The parents not being honest causes issues.

SPEAKER_02 17:38

Mm-hmm. Why y'all ain't tell her what was going on? Exactly. And she left her the stupid jewelry, so she again she's like not thinking. And I wonder if they they probably protected her more because for whatever reason she was mortal, and then like her sisters weren't. And that was weird too, because how does that happen? I looked it up to see like if it was like explained, but you know, it's just mythology.

SPEAKER_00 18:05

Okay, yeah, explained again. That's what it was. I thought a mother was cheating or something, like that ain't her daddy or something. That's what I was thinking. That that's gonna think about that.

SPEAKER_03 18:16

Like, we're gonna find out her her dad was yeah, because I was like, uh, never heard many other mythological stories of somebody being mortal unless they had mortal.

SPEAKER_02 18:26

Oh my god, I didn't think about that. I didn't think about that. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_03 18:30

She hated her husband. Right. I know that's just he was a piece of word.

SPEAKER_02 18:36

Ugh. Ugh. Um what hold on, what's the other? I didn't write this question down. I'm so bad. I had like all these questions, and I'm thinking about more. Now, this the interesting thing about if you have right I might do so. What it is, is they are, you can tell they are depend and that's a hard thing too, because we can't reading it, we can't think of race then of what we did now. Yeah. But in for today's terms, they are black. And what did you guys think of the connection of I know we're jumping way to the end, but we everybody knows the story of Medusa. Her hair turns into snakes, stuff like that. But her hair, that pride of having is like long, beautiful locks, and then now being turned into something that was used against her, essentially.

SPEAKER_00 19:33

It irritated me a little bit just because locks for us are like you said, it's it's strength, and it's a lot of times for people, like when they cut them off, it's like a freeing experience, but they've grown them for a reason and things like that, and they have a negative connotation outside of like the black community, and then for what's supposed to be shown as like pretty and nice and all these good things for you to turn it into something bad, like okay. And then even in the the first part where the girl was like pulling on her locks and stuff, like at first you thought it was cool, but then I wasn't allowing you to touch my hair.

SPEAKER_03 20:13

Now they smell, and I'm a foreigner, like okay, yeah, yeah, and like it it was it was interesting how um we can see that race as a construct as far as like color was not necessarily the thing, it was foreign, we're not coming here. This is why we're gonna discriminate against it. Um it's still like that in some places, you know, where it's more so like who you are versus your color, quote unquote. But I don't know, it it still colored my experience of it because that's what we that's what we know, you know what I'm saying? Black and having a certain pride in your in your culture due to being black. So her rocks turning into snakes was just really heartbreaking for me. And then, you know, this is my first time actually, like I knew about Medusa, I knew the general story, but I didn't know about her sisters, I didn't know about her parents, I didn't know there were sisters that also had rocks that turned into snakes. I had no idea. Um, and that whole circumstance was just really sad to me. Um you know, I knew about Athena. I knew about Athena and her attitude because I went to UNCP whose patron goddess is Athena.

SPEAKER_00 21:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 21:43

So I learned about her.

SPEAKER_00 21:44

Really?

SPEAKER_03 21:46

Yeah. There's a huge statue of her on campus. Um and I so I kind of knew about that, but it was just like it was so disgusting to see it played out. She's not a good guy. At all. Like this two women get taken advantage of under your care, and instead of protecting them, we're gonna punish them. And that's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 22:14

I'm gonna do both. Because with the and I don't think a lot of people know this or realize this. Because we can go into a I can go into a whole being somebody who is black American and Greek American, I can go into a whole entire tangent about how whitewashed Western Western society has made Greek history. Even that. Because I don't think a lot of people realize that mythologically wise, the Gorgons were placed in Libya. In Africa. Because Greece sits in a really interesting part of the world where it's like you have Europe here, and then you have Asia, you have not Asia, but like the Middle East, and then you have Africa. And there's tons of ancient Greek art where Africans are depicted in it. So it's like a part of our history, but like that gets taken away. Like I think it was Herodotus who wrote about Princess Andromeda and her parents of um Cassiopeia. I forgot her dad's name. They're Ethiopian. They're from Ethiopia. So, but like there's a Roman painter who depicted her as white. Even though I think I think the ancient word for let me look this up because I'm gonna I don't want to miss mistranslate um the the word. She was Ethiopia. Yeah, Ethiopia first appears in geographical term in classical documents um in reference to the skin color of the inhabitants of the upper nile in Sudan across the Sahara. Its earliest mentions were in the works of Homer, twice in the Iliad, and three times in the Odyssey. The Greek historian Herodotus uses the appellation to refer to regions south of Egypt when describing Ethiopians, most commonly Nubia. So And then you have Western civilization. Because you know how Western civilization, even like when they take Egypt, you don't people don't think about black people in Egypt, but like think of it, it's like one of the only black or African countries that is spoken about in a very high level. But that's been whitewashed too.

SPEAKER_03 24:29

It's on purpose, and you know, I I was really into archaeology for most of my life to the point where I wanted to go to school to be an archaeologist. I ended up not doing that for several reasons.

SPEAKER_00 24:39

Adding that into idea knowledge. Can you imagine her like in the little desert archaeology shorts and stuff were a little thing?

SPEAKER_03 24:50

Yeah, yeah, I specifically wanted to be a biblical archaeologist. That's okay. Um yeah, but one thing I realized just in my own little independent at-home studying is that Western historians and archaeologists do this really annoying thing where anytime you see a black person in art or in historical context, they're going to automatically connect it to the slave trade. No matter what, doesn't matter what time, doesn't matter what century. Oh, this was a slave of so-and-so.

SPEAKER_00 25:30

Like the way you have to attach it, that's it, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:35

It's it's very annoying, and it goes back to your point, like Africa's mentioned in hundreds, thousands of documentary stories, mythologies. But we don't get to learn that, like that is that's still part of us, like that's not fair.

SPEAKER_02 25:55

It really isn't. There's a quote I forgot who quoted it, but there was a quote where it's like when you start when you start someone's history at slavery, everything that comes after that seems like progress. Yes, because if we don't know anything past that, and there's this really good um Greek TikToker, her name is Kelly Sari. Kelly Sari, S-A-R-R-I, and she has really good videos about the relations between Africa and Greece because like she started making videos where people were really upset that supposedly Lupita Nyongo is playing Helen of Troy in the new Odyssey movie.

SPEAKER_00 26:38

Yeah, I'm ready for that.

SPEAKER_02 26:39

So excited for that. And what's crazy is she's like I know. And it's like and it's it's like she's like, there people are so up in arms, but what's crazy to me is that like nine times out of ten, it's not Greek people who are complaining about it. But nobody says anything about the rest of the cast who isn't even Greek, like at all. We have an Irish American man playing Odysseus, which I don't I don't know if Greek, ancient Greece and ancient Ireland had I don't think so because they're way too far away from each other. Yeah, but nobody says anything about that because Greece is very diverse, they don't look like that, okay? She's just known as a really beautiful Hunel Troy's known as a really beautiful woman. A woman who was born out of an egg. Who was born out of an egg because Zeus turned himself into a swan because he was he saw this you're mad at me by a black woman? Get out of my face. Please, please. And even it even like when we went to Greece, like there is this. I told you about it, Tia, there's this place in Rhodes called the Petaludes, which is like a butterfly trail, and the top is this old church, and inside the church we have like paintings of like saints and stuff and different like important people. That was the first time my dad has ever seen like an ancient, not ancient, but like an older picture of a black person depicted. Wow. And like we have a black saint too, but like nobody it gets whitewashed. This one on the whole entire tangent because I could talk about this like it's elegant all day. It is who's our who's a black there's a town in there's a town in Greece where the population is predominantly black because our ancestors came from Sudan with the yes, yes, we're everywhere.

SPEAKER_03 28:37

The south side of our land is black.

SPEAKER_02 28:44

Oh my god. And that's and that's what frustrates me the most when it's like when Greek Americans are like conservative or they have these racist ideas because like we have something called a hippo, which is like our like I think it's like an American Hellenic like association, which was created because we were getting lynched too when we came over here. They just love I could talk about it all day. See, listen, my great listen, my great dad in the world.

SPEAKER_03 29:16

It is an endless list of ways Western society has history.

SPEAKER_02 29:21

Listen, I'm all I say is I'm very happy that my Greek lineage was on the right side of history because my great grandfather was a unionizer. And not only that, Martin Luther King's brother came to his retirement party. So Okay, pop pop. And then his daddy came to America and he didn't like America, so he looked back. So it's just like he was like, you know what? You know how bad you know how bad it had to have been for him to leave his wartime country and be like, oh.

SPEAKER_00 29:52

I'm gonna head out. We're just gonna head out.

SPEAKER_02 29:54

Go back. Yeah. That one on the tangent. That one on the tangent, nothing to do with the book, but anyway, it does have something to do with the book.

SPEAKER_00 30:00

Yeah, it's it's it's connecting.

SPEAKER_02 30:03

Greek history is whitewashed, okay? People just that's what it is. That's what it is. Hold on, my dog is chewing on a bone. That's not her bone, it's her brother's bone.

SPEAKER_00 30:12

This is 12. We can just do 3315. Let me see.

SPEAKER_02 30:16

Thank you. Go over there. She has her own toy in here. But she's just being antsy. Can't come up here on the bell.

unknown 30:26

Uh up.

SPEAKER_03 30:28

At least I think I got that same thing.

SPEAKER_02 30:30

But that green one? I found that on Amazon. Take the toy. Take it. Do you see her? Do you guys see her? She's like turning her head from me. Take it anyway. What 30 33? 3348. Um, that's why I love these conversations because like I specifically don't take my ADHD medication for this. Because you can't just go over the place. Oh my god, but that leads me to the next one. We talked about Medusa not being a girl's girl. If you are, I what I did like about the end, because I won't talk about Perseus just yet, what I did like about the end of it, though, is that she didn't include Perseus' name. Because he's the one that did kill Medusa, and I feel like he's usually always named in it. But if you're familiar with original Greek myths, but no Tia, you said you did with Athena, how did the novels how did the novel shifts in perspective change your views of well-known figures like Poseidon and Athena? Which I know Tia, you said you already knew about her.

SPEAKER_03 31:39

I will say this though. I have always thought very lonely of the Greek gods. I have always thought they were fucking terrible, okay? They are terrible, terrible people. They were the worst.

SPEAKER_02 31:55

And this just kind of confirmed that she knew and it's even like it's not even just Athena that like perpetuates patriarchal standards because I think Hera, Zeus' wife, Hera was the worst. She would turn, like, first of all, your husband's a whore, your husband brother, because they were siblings. Right. Your husband brother's a whore. He was out here frolicking, getting everybody pregnant.

SPEAKER_03 32:23

Including animals.

SPEAKER_02 32:24

Nasty little thing. So the women that yes, so the women that like she found out about, she would turn into bees. So she would punish them, but still let Zeus do like It's always the woman. Always the woman. Do what he wanted to do.

SPEAKER_00 32:40

Always.

SPEAKER_01 32:41

What'd you think about it?

SPEAKER_00 32:43

I didn't okay. Athena, I kind of knew a little bit about her because I feel like she's one of the more popular gods that people talk about. And then as far as Poseidon, I feel like this kind of humanized him just a little bit more. Just because like he was just in and out of um like the parties and stuff like that. And then even though it was he was like plotting on her, him actually doing those things for her, even though they were weren't done with the right intention. He still like saved her and brought her her necklace and like listened to her. So he kind of humanized him a little bit. But he's still trash, all of them. Like y'all said, those parts tricked me too.

SPEAKER_02 33:22

Yeah, yes, those parts tricked me. Because I even though I knew what he was gonna do, like in I was like, oh, like he's being really nice, yeah. He's being really nice. He can't do something like that. Oh my god. Was that the oh my god, yeah, connections.

SPEAKER_03 33:41

Not gonna lie, that that one part, that section of the book had me very upset. Um there was one one uh quote I would like to point out. This is after it's been revealed that you know they had relations against Athena's will, by the way. Um where is my my clip? Hold on guys, I'm we're gonna skip cut this because now I can't find my freaking clip. Thank you. Alright. Okay, this is the part. When after everybody found out what happened, and she's been he's been punished, and the sisters have been punished for all this, and Medusa's blaming herself for not listening to her friend or not realizing that he tricked her. Her sister said it wasn't random. He orchestrated every encounter. He knew exactly what strings to pull, what words to say, because he is old and you are young, and because he knew he could take advantage of you, that is not your fault. I cried a little bit. Yeah, yeah. I cried a little bit because as somebody who did experience essay as a teenager as well, your automatic thought is girl, you're stupid. And not gonna lie, even as I'm reading the book, I was like, girl, you're stupid, which is not fair. Maddie was a baby. He was like, oh that man was thousands of years old. Like, that is disgusting. And he took advantage of the fact that she came from a broken home, didn't know love besides her sisters, didn't even know what sex was till last week.

SPEAKER_00 35:56

And then the another trick too, he started off being somebody her age. Oh my god, yeah, he started off as somebody her age.

SPEAKER_02 36:08

That's so that's disgusting, and like one thing that made me because obviously the men ain't shit in this book, but to outs outside of her could her sisters have done a better job at preparing her for certain things, yes. But outside of her sisters, I feel like the women in the book too, as much as they were they were victims too, all of them were. That's not so much Athena, she was just a bitch, anyway. But like even like um Poseidon's wife, like at the party, she was like, Oh, she's looking at me, she doesn't like me. But it's almost like looking back at it, like she was probably like, Okay, I know what's gonna happen. I know what's gonna happen to you next. But it's like say something, yeah, say something to her if you know what's gonna happen. Yeah, but it's just like it's just how it's just how men are, it's just how it is.

SPEAKER_03 37:02

So and then when you find out what he did to her, it's like, girl, you already he did it to you too. Why would you not step in? Like, if you feel like you can't leave your husband, that's one thing. I hate that for you, but this girl was not related, and she's a baby. Tell her to stay away from him, but the very least, Metty would have been scared and would have never interacted and taken it as far as she did.

SPEAKER_00 37:30

Wholeheartedly agree. It's like he came in and picked it because I you know I know we've been watching Bridget and it's like he picked his diamond of the season, and it was her, and he did everything in his power to get to her.

SPEAKER_03 37:45

Sick. The most vulnerable in the world, I think.

SPEAKER_02 37:48

Yes, because think about you have um her older sisters, Stan and Brielli, who are just like again, older, they know more, they've they're immortal, so they could be hundreds of years old, right? Too. So I'm not really gonna mess with them. So let me get her.

SPEAKER_00 38:09

I got a question now because again, another connection. Why weren't they already married? If they're immortal and thousands and thousands of years old, why are they still in the category as her at 17?

SPEAKER_02 38:24

I think like I don't even know how immortality works. Like maybe they just age really, really slowly. Because I assume they were in their 20s. Maybe they weren't thousands of years old, maybe it's because they were immortal. Stanel, that's my girl. I love her down. She's like, I don't I'm wanna get married, I don't need a man bane shit. Leave me alone. Listen, loved her. Then she wanted her killings free. Oh my god, a girl after my own heart. Like, I just I love her. I love her. She's like, they're all terrible, I don't care about them. Let's just murk them. Like, everybody gotta go. Basically, and that that irritated me too about Medi. She was like, I don't know if I could do this anymore. Girl, shut up. Just I get it though.

SPEAKER_03 39:19

Listen, Medi, very justice focused. Everything, everybody she caught a purpose. That's true. Random bodies. Everybody she killed from the beginning, but it was for a reason they did something wrong. She was not some, she was not, she was a Eileen Warno.

SPEAKER_02 39:42

So no one was just like, Oh, you got a penis? Okay, yeah, you gotta picture.

SPEAKER_00 39:47

I don't know, y'all. I might play devil's advocate a little bit with all of her killings and stuff that she did. A lot of it wasn't done to her. I feel like she kind of maybe had like what is that impasse and those type of feelings towards other people because she saw the hurt with her sister, she handled that even with the little girl in the market taking the food. Like, you hauled off and make some little boy instead of just, I mean, she could have gone over there and be like, hey, most of the time if you're young, yeah, you could have just been like, Hey, give it back. She did that, and then what's her I don't know how to say her name, but Callie. I'm gonna call her Callie. Everything happened to her, she deserved. She needed it, she needed a beat down. She she needed all of hers because she was doing the most.

SPEAKER_03 40:33

I don't like people like that where you like why would you go and test? They didn't know at the beginning, right?

SPEAKER_00 40:43

That there's all I didn't think so.

SPEAKER_03 40:46

Yeah, I thought it was a they all had a chance to pass.

SPEAKER_00 40:50

Yeah, as long as you pass the test, you get to do it. Yeah. Yeah. She was busy.

SPEAKER_03 40:56

She was being sure.

SPEAKER_00 40:59

I wanted to see more happen to her. Yes. Yes. Uh little. The little bustled lip wasn't enough. And it's like people like that where you are given everything and you still feel the need to take from other people bother me. I don't like it.

SPEAKER_02 41:18

And she was jealous. She was just jealous completely.

SPEAKER_03 41:23

Jealous and entitled.

SPEAKER_02 41:25

And even like when and everything happened with Apollonia, and then because Callisto, she instigated it too. Yes. Cause she just made it seem like, oh, she had sex with these soldiers, and it's like you constantly have these people in power, these men in power, taking advantage of this. And granted, like, I don't know. And what's what's interesting to me too is at this time was Greece? I don't think Greece was united yet as a country. They were all separate city-states. So every place was different. So you have Athens that's more like that, but then you have like Sparta, where the women are warriors, they have more rights. If anything happens to their husbands in battle, they get everything, they can divorce. So you have these different depictions of women, whereas with Athens, it's kind of just like your standard patriarchal society, which sucks. And I hate I hate that I didn't like the women in there too, because like again, they're also victims of circumstance, but it's like, come on, you can you can see.

SPEAKER_03 42:37

I didn't like anybody in this damn book. The only person I liked in this book was uh Apple.

SPEAKER_00 42:44

Oh, and um what's her first name? I don't know about it. Did she turn into stone on accident?

SPEAKER_02 42:50

Oh the boy. Oh, the boy, Theo. Oh, I cried. Ah, I cried. I like Theo too.

SPEAKER_00 42:58

I like Theo.

SPEAKER_02 42:59

Theo had the best interest. Yes, and he did scared them. I wanted them to be the gun.

SPEAKER_00 43:04

And what really what really hurt my feelings, y'all, when they were she was with Poseidon sitting down, and he asked, Who is that boy to you? And she said, He's nothing. I said, Oh, you floosy. You floozy. Why did she say that? And in my head, I was like, Is he, you know how people be hot? I was like, Did he hear that? I thought he was just gonna come out or something like that. I know I didn't like it.

SPEAKER_02 43:29

I I think it's also very much true, like what's like as wrong as it is, you know what those girls that like they're in high school but they're dating like older men, and they think they're so cool, like, oh my god, this older man has my attention, like I he I have his attention. I think it's very much like that, like wow, like Poseidon, like one of the big three likes me. Like, ugh. Like I said, the only character I liked was Steno, because you know.

SPEAKER_03 44:02

Wait, what's what's the opposite of human woman hater? He she go man hater.

SPEAKER_02 44:08

Yeah. I like mine. She I like my man.

SPEAKER_00 44:14

That's it.

SPEAKER_02 44:14

And that's about that's about it. But like I love her. And so that what's up? What's the next question I have? I'm like all over the place with this. Oh, this one. This is a surprise question. Let me find the page. Okay. And this might be, it's gonna we're gonna go a little deep. We're gonna go a little deep.

SPEAKER_01 44:37

Oh lower.

SPEAKER_02 44:40

Um let me see. See if I can find it. We're gonna cut this part 4753.

SPEAKER_03 44:48

Um, we ain't gonna cut it because I was about to say something. Oh, say something. We said deep, it reminded me of the song by Janet Jackson. Go deep. Remember that song?

SPEAKER_00 44:55

Give me a little cadence. Give me a little cadence. Oh yes. Sing sing for us, sing for us. Okay, I think I I think I remember her songs were dirty.

SPEAKER_01 45:11

Bro, oh yes. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_03 45:17

And for no reason, just out of nowhere. I just love her music though. Anyways, I this this is a it's gonna make sense in a second. But, anyways, it reminded me of that song, and then it reminded me of her, and then it reminded me of the Michael Jackson movie, and then it reminded me that I saw this morning that she didn't like the Michael Jackson movie.

SPEAKER_00 45:35

The newest one or the she don't like it. I already all talked about it.

SPEAKER_03 45:42

Apparently, she don't like it. That's what I read now. That it's probably not official. I don't know. I hope I hope it's not true. You know, I hope it's not true because you know she was the closest with Michael. But that's what they say.

SPEAKER_02 45:57

Why can't well that makes me nervous?

SPEAKER_03 46:04

I know me too. I really want to see the movie.

SPEAKER_02 46:11

I'm like, I'm on the wrong page. I'm on the wrong damn page looking for this clothes. Like, I know her with this page 21. It's on page 21, and she says, and so when she's talking to her mom, like she's just they're going back and forth with stuff, but her mom's been kind of overbearing. And she says, I grieve the goddess she used to be, the goddess I've never known. Sometimes I pity the petty woman she has become now as daughters. Have you ever wondered what your mom was like prior to having you and what she would have become or been like if her circumstances were different or even if you never existed. I had this question unlocked for like two months.

SPEAKER_04 47:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 47:17

I'll go ahead and answer only because this is something I thought about. My mom was young. I think y'all know that already. We talk a lot about family stuff. And you know, depending on the book of the theme. I said the book of the theme, theme of the book. But anyways, my mom had me young. I was born when she was 15. So I think about that a lot. I'm like, wow, like, what would her life have been like if she decided not? And I'm grateful for her decision because I love life and everything. Kind of sucks some days, but most of the time it's straight. Um and I just think about like, wow, like she really had to become a mom when she got a whole baby. And my grandma didn't play, she was raising me. My mama raised me, like she it wasn't like some, you know, oh, I'm gonna leave my mom while you go. No, my mama raised her. You think about that a lot and like life changed you already, but like having children, that's a big difference.

SPEAKER_00 48:26

Yeah, gotcha. I think with my mom, we are very similar. Like she, you know how they be like, I ain't your little friend. Now, me and my mama is one of my she is one of my little friends. Like, I talk to her all the time about everything. Like, y'all know I was home this past weekend, so me and her were just like hanging out, girl time, all that, and it's like a lot of similarities. Like in school, my mom was a cheerleader. I cheered, like, I've seen like old pictures of her. Freaking was a freaking baddie. When I see some of her fits and like her glasses, it makes sense because you're fitting crazy. So I got it from like when we were going through those pictures of like our last frame reunion, and I was seeing her in like high school, and stuff like that. I'm like, okay, girl. So that part I feel like we're like and very, and she's very um, y'all know for the most part I'm really happy all the time. She's just like that. She don't like to argue, she don't like any of those things. So I feel like very similar. As far as what life would be like, I don't, I don't know if I've ever thought about that. Because we have an older sister, so if it was just like, let's just say my sister was like an only child, I don't even know if she would be in this area because my mom was married before to like my sister's dad. And yeah, I don't, I don't, oh I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 50:00

I know it's a ponder, it's a ponder.

SPEAKER_03 50:02

That's kind of awesome though, because what it tells me is your mom has always been her uncle. Yeah, yeah. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 50:13

It's like I want to be like you when I grow up. Frida, you my girl.

SPEAKER_02 50:24

I love her name is Frida. I've always loved that name. Um I think for me, there are things in my mom's life that I wish she never had to go through. I think it shaped her and who she is now. Because I grew up in a very matriarchal home. Like my my parents, not a one of my parents did like typical gender roles when it came to stuff, but like yeah, like there are just certain things where it's like she she was a musician, she sang, she had horses, she had her guitar, she auditioned for like Broadway stuff. And you hear a lot from women where it's like when you have kids, sometimes like that's gone. That's that stop. And she had me when she was older. Oh she was in her forties because my brother is we have a 13-year age age guy. Okay and I think I didn't even think about this question, I didn't even think about the end of my I thought I was gonna cry. I think I came into her life at a at a good moment for her. I think there were certain things that as a parent, sometimes you put your trauma that you went through like on your kid. You want to live vicariously through your kid. And there are certain things that I like I realize like, oh wow, this is why she did the X, Y, and Z. I'm not gonna like ask her, like, hey, do you realize that you did this to me because you were like this? Because that that's a whole psychology thing that like she might even realize. But I think about that a lot of times it's like as especially as like as daughters with with moms, like who were you? Like who were like being who were you before your own trauma, before anything else, because that shapes it. And I felt so bad for like I teared up at that part when Metty said it because like sh her mom tells her afterwards like what Athena did to her other kids. But it's again that thing of like parents keeping stuff from kids, like imagine the relationship you would have had with your daughters because like it even makes sense how she treats them because like yes, and you're short leash, I'm gonna also treat you like crap sex like so I don't have to get super close to you because the children that I was close with and I loved they were taken from me. Yep. And even like the scene where like when when her mom brings her back to the island, oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 53:27

I was like, oh because oh my god, the little creatures, I was like, wait, is something about to happen? And she was like, I realized they were bringing me back home.

SPEAKER_02 53:35

I was like, Yeah, okay, like that's like you're because you know where your mom was, but like she just she did what she could. That's the thing. I think a lot of the time, like as people who have good relationships with our moms, I think it's easier for us to be like you did what you could when you realize like you did you did what you could in the circumstances that you that's the key had.

SPEAKER_03 54:04

That's literally the key. Yeah, I think it all the time like with my mom because for us it was different. Like I we grew up very close in age. So we didn't, I mean, we say all the time we we grew up together. We did. I mean, I was 10, she was 25, very much still young, 15, 30, very much still young. Yeah you get what I'm saying? So we kind of we were both going through these major life changes at the same time, and I had to realize as an adult, like, and me and my mom have always been very close. We had our moments, yes, um, which is to be expected. There were there were some some disruption in our house sometimes. But one thing I can always say is that my mom was very honest with me from the beginning. Like, I had the sex talk, as soon as I could understand what it meant. I had the wife spaces, good touch, bad touch. I had the I had you when I was young. Don't make the mistakes I made. Conversations. You get what I'm saying? She was very open and honest with me with her experience, and that made it so that I was able to be honest with her about my school. And um, and and one thing I always say I'm so proud of her about is that she did not let my birth, my brother's birth, stop her. My mama was a straight student all the way through high school. Our athlete. A therapist now. Like, I mean, she did not let it stop her. And I've just felt so proud of her. And like, you know, I hate one thing that made me sad about the book is I'm like, wow. This is a goddess. This ain't even no human. Like being an alcoholic. Growing up in a house with an alcoholic, hard. A depressed alcoholic, terrible. Like she, I don't know. Like, I felt so bad for the whole circus. Everybody abuse alcoholism, like, you ain't have no out. And then you can't leave the island.

SPEAKER_00 56:26

This they were bad there, like never having to be in one place all the she like show, she was like, She hasn't even seen this many people before. I was like, what?

SPEAKER_02 56:39

Yeah. Which is crazy to me because if you look at mythology, like the the creatures that came before the Olympians, I think were more powerful. Like these were giants and Cyclops and all these things. Yes, and it's like all of a sudden these these kids, like these literal kids, are like bye, like like we're gonna fight you.

SPEAKER_00 57:10

Take my take my power and kick me out. That's the crazy part. Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_02 57:16

I said, Oh, wow, and what's crazy? Her dad kind of pissed me off too because he was still someone who was like clamoring for it, like pick me, pick me.

SPEAKER_00 57:24

That's what he was doing the whole time.

SPEAKER_02 57:27

Like, and like, oh, and even like how, and I think one thing that like fueled Medusa's anger specifically was like how she saw her dad treat her mom and her mom never fighting back, so which made her more sensitive to like women being hurt. Because I think one of the traits of the Gorgons is like going back to this, they had a hatred for men. They had a hatred for men. So it's like you kind of see it playing out as to like why even like the priest that she she killed at the end. I was like, good for you, good for you, girl. And then I'll see this is this is my fuck up. I probably shouldn't have thought this, but like when she sees like the two kids bring bring their body out and they see her, I probably I probably would turn them into stuff. Because I'm not I'm not leaving again.

SPEAKER_00 58:19

Come here, come back. Like, I done I thought I created a whole new life here. Me and my girl doing good. I gotta leave my girlfriend. I said, I can't tell her where I'm going.

SPEAKER_03 58:29

Like, I understood why she did it. On the other hand, like, bro, your girl said, Don't do it. She said, Don't do it, don't put it at risk. What maybe like and I like we could have did uh we could have did something else, we could have put something in his dream. Yeah, she could have.

SPEAKER_02 58:53

But I think what I think she was so sick of just like this actually ties into one of the questions I had of how like it emulates life now, but it's just men getting away with stuff over and over and over again, and nothing ever happening. Like, and it's just that's it's just and we see it in the news all the time of people of men and people just men doing these absolutely disgusting things, and then they get like two years probation a month or two in jail. Yeah, and it's like what's that guy, what's like an episode what's that guy's name? The one that like the swimmer, the blonde guy who like who essayed to go behind like a dumpster or whatever.

SPEAKER_03 59:44

Um block, whatever he has a he has a bright future.

SPEAKER_02 59:49

Okay, whatever, okay.

SPEAKER_03 59:55

And it's enough to make you turn into Nitty.

SPEAKER_02 59:58

Basically, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 59:59

And then so I mean what and then she said, This got me too all my life. I've wanted someone to see the good in me. Now Apollonia does, and I don't deserve it. After she did all that, I was like, these women, you you just get the short end of the stack in history, not even history and everything, all the stuff that's hard or and then what and it again. Um I might go a little left, but it always has to deal with our bodies. Your body is supposed to be a temple, and like she was saying with that little riddle, it men just constantly take and take and take and take all the time, whether it's the way you dress, or you shouldn't dress like that, or you should dress like that. Don't wear your hair like this, wear your hair like this. Keep your clothes on, take your clothes. Why you look at why you looking so mean? Like, I'm not here for you. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:05

I that I'm gonna go more left. There's a video that I had sent to you where it was a it was two women doing a podcast, and I'm paraphrasing. But it was basically saying how like and this is actually it is relevant because they're black women in this outside of like Apollonia and stuff like that, but it was saying how like why black women's bodies are scrutinized so much. You remember that video where it's like because we were the ones on the auction block, remember? Oh yeah, and I saw that I was just like, oh, oh, oh. And I'm like, yes, like our are all women's bodies like nitpicked, yes, but like it's just it's just different. Like our bodies are nitpicked, and then women who don't have our bodies go and mimic it, pay for it. Yeah, different. It's like, oh, and they look crazy, extreme to the city.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:07

Like we can't just be.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:29

Um I feel like you guys can answer this question better than me, because I don't have a sister. But what did that say? Like, did that speak to you like in a way, like of a bond of like sisterly love? Because it made me tear up. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:43

Somebody to feel that deeply about you outside of like your parents or like your person, most definitely. And the fact, because like she's like the baby, she's the one that's mortal, so they kind of handled her with kid gloves. So I feel like then for to handle her with kid gloves that whole time, and then for something to happen to her, that they have they they couldn't do anything about it. They couldn't do anything about it, and I I get it. I feel like sister bonds are a little like different because you know, females, you know, you girl stuff, girl stuff, but like and then, like you said, with sisters, I'll never forget. I shouldn't have did it. It was a prank. I had pranked call myself. Lily, if you listen to this, I'm so sorry. But I had pranked her at work, and I had called and you know you can like Google, it was like this is a call from Wake County's uh women's detention center, and I come can you can get like crying and coming and then I hear her at work, I gotta go, and then I hear her physically get it up and she's about to leave. I'm like, it's a prank, it's a prank, it's a prank. She hung up on me. She didn't talk to me. She did not talk to me for like three days. She's like, I really thought something happened to you. Like, I had to come get you. Like, I I heard her, was like, I didn't, she's in a meeting. I didn't know anything. She was like, I gotta go. But just like stuff like that, like she's gonna always be there, and just like likewise, so the I don't even want to think about that. Yeah, yeah. And she's like older too, so it's always like, you know, you learn makeup from her and how to do my hair, like her, and I want to dress, you know, stuff like that.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:31

Yeah. And see, I'm the older sister. I do have an older sister, but we don't have the same relationship me and my younger sister have. And I just I cannot imagine. Like, literally, I even now when something happens to her, I'm not gonna tell her business, but like whenever something happens, or if something were to happen, my body physically wants to go and immediately cut whoever. Oh no, we're about to fight. Like, what do you mean? That's my baby. What are you doing? Immediately, it's different, and like much as I love my brothers. Oh, I'm gonna fight for my sister on a whole different level. It's different, even though she gets on my nerves all the time. I get on my nerves all the time. We constantly, but no, we do that with each other. I about say anybody else, nah.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:30

What's that song? What's that song from Ufasa? Except change the words to say, so what do you say about my brother? Yes, because what? Oh, it's such a cute song. Oh my god. I think did I have was that the last question? I think so. Cause I mean all of these questions that I have were like answered, like as we just talked.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:56

This is what I love about the viewing books because.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:00

even if it's not our favorite it goes for our conversation it wasn't a bad book i didn't dislike it um i don't think it was my type of book i don't like y a books generally but i like the content of this book i still want you to read immortal dark though even though it's not a why it's not a y a book i still have that i promise you i promise you it's not a y a book because when i looked up because there's there's some stuff and i'm just like this they're getting pretty hot heavy in this and then i looked it up it's a new adult book because they're in college a new adult and it's like there's no section in the books or for new new adult is like 18 19 20 and like up okay but like i i've never listened I gobbled you know me I'm an enemies to lovers girl I do like that is like my favorite I love it so much I love it so much so like sissenyas I like that it sounds cool Ethiopian baddie something you're all vampire like yes sirunds interesting and I actually think I got it downloaded I just never read it it's I got several books on my computer I told y'all before I could do one book at a time because every time I try to go one it's I wasn't ready for that literally like is it unlimited or is it not that's what I'm saying they try to get return to the unlimited store like well what do I pay for exactly what do I pay for but I'm trying to do this thing unless unless it's for the show I'm not getting any new books I want to try and read what I have try is the keyword I try to but okay I got stuck on Granger books again I think I told you I've been reading for her how many books does she have I feel like we got a good 30 oh yeah I don't feel like she had that many something like that but y'all they she is a great writer I got I know she's very this ain't about her but I'm gonna just say it anyway she does like she's so subversive with how she does trolls she does urban literature but then she'll flip it in a way you don't she'll do fantasy but then she'll flip it in a way that you don't expect love she's my favorite I need to get I think I said I'm finishing we're listening to this just um don't call me real quick I'm looking at okay see that I just said I don't want any more books but this is I haven't read a good romance in a in a while it's called the probability of us we're done talking about Amado by the way so still listen to this though the prop she's uh gelani Jones has a plan to finish her master's land her dream job achieve financial stability girl yes all of which comes to a screeching home when her long term boyfriend leaves her her mounting debt catches up and she's forced to move back in with her emotionally distant mother as her construction constructed life unravels she accepts an offer to become the graduate teaching assistant for a statistics for a statistics course an opportunity to regain some control wait is this like a professor thing because I kind of like that I kind of like that is this it Roman Hayes Roman Hayes has a goal become a successful software engineer a demanding task made even harder oh it's a single dad I don't know if I like that um oh was this it yeah okay the whole single dad thing kind of took me out of it though sorry I was like sorry to all her I was really into it's like no listen she's trying to get her master to me she can't be a stepmom right now like on that whoopsie um we but there is white because if I feel like with Granger because we're gonna talk about um supernatural stuff that I think we talked about this last week it might be in last week's episode which we'll listen tomorrow which to see if it is but it's called Children of the Black and Root the Root and Hunger Chronicles book one it's like it's in New Orleans and it's like vampires and witches and like even like I know you can't see but the cover like yeah I think I downloaded that when you were talking about yes I have that I have that downloaded and I don't remember that I'm trying I do want to read that other book Daggermouth read it that people are like eating up read it's good people are eating it up I baby when I when I tell you plot twist I was pissed that I finished it so fast and it's like y'all know I'm not fantasy I'm I be sticking my little pinky toe in a little bit it then dive into the deep end with it please it was so good it was really good is it just is it dystopian though right yes it's like it's giving um like hunger games but people with stations and then far as like marrying people you're not supposed to be marrying and then the daddy crazy but the mama crazy just just read it it was cool.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:28

See how am I gonna read everything I want to read that that's I'm trying to like I feel like this I can look outside and it's dysopian right now so it's like do I want to but it's it's not it's not like a read it a sad it's nothing about it it's like I'm constantly reading because what is about to happen next I need to see what's about to happen to this stupid hoe yes this happens to the stupid hoe keep lag on it though it wasn't like a or anything it was good let me let's okay let me add that but that concludes our episode episode two season wait episode yeah episode two season two yes on I'm a dude so our next book for April is The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray this is my first time reading a novel with like two authors I've never read a novel with two neither authors I think I might have read like one poetry but not like a novel novel.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:33

Yeah yeah so um if you want to read along with us or read before the next episode the personal librarian tells the life work of Belle DeCosta Green the personal librarian of JP Morgan as well as the first director of the Morgan Library and museum she white people are crazy sorry she passed as white she passed as white out of my face and what girl what they be trying it like how do you like yes yes oh she was born on my birthday we have the same birthday Sagittarius but she really despite being born to black parents not even one black parent black parents two black parents those white every single person I see that said they passed for white I knew immediately that was a nigga that's honestly that's how that's how I felt when like my mom would she would always talk about how like her grandmother her Jamaican grandmother would pass as white blah blah blah and I finally saw a picture of her that I found my ancestor I was like tahoo like tahoo that's that's a freaking light skinned yellow bone lady for what world but I'm like oh okay wow this is crazy to me I'm sorry now I want to read I need to I need I do want to read this book because I just want to know what life that she did pass as as that yeah this will be good I'm interested like well thanks for listening guys and make sure you follow us like and subscribe share with your friends and yeah bye guys bye