1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:16,960 Welcome everybody to another Wednesday Night Book Club. 2 00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:19,520 I'm your host, Andy Rice. 3 00:00:19,520 --> 00:00:21,880 Thanks for joining me in my apartment here. 4 00:00:21,880 --> 00:00:22,880 It's weird. 5 00:00:22,880 --> 00:00:24,760 I have so many people in here. 6 00:00:24,760 --> 00:00:25,760 I know seating is difficult. 7 00:00:25,760 --> 00:00:26,760 I only have a couple couches. 8 00:00:26,760 --> 00:00:31,200 I hope you all brought your novels. 9 00:00:31,200 --> 00:00:35,520 This week we're talking about We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier. 10 00:00:35,520 --> 00:00:39,520 This is the second Robert Cormier book. 11 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:42,360 I guess the third technically because I did two last week. 12 00:00:42,360 --> 00:00:46,600 In a row I won't do any more from him in the foreseeable future. 13 00:00:46,600 --> 00:00:47,960 We're moving on. 14 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:48,960 Different authors. 15 00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:54,880 Actually, no, not different authors because next week, spoiler, it's the sequel to Lovecraft 16 00:00:54,880 --> 00:00:55,880 Country. 17 00:00:55,880 --> 00:01:02,120 So this whole first, we'll call it first season of Wednesday Night Book Club is kind of a 18 00:01:02,120 --> 00:01:03,120 mess. 19 00:01:03,120 --> 00:01:04,120 Thanks for sticking with me. 20 00:01:04,120 --> 00:01:05,120 I'm going to try to keep these shorter. 21 00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:09,440 I know that an hour was a little bit too long last time. 22 00:01:09,440 --> 00:01:16,560 So and again, the comments, it's getting out of hand people. 23 00:01:16,560 --> 00:01:24,760 Audiobooks have as much merit as the written form of a novel. 24 00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:32,520 You know, if there was a blind person and he decided to do a book club, I don't think 25 00:01:32,520 --> 00:01:37,640 there'd be a single person in that room that would criticize him for listening to an audiobook 26 00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:39,560 or her. 27 00:01:39,560 --> 00:01:44,680 And so, I don't know, I mean, just because I'm capable of reading with my eyes doesn't 28 00:01:44,680 --> 00:01:53,620 mean that audio is in any way less of an accomplishment of reading a book. 29 00:01:53,620 --> 00:01:57,920 If you consider reading a book an accomplishment, which I do, because in my mind, there's a 30 00:01:57,920 --> 00:02:00,440 nice little like just tally. 31 00:02:00,440 --> 00:02:05,400 Every time I add a book to like the hundreds of books I've read, it's just like a cool 32 00:02:05,400 --> 00:02:08,240 little feather in the cap. 33 00:02:08,240 --> 00:02:13,000 And I try to get people that I know that don't read to read constantly. 34 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:17,160 I work with some young people and they are not readers. 35 00:02:17,160 --> 00:02:22,520 This new generation of kids coming out do not actively go and find a novel that they 36 00:02:22,520 --> 00:02:27,640 want to just consume real quick because of the story or whatever. 37 00:02:27,640 --> 00:02:28,640 We all know what's up. 38 00:02:28,640 --> 00:02:31,640 It's TikTok and it's YouTube or whatever. 39 00:02:31,640 --> 00:02:41,680 But I try to tailor a book selection for whoever I'm trying to convince. 40 00:02:41,680 --> 00:02:48,340 So I work with one young girl who she loves, Princess Bride. 41 00:02:48,340 --> 00:02:53,760 So I'm thinking, OK, we'll do as you wish the Carrie Elwes autobiography, which is wonderful. 42 00:02:53,760 --> 00:02:59,020 And especially if you're a fan of the movie or I was going to suggest reading Princess 43 00:02:59,020 --> 00:03:00,240 Bride, the book. 44 00:03:00,240 --> 00:03:06,040 But I don't know, that might be a little too stiff for a first one. 45 00:03:06,040 --> 00:03:14,120 I got Midnight, the Midnight Library by Matt something, I think. 46 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:15,120 I might be wrong about the author. 47 00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:20,200 I'm not going to look it up, but the Midnight Library is one of the best novels I've ever 48 00:03:20,200 --> 00:03:21,200 read. 49 00:03:21,200 --> 00:03:26,800 And that one is if you're looking to recommend a book for someone, that's a great one to 50 00:03:26,800 --> 00:03:27,880 start with. 51 00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:32,960 It covers so many existential kind of questions. 52 00:03:32,960 --> 00:03:38,560 The basic plot is just it's a girl, a young woman who is about to kill herself. 53 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:44,880 And right before she dies, she enters the Midnight Library, which allows her to take 54 00:03:44,880 --> 00:03:51,800 a book off the shelf and live a life from that age that she was just like continuing 55 00:03:51,800 --> 00:03:54,180 from that moment onwards. 56 00:03:54,180 --> 00:03:59,280 But if she had made different choices in her life, if she had ended up staying with that 57 00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:07,400 one guy who wanted to marry her, if she had decided to pursue being an actress or whatever, 58 00:04:07,400 --> 00:04:11,920 and then she gets to see what the what the outcome was. 59 00:04:11,920 --> 00:04:18,800 And I won't give away anything else, but I truly think that's one of the best books out 60 00:04:18,800 --> 00:04:19,880 there right now. 61 00:04:19,880 --> 00:04:21,160 So please go check that out. 62 00:04:21,160 --> 00:04:22,160 It's the Midnight Library. 63 00:04:22,160 --> 00:04:27,560 God, I should know the freaking author. 64 00:04:27,560 --> 00:04:32,080 Anyway, but that's not what we're talking about today. 65 00:04:32,080 --> 00:04:43,600 We are talking about a weird, a weird short 199 page novel from the early 90s, 1991, be 66 00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:46,800 specific, a young adult novel. 67 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:49,600 And let's get into it. 68 00:04:49,600 --> 00:04:57,920 It's there's a house and these teenagers break into it and they do some horrendous shit to 69 00:04:57,920 --> 00:04:58,920 this house. 70 00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:01,380 I mean, we're talking literally they should take a shit on the floor. 71 00:05:01,380 --> 00:05:04,800 They break every single thing they could find. 72 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:07,640 They rip up clothing, they piss on the walls. 73 00:05:07,640 --> 00:05:13,940 They are just savagely trashing this house to like almost a degree I haven't read or 74 00:05:13,940 --> 00:05:17,680 seen in a movie or book. 75 00:05:17,680 --> 00:05:18,680 It's bad. 76 00:05:18,680 --> 00:05:22,520 Like the way he describes it, you feel like that house was violated. 77 00:05:22,520 --> 00:05:24,560 And I never really get that impression. 78 00:05:24,560 --> 00:05:29,920 Like usually like even when someone comes home in a movie and their and their room has 79 00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:34,360 been torn apart by burglars, like they're usually looking for something and they're 80 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:42,800 just sort of non-disc, they're just, you know, throwing things around to find that that thing. 81 00:05:42,800 --> 00:05:48,020 But in this case, it was just for the malice of it was just literally the intention was 82 00:05:48,020 --> 00:05:49,160 to just cause chaos. 83 00:05:49,160 --> 00:05:50,480 And it was it's gross. 84 00:05:50,480 --> 00:05:53,560 And it's I'm not a fan. 85 00:05:53,560 --> 00:05:56,720 Oh, I mean, of what they did, obviously. 86 00:05:56,720 --> 00:05:58,040 But yeah, it was visceral. 87 00:05:58,040 --> 00:06:01,480 Like as I was listening to it, I was like, oh, this is kind of disgusting. 88 00:06:01,480 --> 00:06:08,440 But things get a little bit worse when one of the occupants of the house comes home and 89 00:06:08,440 --> 00:06:11,400 it unfortunately happens to be 14 year old. 90 00:06:11,400 --> 00:06:13,200 What's her name? 91 00:06:13,200 --> 00:06:16,200 The 14 year old. 92 00:06:16,200 --> 00:06:18,240 I don't know her name. 93 00:06:18,240 --> 00:06:19,240 Doesn't matter. 94 00:06:19,240 --> 00:06:20,240 Karen. 95 00:06:20,240 --> 00:06:21,240 I think it is. 96 00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:34,680 So Karen, she comes home early and they find her and they start to attempt to rape her 97 00:06:34,680 --> 00:06:40,400 and they are getting close to their to their task, but they're interrupted by one of the 98 00:06:40,400 --> 00:06:41,680 other. 99 00:06:41,680 --> 00:06:47,420 I should mention that there's the main character, you could say, quote unquote, he's not my 100 00:06:47,420 --> 00:06:52,520 main character, but I don't get to that, but the main character, according to the author 101 00:06:52,520 --> 00:06:54,880 of the book, would be Buddy Walker. 102 00:06:54,880 --> 00:06:56,080 He's one of the teenagers. 103 00:06:56,080 --> 00:06:57,080 He's upstairs. 104 00:06:57,080 --> 00:07:04,320 He's just done pissing on the walls and the booze are starting to wear down a little bit. 105 00:07:04,320 --> 00:07:07,960 And he looks around and he realizes what he's just done. 106 00:07:07,960 --> 00:07:10,600 And he gets sick and throws up. 107 00:07:10,600 --> 00:07:14,600 So actually the vomit was unintentional. 108 00:07:14,600 --> 00:07:20,160 But yeah, he starts to feel guilty and a little bit of a you find this out later, but his 109 00:07:20,160 --> 00:07:22,040 parents are getting a divorce. 110 00:07:22,040 --> 00:07:27,880 And in a moment of weakness, a man, a boy named Harry Flowers, a very popular boy from 111 00:07:27,880 --> 00:07:31,760 school took advantage of this, took him out, got him drunk. 112 00:07:31,760 --> 00:07:38,440 Now flash forward, you know, a couple of weeks and now they're trashing a house and Buddy 113 00:07:38,440 --> 00:07:41,100 feels awful about it. 114 00:07:41,100 --> 00:07:44,120 So he's up there throwing up. 115 00:07:44,120 --> 00:07:50,480 He hears a scream and he runs downstairs and he sees that the other three teenagers are 116 00:07:50,480 --> 00:07:54,360 attempting to rape this 14 year old girl. 117 00:07:54,360 --> 00:07:56,160 And so he says something. 118 00:07:56,160 --> 00:07:57,640 He says, Hey, what are you guys doing? 119 00:07:57,640 --> 00:07:59,720 He doesn't feel comfortable about this. 120 00:07:59,720 --> 00:08:04,480 It's enough of a reason or like a way for her to get a distraction. 121 00:08:04,480 --> 00:08:10,320 So she starts to run away and Harry Flowers chases her and there's an open door where 122 00:08:10,320 --> 00:08:16,040 she gets the door open and he pushes her and it's a stairway and she falls down and she 123 00:08:16,040 --> 00:08:21,680 ends up in a coma that later on, like she, she ends up in a coma in the hospital. 124 00:08:21,680 --> 00:08:23,400 The boys get away. 125 00:08:23,400 --> 00:08:24,880 The family comes home. 126 00:08:24,880 --> 00:08:26,760 It's the house is ruined. 127 00:08:26,760 --> 00:08:30,360 You know, they, they spend, you know, they get it fixed. 128 00:08:30,360 --> 00:08:31,360 It doesn't feel the same. 129 00:08:31,360 --> 00:08:32,680 It feels violated. 130 00:08:32,680 --> 00:08:38,720 Their sister slash daughter, you know, Karen, she's in the hospital. 131 00:08:38,720 --> 00:08:40,360 It's awful. 132 00:08:40,360 --> 00:08:47,360 The older sister, Jane is wrecked by this and she is questioning kind of everything 133 00:08:47,360 --> 00:08:49,720 about her life. 134 00:08:49,720 --> 00:08:52,760 It's you know, it's really rocked her to her core. 135 00:08:52,760 --> 00:08:59,080 Now there was a witness to this crime and this is where things get, in my opinion, absolutely 136 00:08:59,080 --> 00:09:02,720 fucking bonkers, excited, exciting. 137 00:09:02,720 --> 00:09:09,920 There's someone called the Avenger, an 11 year old kid who is watch who sees what happens 138 00:09:09,920 --> 00:09:15,280 and it's, and it's the, every time you get an Avenger chapter, the kid just calls himself 139 00:09:15,280 --> 00:09:16,560 the Avenger. 140 00:09:16,560 --> 00:09:20,760 He saw what the kid, the teenagers looked like. 141 00:09:20,760 --> 00:09:25,920 He is now tracking them down to take care of them. 142 00:09:25,920 --> 00:09:32,400 And you know, the Avenger means business because how you're introduced to him is he's sitting 143 00:09:32,400 --> 00:09:38,640 in school and he notices that there's a kid named Vaughn who is an asshole to all the 144 00:09:38,640 --> 00:09:39,640 kids. 145 00:09:39,640 --> 00:09:43,640 He's not necessarily a bully to the Avenger himself. 146 00:09:43,640 --> 00:09:47,240 He just sort of pokes the Avenger in the back of the head during class, which is annoying, 147 00:09:47,240 --> 00:09:49,560 but the Avenger is okay. 148 00:09:49,560 --> 00:09:50,560 He can take it. 149 00:09:50,560 --> 00:09:54,880 He's patient and patience is absolutely his strength. 150 00:09:54,880 --> 00:10:02,400 And so he patiently starts following Vaughn home, starts learning his routine, you know, 151 00:10:02,400 --> 00:10:06,520 but he sees the way Vaughn treats other kids and the way that he feels proud about being 152 00:10:06,520 --> 00:10:09,440 a bully and that rubs the Avenger the wrong way. 153 00:10:09,440 --> 00:10:13,320 So one day the Avenger follows Vaughn. 154 00:10:13,320 --> 00:10:14,840 He waits patiently. 155 00:10:14,840 --> 00:10:19,960 He knows that Vaughn typically at this time goes out to the garage to play with his toys. 156 00:10:19,960 --> 00:10:22,320 Vaughn comes out exactly like he said. 157 00:10:22,320 --> 00:10:27,920 The Avenger goes, hey, Vaughn looks up and the Avenger blows off the bottom half of his 158 00:10:27,920 --> 00:10:29,960 face with a fucking revolver. 159 00:10:29,960 --> 00:10:32,680 Another 11 year old kid. 160 00:10:32,680 --> 00:10:40,680 So this is where this might be a bit controversial because when I read that in the book at first 161 00:10:40,680 --> 00:10:46,600 and I didn't get any further into the book, I thought the Avenger was the main hero. 162 00:10:46,600 --> 00:10:49,600 I thought, cool, yeah, awesome. 163 00:10:49,600 --> 00:10:55,680 A kid, you know, took care of a bully. 164 00:10:55,680 --> 00:11:02,540 In hindsight, well, let's let's just table that for a moment. 165 00:11:02,540 --> 00:11:06,180 But yeah, at this point, I'm like, awesome, totally for the Avenger. 166 00:11:06,180 --> 00:11:07,180 This guy's awesome. 167 00:11:07,180 --> 00:11:11,080 Can't wait for to see who else he I can't wait for him to kill these teenagers. 168 00:11:11,080 --> 00:11:14,960 They absolutely fucking deserve it is what is what I'm thinking this whole time. 169 00:11:14,960 --> 00:11:21,560 I guess I completely just disassociated them being children in the and I guess the author 170 00:11:21,560 --> 00:11:26,820 of this book makes you feel like the Avengers doing good work when he kills that other kid. 171 00:11:26,820 --> 00:11:29,560 But like, oh, God, it's 2024. 172 00:11:29,560 --> 00:11:31,600 What a sensitive topic to talk about. 173 00:11:31,600 --> 00:11:36,840 I mean, we have school shootings all the fucking time and it's not a laughing matter. 174 00:11:36,840 --> 00:11:39,520 But there was something about this that just felt different. 175 00:11:39,520 --> 00:11:41,560 I mean, this was pretty calm on when he wrote this. 176 00:11:41,560 --> 00:11:49,120 He wasn't thinking that there was going to be a lot of mass shootings with kids and stuff. 177 00:11:49,120 --> 00:11:53,960 So like this, like when he wrote it, it felt like it feels good. 178 00:11:53,960 --> 00:11:59,040 But when he gets this when this kid gets the when he gets the shot up. 179 00:11:59,040 --> 00:12:08,760 But anyway, later, the police are they interview everyone and they they they don't suspect 180 00:12:08,760 --> 00:12:13,880 him at all because he's he's a good, you know, he's good at acting like he didn't do anything. 181 00:12:13,880 --> 00:12:19,760 But the gun that he stole along to his grandfather and his grandfather is a retired police officer. 182 00:12:19,760 --> 00:12:24,480 And one day after going to the movies and having lunch, just having a great day with 183 00:12:24,480 --> 00:12:29,080 his grandfather, they go back to his grandfather's house or apartment. 184 00:12:29,080 --> 00:12:31,640 It's up like fifth floor, sixth floor. 185 00:12:31,640 --> 00:12:36,280 And they go out to the balcony and the grandfather kind of leaning over the rail turns back to 186 00:12:36,280 --> 00:12:41,600 the Avenger and he goes, hey, there's something I want to ask you. 187 00:12:41,600 --> 00:12:46,960 As he kind of turned away, you know, kind of get himself prepped for the question. 188 00:12:46,960 --> 00:12:52,400 The Avenger, knowing what he's going to ask and knowing that this would ruin everything, 189 00:12:52,400 --> 00:12:59,600 runs up and throws his grandpa off the railing and his grandpa is falling to the floor, like 190 00:12:59,600 --> 00:13:01,480 falling down these flights of stairs. 191 00:13:01,480 --> 00:13:07,440 And the way that Robert Cormier describes the the way that. 192 00:13:07,440 --> 00:13:11,480 The Avenger looks away at the last minute as if it was like a movie. 193 00:13:11,480 --> 00:13:16,480 He's like, and the Avenger looked away at the last second, just like the movies do when 194 00:13:16,480 --> 00:13:19,400 the camera pulls away to spare you from the violent scene. 195 00:13:19,400 --> 00:13:22,360 So he like did that himself, like like the movies. 196 00:13:22,360 --> 00:13:25,200 And I thought that was like a cool description. 197 00:13:25,200 --> 00:13:34,280 So he kills his grandfather and at that point, I'm not I'm not, I guess, pro Avenger, but 198 00:13:34,280 --> 00:13:36,840 I'm not necessarily anti Avenger at this point. 199 00:13:36,840 --> 00:13:41,100 I guess it's when he's on the bus and there's a baby crying next to him and he's thinking 200 00:13:41,100 --> 00:13:43,560 to himself, maybe I should do something about that baby. 201 00:13:43,560 --> 00:13:44,560 That's what I'm like. 202 00:13:44,560 --> 00:13:45,560 Oh, got it. 203 00:13:45,560 --> 00:13:48,520 The Avengers, a bad guy. 204 00:13:48,520 --> 00:13:50,560 And so, fuck. 205 00:13:50,560 --> 00:13:55,080 Yeah, here I am rooting for literally the bad guy. 206 00:13:55,080 --> 00:13:57,800 I guess so. 207 00:13:57,800 --> 00:14:02,600 That was, in my opinion, the most the most engaging part is like learning about the Avenger, 208 00:14:02,600 --> 00:14:06,960 like what he's doing as this 11 year old kid, just fucking killing people. 209 00:14:06,960 --> 00:14:13,240 Then for some reason, I feel like this book could have been another 50 pages easy with 210 00:14:13,240 --> 00:14:18,520 a little bit more of the Avenger hunting down the teenagers because that takes a side like 211 00:14:18,520 --> 00:14:24,720 just a backseat to the rest of the novel, which turns into a believe it or not, fucking 212 00:14:24,720 --> 00:14:32,480 romantic, like a romance novel with Buddy, the kid who threw up on this this house floor. 213 00:14:32,480 --> 00:14:39,160 He feels really guilty about it and he calls Jane, the 16 year old sister, and he says 214 00:14:39,160 --> 00:14:42,680 sorry on the phone, but it doesn't feel like enough. 215 00:14:42,680 --> 00:14:48,040 And he starts to he goes to the mall and he starts kind of stalking her. 216 00:14:48,040 --> 00:14:49,040 Not kind of. 217 00:14:49,040 --> 00:14:50,280 He stalks the fuck out of her. 218 00:14:50,280 --> 00:14:59,200 And in a panicked moment, he runs outside and falls and embarrasses himself. 219 00:14:59,200 --> 00:15:05,080 And she just being like a sweet, good, you know, beautiful girl, like walks over and 220 00:15:05,080 --> 00:15:09,280 she makes up a story about how she tripped once at school and people made fun of her. 221 00:15:09,280 --> 00:15:11,840 So she like knows how it feels and not to worry about it. 222 00:15:11,840 --> 00:15:12,840 And she helps him up. 223 00:15:12,840 --> 00:15:21,320 And they start dating and what makes it that an actual compelling romantic story is because 224 00:15:21,320 --> 00:15:24,200 Buddy doesn't want to meet her family. 225 00:15:24,200 --> 00:15:25,560 He doesn't want to go to her house. 226 00:15:25,560 --> 00:15:29,400 It just reminds him of the awful fucking shit that he's done. 227 00:15:29,400 --> 00:15:34,720 What complicates thing is is Harry Flowers, the main kid who sort of spearheaded this 228 00:15:34,720 --> 00:15:36,120 whole thing. 229 00:15:36,120 --> 00:15:43,640 He admits to the crime and does not rat out his other friends, his dad ends up paying 230 00:15:43,640 --> 00:15:46,440 for all the damage and taking care of it. 231 00:15:46,440 --> 00:15:48,200 They sweep it all under the rug. 232 00:15:48,200 --> 00:15:53,000 But the reason he didn't get in trouble for breaking and entering is because he had a 233 00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:54,920 key to their house. 234 00:15:54,920 --> 00:16:01,840 And the way you find this out is Jane is at home and her father comes home angry. 235 00:16:01,840 --> 00:16:05,680 And he says he turns to her and he says, you gave him a key to the house. 236 00:16:05,680 --> 00:16:11,880 Before he even listens to her side of the story, he accuses her. 237 00:16:11,880 --> 00:16:12,880 And so she storms off. 238 00:16:12,880 --> 00:16:13,880 They have a big argument. 239 00:16:13,880 --> 00:16:16,200 It kind of fragments the family a little bit. 240 00:16:16,200 --> 00:16:25,640 It already fragments the family because of the other daughter being in a coma. 241 00:16:25,640 --> 00:16:30,480 But you find out later that Harry just, she dropped her key at the mall and he picked 242 00:16:30,480 --> 00:16:32,160 it up and he followed her home. 243 00:16:32,160 --> 00:16:36,120 And that's why he didn't want to break any windows while he was in the house. 244 00:16:36,120 --> 00:16:39,360 He's like, don't break whatever you want, just no windows, because that would be breaking 245 00:16:39,360 --> 00:16:40,360 and entering. 246 00:16:40,360 --> 00:16:48,160 So after Harry has been in the newspaper as the one that did it, that adds an extra wrinkle 247 00:16:48,160 --> 00:16:52,680 to Buddy's whole being afraid thing. 248 00:16:52,680 --> 00:16:59,760 Because if Harry, for instance, were to, if Buddy and Jane were out in public and they 249 00:16:59,760 --> 00:17:04,960 ran across Harry Flowers, who she would recognize or at least recognize the name, and he said, 250 00:17:04,960 --> 00:17:06,120 Hey buddy, how are you? 251 00:17:06,120 --> 00:17:07,400 And they knew each other. 252 00:17:07,400 --> 00:17:14,400 Then that would be enough to have Jane ask all the questions that would lead to the inevitable 253 00:17:14,400 --> 00:17:17,280 discovery that he was one of the kids in the house. 254 00:17:17,280 --> 00:17:18,280 Unfortunate. 255 00:17:18,280 --> 00:17:25,600 Well, I mean, we'll get into what's unfortunate for who, but they date, it ends up, they end 256 00:17:25,600 --> 00:17:33,880 up being absolutely in love with each other, but Buddy has a, he's still an alcoholic and 257 00:17:33,880 --> 00:17:37,320 he starts secretly drinking. 258 00:17:37,320 --> 00:17:42,880 He quits a little bit when she finds out, but it's just, it's tough for him. 259 00:17:42,880 --> 00:17:50,640 And they are kind of in a rocky situation when, oh, she's in the, sorry, I forgot to 260 00:17:50,640 --> 00:17:51,640 mention this. 261 00:17:51,640 --> 00:17:52,640 I'm a little bit pregnant. 262 00:17:52,640 --> 00:17:57,400 So when they're in a record store, Buddy and Jane, they're in a record store, they're hanging 263 00:17:57,400 --> 00:17:59,400 out, they're making out with each other. 264 00:17:59,400 --> 00:18:02,080 The Avengers outside, he just happens to be walking by. 265 00:18:02,080 --> 00:18:05,080 He sees her and he goes, Oh, she's so beautiful. 266 00:18:05,080 --> 00:18:09,520 But then he sees one of the trashers, one of the people that trashed the house walk 267 00:18:09,520 --> 00:18:11,040 up and start kissing her. 268 00:18:11,040 --> 00:18:12,040 She likes it. 269 00:18:12,040 --> 00:18:14,020 She starts kissing him with her tongue. 270 00:18:14,020 --> 00:18:16,800 And the kid goes, that's not, that's not good. 271 00:18:16,800 --> 00:18:18,520 A good girl wouldn't be doing that in public. 272 00:18:18,520 --> 00:18:21,100 Wouldn't be doing that with one of these trashers. 273 00:18:21,100 --> 00:18:22,100 That's fucked up. 274 00:18:22,100 --> 00:18:23,520 Maybe she's not a good girl. 275 00:18:23,520 --> 00:18:24,520 She needs to go. 276 00:18:24,520 --> 00:18:27,440 So now he's in his head that he needs to kill her. 277 00:18:27,440 --> 00:18:33,720 So you, she ends up on her way home or something. 278 00:18:33,720 --> 00:18:39,400 She's walking and another little kid, one of these, this pudgy little kid, cause you 279 00:18:39,400 --> 00:18:42,600 don't know the, you don't know the Avengers identity at all. 280 00:18:42,600 --> 00:18:46,840 So this pudgy kid comes up to her and says, Hey Jane, you need to follow me. 281 00:18:46,840 --> 00:18:47,840 Your brother's in trouble. 282 00:18:47,840 --> 00:18:48,840 Her little brother. 283 00:18:48,840 --> 00:18:51,240 And she's like, Oh my God. 284 00:18:51,240 --> 00:18:57,280 So they go and they go to the shack and you're thinking, Oh shit, this kid must be the Avenger. 285 00:18:57,280 --> 00:18:58,880 He's going to do something to her. 286 00:18:58,880 --> 00:19:02,160 The kid ends up leaving and he's like, your kid, your brother's in the shack. 287 00:19:02,160 --> 00:19:03,400 I'm going to go get help or whatever. 288 00:19:03,400 --> 00:19:04,560 He runs off. 289 00:19:04,560 --> 00:19:11,280 She goes to the shack and the door opens up and a middle-aged homeless man who lives on 290 00:19:11,280 --> 00:19:20,400 her street or around her, her area, he ends up putting chloroform in her face and tying 291 00:19:20,400 --> 00:19:21,400 her up. 292 00:19:21,400 --> 00:19:27,880 And you find out that this middle-aged man is the Avenger and all that 11 year old stuff 293 00:19:27,880 --> 00:19:32,560 that he did, he did when he was 11, but that was 30 years ago, 20 years ago. 294 00:19:32,560 --> 00:19:35,000 And he's just fucking insane. 295 00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:36,100 And so he was outside. 296 00:19:36,100 --> 00:19:40,560 You find out that he used to just watch her change and that's why he's always outside 297 00:19:40,560 --> 00:19:41,560 their house. 298 00:19:41,560 --> 00:19:42,560 He's just a creep. 299 00:19:42,560 --> 00:19:45,520 And so when he was on the bus thinking about killing that baby, he's just a homeless guy. 300 00:19:45,520 --> 00:19:51,360 Like thinking about killing her, killing a baby, he's absolutely fucking insane. 301 00:19:51,360 --> 00:19:57,280 He starts telling her that she's a bad girl, that she needs to die. 302 00:19:57,280 --> 00:19:58,280 He's got a knife out. 303 00:19:58,280 --> 00:19:59,280 She's tied up. 304 00:19:59,280 --> 00:20:00,760 She's so scared. 305 00:20:00,760 --> 00:20:04,120 But he un-gags her and they have a moment to talk. 306 00:20:04,120 --> 00:20:10,720 And she makes, I think, a pretty crucial mistake by saying, that other kid, I told him that 307 00:20:10,720 --> 00:20:14,080 if he doesn't see me in 10 minutes, that he needs to go get the police. 308 00:20:14,080 --> 00:20:19,560 And so the Avenger, whose real name is Mickey Looney Stallings, they call him Mickey Looney 309 00:20:19,560 --> 00:20:24,960 because he looks kind of like Mickey Rooney. 310 00:20:24,960 --> 00:20:32,280 If you're unfamiliar with Mickey Rooney, because you're under the age of, what, 50? 311 00:20:32,280 --> 00:20:38,440 I only know him because he was in a Disney Channel original movie. 312 00:20:38,440 --> 00:20:42,760 But Night at the Museum, he's one of the old guards. 313 00:20:42,760 --> 00:20:44,720 That's probably the most recent thing. 314 00:20:44,720 --> 00:20:51,520 But anyway, the Avenger, he goes, oh, well, thanks for telling me that there's only 10 315 00:20:51,520 --> 00:20:52,520 minutes left. 316 00:20:52,520 --> 00:20:53,520 I should make this quick then. 317 00:20:53,520 --> 00:20:55,780 And he starts to immediately go after her and she goes, wait, stop. 318 00:20:55,780 --> 00:20:56,780 You're not a kid. 319 00:20:56,780 --> 00:20:57,780 You're not 11 years old. 320 00:20:57,780 --> 00:20:58,780 You're a middle-aged man. 321 00:20:58,780 --> 00:20:59,780 What are you doing? 322 00:20:59,780 --> 00:21:00,780 He goes, wait, what? 323 00:21:00,780 --> 00:21:02,180 I am a kid. 324 00:21:02,180 --> 00:21:03,760 And she starts getting into his head. 325 00:21:03,760 --> 00:21:04,760 She starts gaslighting him. 326 00:21:04,760 --> 00:21:09,280 Well, not gaslighting him, telling him the truth and un-gaslighting his own brain that 327 00:21:09,280 --> 00:21:11,320 he gaslit himself. 328 00:21:11,320 --> 00:21:17,680 And he ends up killing himself, ends up getting the blade and just starts, cuts his wrist, 329 00:21:17,680 --> 00:21:22,880 both of them, and then stabs himself in the stomach like a samurai and dies. 330 00:21:22,880 --> 00:21:26,640 And right when he's dying, the police bust in and they save her. 331 00:21:26,640 --> 00:21:31,640 And she ends up not calling Buddy because one of the things that the Avenger tells her 332 00:21:31,640 --> 00:21:36,720 while she's tied up is that she's like, I can't believe that you were making out with 333 00:21:36,720 --> 00:21:38,120 one of the guys that trashed your house. 334 00:21:38,120 --> 00:21:43,620 And when she finds out that Buddy is one of the dudes, she breaks up with him. 335 00:21:43,620 --> 00:21:45,680 She does not get back with him. 336 00:21:45,680 --> 00:21:51,280 He is in love with her and still, and he tries everything or he tries a few things to get 337 00:21:51,280 --> 00:21:52,280 back with her. 338 00:21:52,280 --> 00:21:57,080 And he sees her like maybe a few months later and they're at the mall, which he goes to 339 00:21:57,080 --> 00:22:00,080 all the time in hopes of seeing her. 340 00:22:00,080 --> 00:22:01,600 And she blows him off. 341 00:22:01,600 --> 00:22:09,880 And so yet another Robert Cormier novel where nobody fucking wins. 342 00:22:09,880 --> 00:22:15,360 It's all just pessimistic and negative and down and bad. 343 00:22:15,360 --> 00:22:19,000 So well, I mean, not bad, but yeah, nobody wins. 344 00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:20,000 Super sad. 345 00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:21,000 I feel bad for Jane. 346 00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:22,000 I feel bad for Buddy. 347 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:26,720 I feel bad for even the Avenger because he probably had mental health issues. 348 00:22:26,720 --> 00:22:28,400 I don't feel bad for Harry Flowers. 349 00:22:28,400 --> 00:22:30,880 He seemed like a dick straight up. 350 00:22:30,880 --> 00:22:33,920 I don't feel bad for his other two henchmen either. 351 00:22:33,920 --> 00:22:37,300 They were going to sexually assault some young girl. 352 00:22:37,300 --> 00:22:43,120 By the way, the young girl does come out of the coma and she does regain the ability to 353 00:22:43,120 --> 00:22:48,040 talk and that does add some tension to whether or not, you know, she might recognize Buddy 354 00:22:48,040 --> 00:22:50,160 or whatever. 355 00:22:50,160 --> 00:22:51,960 But she ends up not remembering that night. 356 00:22:51,960 --> 00:22:55,280 So that kind of gets pushed under the rug. 357 00:22:55,280 --> 00:23:02,920 As far as this book goes, reception wise, it was a doozy, were again, a challenged book. 358 00:23:02,920 --> 00:23:05,660 I wrote a quote down here. 359 00:23:05,660 --> 00:23:16,180 Someone challenged the book in Carver Middle School in Leesburg, Florida in the year 2000. 360 00:23:16,180 --> 00:23:18,960 And they put, it's not a book for school. 361 00:23:18,960 --> 00:23:24,040 It's everything negative about society like rape, vulgarity, alcohol abuse, murder, and 362 00:23:24,040 --> 00:23:25,960 how to cover it up. 363 00:23:25,960 --> 00:23:28,560 Yeah, I mean, he's not wrong. 364 00:23:28,560 --> 00:23:33,540 I wouldn't necessarily say that fourth graders should be reading this. 365 00:23:33,540 --> 00:23:38,280 But then this is the kind of book that if I had read in like fifth or sixth grade, I 366 00:23:38,280 --> 00:23:43,480 would have gotten maybe a more, it would have matured me a little bit faster in a good way. 367 00:23:43,480 --> 00:23:50,720 You know, like I would have, like when I read Hatchet in fifth grade, that, I don't know 368 00:23:50,720 --> 00:23:54,760 if that's a fifth grade book or a little bit higher reading or a little bit lower even, 369 00:23:54,760 --> 00:23:55,760 I'm not sure. 370 00:23:55,760 --> 00:23:57,600 I haven't read it in a while. 371 00:23:57,600 --> 00:24:03,800 But that changed me because I was a 10 year old boy reading about probably an 11 year 372 00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:08,960 old boy getting stuck in the Canadian wilderness and having to survive with just a hatchet 373 00:24:08,960 --> 00:24:12,200 against wolves and bears and all sorts of bullshit. 374 00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:19,880 And I thought, man, that's like, it's like those, I don't even know what that guy's name 375 00:24:19,880 --> 00:24:25,280 is, but you know, those old adventure books that got all the men of the boomer and GenX 376 00:24:25,280 --> 00:24:27,640 generations all pumped for war and shit. 377 00:24:27,640 --> 00:24:33,440 Like I felt like as a 10 year old that I was ready to, you know, drop me off in the wilderness 378 00:24:33,440 --> 00:24:35,460 and I could probably go fight bears and shit. 379 00:24:35,460 --> 00:24:37,640 I was ready. 380 00:24:37,640 --> 00:24:45,240 So anyway, I, but that being said, only because of the, only because of that 11 year old blown 381 00:24:45,240 --> 00:24:47,960 off the other 11 year old's head with a revolver. 382 00:24:47,960 --> 00:24:54,400 I think that is not something that I necessarily want to put in the heads of teens or kids 383 00:24:54,400 --> 00:25:00,040 today because of everyone, you know, like it doesn't take much to do a school shooting 384 00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:01,520 and I wouldn't. 385 00:25:01,520 --> 00:25:02,680 So I don't know. 386 00:25:02,680 --> 00:25:09,200 I feel like at the time this came out, dope, like cool book gets people talking. 387 00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:16,840 And I would have liked to have read it when I was younger, but as now in 2024, it's maybe 388 00:25:16,840 --> 00:25:25,840 problematic but I am not one forever, ever, ever banning books of any type for any reason. 389 00:25:25,840 --> 00:25:30,920 I think every, all information should be freely accessible for everybody. 390 00:25:30,920 --> 00:25:36,760 And it's up to you to decide what information that you want to intake and it's up to you 391 00:25:36,760 --> 00:25:40,540 to decide, you know, what you want to believe, what you don't want to believe, what you want 392 00:25:40,540 --> 00:25:42,040 to focus on or not. 393 00:25:42,040 --> 00:25:49,700 So anyway, what I actually think the most vulgar thing in this entire book is there's 394 00:25:49,700 --> 00:25:55,200 a quote from the older sister where she goes, oh yeah, that's Nelson, him and my brother, 395 00:25:55,200 --> 00:25:57,840 they trade Nintendo's. 396 00:25:57,840 --> 00:26:00,160 And I'm thinking that's atrocious. 397 00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:03,520 That's Robert Cormier not understanding what a fucking Nintendo is. 398 00:26:03,520 --> 00:26:09,760 And there's no reason anyone, unless someone is trading, I guess, an SNES for a Game Boy 399 00:26:09,760 --> 00:26:15,800 because they wanted to play Pokemon and the other one wanted to play, you know, Super 400 00:26:15,800 --> 00:26:18,280 Mario Brothers and they didn't have access to either. 401 00:26:18,280 --> 00:26:19,560 But that's this is 1991. 402 00:26:19,560 --> 00:26:23,600 I don't think Pokemon is out or even the Game Boy, to be honest. 403 00:26:23,600 --> 00:26:26,200 When did that Game Boy come out? 404 00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:27,200 What am I doing? 405 00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:32,280 I don't want to hear about this, but I'm going to look up the Game Boy and the Game Boy came 406 00:26:32,280 --> 00:26:34,520 out in 1989. 407 00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:38,280 So absolutely, they might have been trading the Nintendo's. 408 00:26:38,280 --> 00:26:39,280 I don't know. 409 00:26:39,280 --> 00:26:44,240 Did you know that the Game Boy is also known as the DMG01KR mini-combo? 410 00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:45,240 I did not. 411 00:26:45,240 --> 00:26:47,000 And the best selling game was Tetris. 412 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:48,000 Thank you, Google. 413 00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:49,000 All right. 414 00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:51,440 So that is We All Fall Down. 415 00:26:51,440 --> 00:26:53,360 I thought it was fun read. 416 00:26:53,360 --> 00:26:55,680 I thought the Avenger was an interesting character. 417 00:26:55,680 --> 00:26:57,760 I liked the romance part. 418 00:26:57,760 --> 00:27:02,240 Better love story than Twilight. 419 00:27:02,240 --> 00:27:03,440 And it's engaging. 420 00:27:03,440 --> 00:27:05,920 It's short, quick book. 421 00:27:05,920 --> 00:27:12,600 Like definitely, you know, you get through it in a day on audio and probably just reading. 422 00:27:12,600 --> 00:27:13,600 So yeah. 423 00:27:13,600 --> 00:27:15,720 Oh, it's considered a suspense novel. 424 00:27:15,720 --> 00:27:17,200 Yeah, that makes sense. 425 00:27:17,200 --> 00:27:18,200 Cool. 426 00:27:18,200 --> 00:27:19,200 I'm a big fan. 427 00:27:19,200 --> 00:27:20,520 Well, not a big fan. 428 00:27:20,520 --> 00:27:28,480 But if we're going to do out of five 11 year olds killing other 11 year olds, I'm going 429 00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:30,480 to give it. 430 00:27:30,480 --> 00:27:35,920 I'll give it a three out of five 11 year olds killed. 431 00:27:35,920 --> 00:27:37,440 I got to come up with better rating systems. 432 00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:40,300 I got to just stop basing it on what the books are about. 433 00:27:40,300 --> 00:27:49,360 So next week is the sequel to Lovecraft Country called The Destroyer of Worlds. 434 00:27:49,360 --> 00:27:50,360 I think it's called The Destroyer. 435 00:27:50,360 --> 00:27:51,360 Let me just make sure. 436 00:27:51,360 --> 00:27:54,360 Oh, it's just called Destroyer of Worlds. 437 00:27:54,360 --> 00:27:55,360 No, wait. 438 00:27:55,360 --> 00:27:56,360 I'm so sorry. 439 00:27:56,360 --> 00:28:03,360 I thought this was going to be a better. 440 00:28:03,360 --> 00:28:04,360 Yeah. 441 00:28:04,360 --> 00:28:11,440 The Destroyer of Worlds, a return to Lovecraft Country 2023 just came out last year. 442 00:28:11,440 --> 00:28:16,000 I'm about I'd say 70% through it right now. 443 00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:20,760 I'm trying to read a little bit faster so that it's by Matt Ruff and I'm trying to get 444 00:28:20,760 --> 00:28:22,560 through. 445 00:28:22,560 --> 00:28:24,760 So that way I can have an episode in the bank. 446 00:28:24,760 --> 00:28:30,080 I'm not just doing this week to week because I might maybe tackle some longer books that 447 00:28:30,080 --> 00:28:32,440 but this is another short one. 448 00:28:32,440 --> 00:28:37,240 And so far, 70% through it is awesome. 449 00:28:37,240 --> 00:28:39,760 So we'll get into that next week. 450 00:28:39,760 --> 00:28:41,040 Thank you so much. 451 00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:45,200 Please go to our website, friedricepodcast.com. 452 00:28:45,200 --> 00:28:47,480 That's the main podcast. 453 00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:50,600 Please at the bottom, you can leave us a message. 454 00:28:50,600 --> 00:28:52,320 You can tell me what books you want me to listen to. 455 00:28:52,320 --> 00:28:55,720 You can tell me what movies you want the podcast to watch. 456 00:28:55,720 --> 00:28:56,720 We'll take a recommendation. 457 00:28:56,720 --> 00:29:01,000 Like we're just giving it to ourselves, but we will absolutely take the first one. 458 00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:02,000 We have a phone number. 459 00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:03,000 It's a voicemail. 460 00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:04,000 I don't answer. 461 00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:05,960 You can just call it 702-829-0117. 462 00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:06,960 702-829-0117. 463 00:29:06,960 --> 00:29:14,440 It goes straight to a fun little voicemail. 464 00:29:14,440 --> 00:29:18,840 You can just leave any message you want and we'll either play it on the podcast or you 465 00:29:18,840 --> 00:29:20,480 can even say, please don't play this. 466 00:29:20,480 --> 00:29:25,520 Just here's my book recommendation or whatever you want. 467 00:29:25,520 --> 00:29:27,280 And I hope you've enjoyed this. 468 00:29:27,280 --> 00:29:31,160 Please check out our Fried Rice Podcast regular show. 469 00:29:31,160 --> 00:29:34,960 I think the best episode we've done so far is that Battlefield Earth is a masterpiece 470 00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:36,880 joint Scientology. 471 00:29:36,880 --> 00:29:39,480 Today we just started a new season with video. 472 00:29:39,480 --> 00:29:46,080 It should be going up next week or maybe at the end of this week, depending on when you 473 00:29:46,080 --> 00:29:48,080 listen to this. 474 00:29:48,080 --> 00:29:52,760 But anyway, you guys have been a great audience. 475 00:29:52,760 --> 00:29:54,360 Thanks so much for joining me. 476 00:29:54,360 --> 00:30:18,560 Have a great night.