Latest / Once Upon a Hot Take / Episode 19- Hamnet (book + movie)

Transcript

Episode 19- Hamnet (book + movie) · Once Upon a Hot Take

• Jordan: Hello. And to Once Upon a Hot Take. I'm your cohost, Leah. And I'm your other cohost, Jordan. Fairy tales are just the beginning. This is the podcast where we cover your favorite books with our hot takes. If you have a book rec or hot take that differs from ours, we would love to hear from you. Send us an email at once upon a hot take at gmail.com and follow us on TikTok and Instagram at once upon a hot take. Please consider subscribing or rating or reviewing or sharing the podcast with a fellow book lover. We would appreciate that. Okay. I have a lot of cold takes. All right. Let's get into them. All right. So number one, as I was editing the project Hail Mary Paul was trying to tell the story of how one time he snuck in a whole sack of jelly beans on a date instead of buying the jelly beans the movie theater. But he accidentally said, you shouldn't buy from the theater. You should steal. ⁓ And I laughed for five minutes straight. So if you have not listened to our Project Hail Mary episode, please go do that. And then rip Paul a new one for his take on Rocky because. It's the worst. It's not, I can't. It's the worst. I don't know what he was thinking. He wasn't thinking. Like for real, it is questionable. It's having me question. Yeah, a lot of things. Can't trust Paul's Can't trust, no, not at all. It's like he thinks Rocky is weird. Okay. Just go listen to the episode people. Yep. Yep. Okay. Laura had a correction in our project Hail Mary F episode, the FMK segment. She's like, how did you guys not want to kill the guy who messed up the astrophage measurement that caused the explosion? Yup. They duh. Yup. Yup. So that's obviously the right call. We take it back. Helicopter guy. can live astrophage mismanaging numbers guy. You're gone. Yup. Yup. Agreed. Clarifying that. That was hilarious when she brought that up to us. I was like, That's a no brainer. Good job, Laura. Ooh, this one's a deep cut reference and it takes us back to our six of crows episode. So I'm on the gram. I'm scrolling. Someone posted about how they love six of crows and that actually this is a really popular influencer. He is Australian and he's a man and he's like very into fantasy. So he's like very hot right now. And so I jumped on, I jumped on the comments and one of his six of crow things and I said, okay, someone clarify for me. Is her name Nina or nine uh Oh no! And there was a little bit of debate back and forth. then at Renee, I'll tag her in the show notes here. She said, sorry to jump in here. I'm not sure if this is some inside joke, LOL. But I just finished the second book last night. And in the back of Crooked Kingdom, there is a character glossary. And it has Nina with the pronunciation of Nee-na. Bam! Roasted! I'm right, Jordan Drom! Okay, props to whoever we're calling out here. Good job finding that. Man, I am bummed. I just for the record worked with a uh Fair. Okay. I'll let you have it. So I can't be completely wrong, but all right, fine. Apparently it's Nina in Six of Crows. Okay. And then we got my coworker and listener of the pod, She sent us an email. ⁓ about the idiom eating crow. Cause we talked about this last episode. About how who had to eat crow. ⁓ grace had to eat crow cause he was like, ⁓ you don't need water to create life or whatever. Like that was his whole premise. And then he was proven wrong. So then he had to be like, man. ⁓ eating crow, Lyndsay writes, I understand to me in a humiliating experience. And I always thought it came from medieval times. For example, if the King had to eat crow, cause there was a famine that was considered disgusting, you know, cause crow was like akin to rodents. Everybody in the kingdom could see he was eating it. Cause he sat at the high table, therefore humiliating. Cause he wasn't eating like pork or chicken or venison. Okay. Something like that. But Lyndsay was wrong. She said, after listening to your podcast, actually decided to look this up. And my interpretation was inaccurate. while the similar phrase eating humble pie comes from England, eating crow is a U S phrase. And according to her research, the true origin is unknown, but there are two possibilities. The one is the story of the farmer. This appeared in print in the ⁓ about a farmer who's surrounding neighbors complained about the food he was growing. He bragged to them that he could eat anything, which resulted in him eating a crow. Obviously. It was disgusting because crows are scavengers and just tough and distasteful. And the second option is derived from the War of 1812 between the US and British. A US soldier was caught hunting behind British lines and was forced to eat the crow that he had just shot in front of the whole British army. So she thought this was interesting and she thanks us for giving her the push to dive into this idiom because she loves teaching the etymology of language. She's a Spanish teacher. So she does this. weekly with her students before she lets them in the room. They have to say the frase secreta, which is secret phrase in Spanish. And so she picks usually like a Spanish idiom. And I love this. I noticed this about her last week. Last week was the phrase lock in. Have you heard this phrase? No. ⁓ my God. Okay. Well, you don't hang out with teenagers all day. So lock in means you just sit down and you're like, I'm going to get the work done. I'm going to lock in. Here we go. I got to study for biology. Right? So in Spanish it is Ponte las pilas. which literally means put on your batteries. So that's like, yeah. So that's like, you know, how you gotta, how you gotta do it. And hers for this week, which is, quiero el termina or something. I just want it to end. So she's really great about picking phrases that coincide with what's happening in life. Well, the end is in sight, right, next week? No, we got, next week is a four day week, and then the following week is a four day week, so. Okay. Yeah, we can hang, we got You absolutely can. Lyndsay, thank you for the email. Yeah! Okay, I just need to be clear, the whole medieval thing, that was just like made up in her head. She thought, yeah, that's just where she thought it came from, but I love it, like that makes so much sense. ⁓ that's funny, okay, cool. Well, that's a little bit of, what do you call that? The etymology. the background and the history of the world. Yep. Very fun. Thank you, Lyndsay. Appreciate that. you. Yeah. If anybody has any other corrections or things they know are random trivia or fun facts, email us, man. We're here. Yeah. All right. You got any cold takes? No, just that one from Laura. So good. I have a general hot take question if you don't. Go for it. Do you like Shakespeare? Oh my God, what kind of question is Well, we're talking about Hamnet today, so figured it was appropriate. Okay. Coming from an English teacher. I do have a pretty happy memory about Romeo and Juliet. Oh, okay. In high school. everyone had to like pick a chunk to memorize. then we did the popcorn reading. throughout class some days and then other days it was like you were assigned a character. And eventually I apparently always want to speak out loud to people because I just became Juliet. So I read Juliet to everybody in class. I'm really surprised at that because I'm thinking back on it and I was like, that seems kind of like. was I, I must've been more outgoing than I remember. I will take Juliet. Yep. Yeah. And I just like owned it and I was like, I'll just keep reading Juliet every day. there you go. So that's what I did. So that's my, yes. Outside of that ⁓ as non-English major, I don't have a lot of experience, but my, my little has been good. I love it. Good. ⁓ That, you know, an English teacher is so heartwarming to hear because I, love teaching Romeo and Juliet year after year. And I fight to keep this in the curriculum because I feel like it's such just an iconic piece. everybody can be like, I read Romeo and Juliet. I remember the time when I read the part of the nurse And so I just, I really like it. I like teaching it. ⁓ what do you normally do for reading in your classroom? You, they all volunteer for parts, so they get to pick. have, I have the document that tells you how many, about how many times the character speaks. So like, if you want to sign up for the servant and only speak two times, you're good to go. I say you have to pick at least two roles at some point in the unit. Okay. And then kind of similar to you, we had people sometimes always be like, you know, I will be Mercutio the whole time or whatever. which is really fun. Cause sometimes people, get into it and kids who normally wouldn't care. Yeah. and it's fun. Aw, I love it. So I like it. I've read some other Shakespeare. I had a whole Shakespeare class, obviously, in college, which was interesting, except it was one of those once a week classes, the evening classes, from like three to six. So that was just wretched. is bad. Aw, who designed that? So dumb. Who can do anything for three hours, let alone in the afternoon? Yep. You're crossing over that threshold of like, It's too late from lunch. You're getting into your dinner time. You're just hangry and you don't want to be there. And then if you skip, ⁓ you've three whole class periods essentially. ⁓ don't miss those days. ⁓ no, not a three hour class. Absolutely not. ⁓ gosh. Okay. but you like Romeo or you like? I do like Shakespeare. Okay. I was like, did you answer the question? I don't know if I did. I do. So today's episode is Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell. So spoilers ahead mateys, we are talking Hamnet. including movie and book. did have a little movie date together on Doran's couch. It was so nice. are also mature adults. I don't know that the, well, yeah, I feel like there are some characters that piss us off enough that there might be some swears. just ye be warned for that. ⁓ yeah. I even nicknamed one of them. ⁓ can't wait. Well, we begin with our nonverbal reactions? yes. ⁓ I... ⁓ ⁓ shoot, I looked at this up a little while ago and now I gotta remember how to do it. ⁓ we'll see how this, this might be terrible. Okay, I can't Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, It's to be the funeral march. ⁓ I know I didn't get it right, because I threw in some extra duns in there. Just extra dead, extra dead. Okay. Mine was... ⁓ ⁓ not like this book to start with. It was ⁓ slog in the beginning, but then I really did love it by the end. Totally agreed. I with the Funeral March song because right away the beginning it says this is a... story about the plague. I was like, well, okay, people are dying. Just be prepared. This is going to be a sad story. There's probably not gonna be a lot of happy moments. So funeral march it is. That makes sense. And there was a lot of death. Yep. why this pic? Well, people were hyping it. I was seeing it ⁓ on the Instagram. And then ⁓ was in London this past summer. No brag, but brag. And our tour tour guide mentioned it because the movie was coming out, think later that summer. like early, early last summer. And I just was like, ⁓ okay, cool. a book about Shakespeare. you really don't get a lot of ⁓ stories about So it got me really curious. and there was also a book club that covered this somewhere in green Bay. that we keep like meaning to go to and show up to and just, just, we just never do. So one day we are going to come to you book club in Green Bay and there's many and we love you and we will come one day. Yeah. Yeah. I think this was like a scheduling thing. think the book club covered it like maybe end of March. Yeah. And where are we? Mid May. Yeah. We weren't quite on track. We had hopes for that. Yeah, that's okay. It's whatever. It's fine. Awesome. here goes my Lay it on us. ⁓ I should have read something by you before. It'll be fine. It's fine. It's always fine. OK, first of all, Anis ⁓ Agnes, ⁓ what we to go with today? Well, first off, her name is ⁓ Anne. ⁓ But if you make me call her by her book name, I'm going to call it Agnes. OK. Because that's how I read it. OK. Because right away, was like the first time you see it in parentheses, it says Anis. Why? And and I was like, oh, don't forget that. And it just irritated me, the whole book. Every time my was there, I was like, oh no, Agnes. Oh no, it's Anis. That's one of my things that I'm going talk about later, being like, mmm. All right. So I'm going to call her Agnes. OK. Good. All right. And I also wrote my summary in chronological order because I don't remember all the back and forth time hoppiness. No, no, that's fair. That's fair. do not, yeah, I do not remember the jigsaw of it. ⁓ yeah. I was like, no, that's not happening. So, Agnes is a misunderstood teenage girl who is rooted in nature. She lost her mother at a young age and is living with her new stepmother, Joan, and her older brother, Bartholomew. John is a young man. His name is John in the book, right? Who, Shakespeare? Yeah. No, they never call him his name. John is his dad. They just call him the Tudor or the playwright. ⁓ that's never once mentioned his name, which is something I bring up later. ⁓ okay. Well, I call him John through all my... Well, that's not him. John Smith. John Smith? What? Okay, the Tudor. There we go. is a young man sent to tutor Agnes's younger half siblings. He is the son of a glover who is in debt to Agnes's father and is performing the tutoring on his father's behalf as repayment for the debt. As it turns out, the tutor and Agnes are quite attracted to one another and fall in love. They get pregnant out of wedlock. On purpose! moves in with John's family and they are soon married. They move into the small apartment attached to the house. Props to Bartholomew Barth Bartholomew. Thank you to him. insistence. is born ⁓ the tutor withers at his tutoring job, falling into a depression. Agnes knows she must do something to help him. Cue the meddling by Agnes and Bartholomew. old Bartholomew convinces Bad Dag Glover. Bad Dag Glover, ⁓ that bad dad. To the tutor to London to expand his business. He is thrilled to go and plans to buy a house for Agnes and Susanna to join him. But wait, Agnes is again. goes without her and finds great success in the city in the theater world. Agnes gives birth to twins, Hamnet and Judith. However, was and somehow Agnes ⁓ brings her back to life. That was crazy. So Judith was a sick child and kept Agnes from ever moving to the city with him. He would travel home for a couple of times of year. a couple of times throughout the year when he could. That's where my summary ends and we're just gonna spitball it from here. We get lots of background Judith and Hamnet as children playing tricking, dressing up one another. And before we know it, Judith is sick. Yep. With the plague. With pestilence. The yes. That they call it. She's got lumps on her They are gross. Yeah, super gross. The movie did a great job at that. Hamnet says can't watch my sister die. I'm going to trick death. And so he into bed next to her and he ends up the one that dies. the tutor, ⁓ and I wish he a, we could call him a name, William. ⁓ William comes home. thinking that it would be Judith who was dead. Turns out it was Hamnet. And the funeral in the book was incredibly sad. he's maybe home for a month. And I believe he, out of the blue says to Agnes, I'll write to you when I get there. I'm leaving today. Yeah. She's like, where are you going? And so he blindsides her, leaves her in her... immense grief go to the back to the city, to the theater life. And doesn't come home for a year. Yeah. He gone ⁓ for whole year. He never comes home. It's like he couldn't come back and face that grief. He couldn't deal with it. And so when finally does come back, Agnes realizes that he was a cheater on her in that last year. Also could be part his grieving process. Whatever. We'll talk about that later. she forgives him. They figure out this like new lifestyle of him staying in London, her staying in their little town. Stratford upon Avon. Thank Been there. And you the story goes through the grief process and how the family moves past, but also doesn't move past Hamnett's death. Because how can you? Yep. And at one point, John buys her the biggest house in the town. Been there too. It's not that big. Where she does seem to process her grief and move on. thriving a little bit better too. She's got her plants and all of that and her healing and she's got the free air. Yes. And then who comes? What's the aunt's name? Joan. No, it's her stepmom. Joan delivers the playbill. of Hamlet. Which back then those names were interchangeable. Yes, which is really goofy, but- I know. So asked Bartholomew to take her to London to the play. And she realizes he has been processing his grief and wrote out his in this story. she went there hella mad at him. and left understanding him more than she ever did. It was really beautiful. It was beautiful. All right, good job. That was really good off the cuff. Oh, thanks. should we talk about first read versus reread? Go for it. I don't want to reread it. I put in the work. It can live in my brain as is, and it's. Which is good. I'm happy with it. I'm glad I read it. I'm glad I did put in the time, but I don't want to go back and experience that again. It was sad. Yes. And truthfully, you can watch the movie. Yeah. And in this case, I would say equal. Like they were pretty good. They were both really good. Yes. Which is rare. Exactly. Yeah. I feel like we're two for two here on Books Into Movies working out. So maybe in the year of our Lord, 2026. The film industry has finally figured it out. ⁓ Yeah, because, well, we'll talk more about it later, but Maggie was a part of, she wrote the screenplay or something, remember? Yeah, that's right, we did see that. So I think that is the key there. So speaking of, Rebecca Yaros I saw is signing with Amazon or Netflix? We got a fourth wing series coming and she's gonna be a show runner on it. I know, and they're already throwing potential actors out there for Xaden and I hate all of them. Hate them all. Yeah. I will not guarantee that I will watch that show. I know. it's going to be hard to capture that. I don't like that. Yeah. Okay. Especially if the CGI dragons suck, you know, that's going to be a big deal. I feel like Game of Thrones dragons, they hit. That was good. But I don't know. I don't know. That's a whole other thing. That's a different candlelight. All right. You really blindsided me Sorry. Now I'm reeling from it. Reeling it in. Reeling it in. No, I'm with you on the reread. Don't plan on rereading it. No. No. It was, like you said, slow, real slow up front. somehow I ended up loving it by the end. I know. I was ugh. slogging through it. Let's talk about the cover design. okay, cover design. I thought it was beautiful, very Renaissance era with the script, the blue and the H was fancy script. I read it on Kindle, so it was white and boring, but when I was seeing pictures online of it, I was like, this is a lovely book, so. Yes. I did like that. And then we're back to the same conversation we had on Project Hail Mary, where then there is the publicized movie I did not care for that cover. No. Nope. No. Nope. They got to quit that. So just leave the cover alone. For real. Like stop trying to monetize your movie. Yeah. Like people are going to see it or they're not. Yeah. They're going to read the book or they're not. Yeah. Like just chill. You can put the little sticker in the corner and be like, it's a movie. Yes. Done. And also, is anyone? picking up a book because it is a movie? I feel like it's the other way around, you know? There has to be, otherwise, why are they doing it? I don't know, do they think that that's happening? Do they think they're bringing in more readers by doing that? And maybe they are, I don't know. They have to be, they have the numbers. They have to be getting people this way. is why capitalism sucks. ⁓ You heard it here first. political now on the podcast. You thought we were talking about books. Gah! Buckle up. Right now we can get to overall thoughts and I can tell you what I was gonna say. The problem, a ⁓ big problem with this book is we both read it after Project Hail Mary and that is not the order to read these books in. Like, holy man, Project Hail Mary, are, ooh, like cannot put it down, action, action, action, action. This was such a slow pace. Lot more character development, way less plot. I was so bored right away. But once I did get used to the style, it was fine. Because this is a work of literature as in capital ⁓ L literature. is a character study. It was a commentary on the times and human plight. This is not plot driven at all. And so at first I hated it. I was very resistant against that. I am a big plot, plot, plot person. ⁓ But as went on, I got much more comfortable with the writing style and the narrative flow. And I did come to appreciate and like it. Okay. had a very similar read as you. ⁓ this is not describe the read. are in overall thoughts. I did enjoy the story. ⁓ do think it was a very well told story. ⁓ emotionally charged. ⁓ only other thing that we've read that is similar is like the women. I nearly as blindsided in this book. So I do greatly appreciate that. Yes, yes. I love the view ⁓ the family processing their grief. think getting all the different perspectives was really And I did like the alternate ⁓ timeline, too. There were and there were times, and then we're fast forwarded a little bit, and then we're back around. I did like that narrative style. ⁓ OK. ⁓ Well, you know how I feel about that. we're going to talk about that. Also, it was, I feel like a good representation about what life was like in the 1500s. ⁓ yeah. So it was really not something I would ever normally pick up and read. Yeah. So ⁓ I like I expanded my horizon with this book. And that's the whole point of reading. ⁓ If any of my students are listening, this is why we do it! ⁓ literally wrote that too. What a terrible time to live in. So much sickness. Kids have to take care of kids. The food is plain. ⁓ The food is plain! Yeah! Everybody's sick. You're just eating potatoes. Cold purge. ⁓ Okay, we just like go back to... ⁓ But like no running water. Yeah, no running water, no electricity. I could handle bland food. I cannot handle no running water. Yeah, like you have to walk to go get it. Then were they even ⁓ water at this point to drink or they're just slurping it out of the stream? I'm sure they're just slurping They're just slurping it. Yeah, they didn't know anything about that. You're right. This was the era too in which bathing was thought. to cause sickness. Like, can you imagine how stinky it was? for real. and when it gets hot too. Ugh. ⁓ my gosh. At least they were in the country and they could get some breezes and stuff, you know, like in London, it was just, you were just crammed into every, ugh. Yeah. And that's what she did mention, the stink of London when they got there. Yeah. Ugh. I can't, I can't even imagine. Speaking of stink. ⁓ This is a random off tangent story. So we had T-ball practice last night. I'm coaching, right? Cameron's like, I gotta go pee. I was like, all right, there's the Porter Potties, go. He comes back a short while later, like not a long time, not where I'm like, where's my kid? And he's like, I got stuck in the Porter Potti. I was like, what? ⁓ my gosh. And then in my mind, I'm like, yeah, this is the first time he's ever gone to a Porter Potti by himself. Usually I go in with him. So I was like, ⁓ no, are you okay, So I think he just didn't. know how to get the door like back open. Oh, sweetie. I know. was like, oh my gosh. So all right. If you have kids aged five, six, four, teach them how to use the porta potty on their own. So good. Good idea. My little PSA right there. Oh, man. What a place to get stuck. Oh my gosh. What? That is traumatizing. He was fine, though. He didn't cry. So guess we're right. Good. Yeah, he made it through. He did it. Okay, yeah, but like this read, like we said, this start was so slow that this was my bedtime read. Just ⁓ lull you to sleep. Yeah, it was, ⁓ I just need to go back to sleep or like, you know, waking up in the middle of the night. Okay, I'm just gonna like try to read a page or two of this. Smart. So it was slow. It was very slow in the beginning and I just had no desire to pick it up. Yeah. But then all of a sudden, It like flipped and there I was. I know and I didn't write down exactly the part where I was like, ⁓ yeah, I'm super into this. don't remember what it it was very gradual. Yeah and just all of sudden, I think you just got like used to it and then you're like, okay, I see this. Yeah, yeah because before I knew it, it was like I was staying up reading too Yeah. I was like what? ⁓ a minute, this is supposed to be my bedtime book. Yeah, what is happening? it was very crazy. ⁓ I echo that. I read it on the Kindle. It very slow at first, but then it really did pick up, which is because we have a ton on the TBR. ⁓ But it's fine. That's a good problem to have. We need to stop stressing about it. By we, I mean me. Yeah. OK. ⁓ Real quick, mentioned your Kindle. ⁓ Are you the? No, I have a new Kindle. So also, ⁓ getting political Bitch move, Amazon. What are you doing? I get it. You don't have to provide support anymore. That's fine. But to just. Shut her down? Are you kidding me? Jeff Bezos, ain't you got enough money? Like stop coming for the people who bought the Kindles. Yep. ⁓ that was a dirty, dirty ball move. I am grateful I got my Kobo e-reader when I did because my 5. Yeah, you would have been shut down first and it would have laughed at you and just poof blew up like self-destruct button. But now I'm like, OK, this thing's an antique. Do I save it? Oh, yeah. Be like, I used to read books on this. Yeah. Or do I like chuck it because it's never going to be used again? Yeah. will not. Yeah. So I'm kind of in this like, what should I do? weigh and readers, are we saving these things and pulling them out later? Maybe they're going to be worth money. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's soured me and the whole Amazon thing now. I wish I would have not kindled it up. That's fine. Character analysis. analysis. Oh, Hamnet, he's such a mama's boy and I just loved it. And how he sacrifices himself to death to save Judith. He is just so pure. He is the kindest, sweetest little boy. That was unbelievable. I know. really. Yeah, very, very sweet. How old was he when he died? Like eight or I they were like eight or nine. Yeah, they were like Eli age. So was like... gonna talk about Bad Dad Glover. Bad Dad Glover. I don't even have him on my list here, but go ahead, Bad Dad Glover. I just wanna call out, what a piece of shit. Oh, for real, for real. We've seen some bad dads on this podcast. have. So that's saying something. We're putting you on the, ooh, that should be a category for end of the year recap. Who's the baddest dad? I am writing that down right now. Bad dad end of year. Where are we ranking him among Freddie? Freddie might be there or Frankie's dad too. Oh yeah. I still think Freddie's probably the worst. Like you're lying to your daughter. You've kept someone in your life for 20 plus years to serve you out of guilt. Yeah, he's the worst. Okay. All right. All right, I just wanted to have that quick chat. Right now, yeah, right now he's the worst. Go listen to these Tangled Vines episodes if you don't know what we're talking about. Bad Dad Freddy. Bad Dad Freddy number one. That's the gold standard for bad dad. ⁓ Okay, then let's talk about, should we get into Agnes? ⁓ Yeah. Yeah. But her real name is Anne. just, I, okay, did it, she said it, she changed her name like that because Shakespeare had a sister named Anne and she didn't want us to get confused, correct? Yep. So she did this as a writer's choice, a narrative choice. Yep. Why not just change Shakespeare's sister's name then? Like she wasn't even a main character. So I'm just upset about that. Yep, bad pick. Yeah, like that was a bad call. Yep. But I love that she's a free spirit. I just automatically assumed she was a docile pushover because she let Shakespeare move to London for his whole life. I know were different back then and the man got to do whatever he wanted. ⁓ But still, I assumed OK, she had to raise the kids alone and was just ⁓ living there being like, is he going to come back to me? ⁓ that was not her at all. I enjoyed this portrayal of her where she she sacrifices having him home because she could see how it was just killing him. It was stifling him. And I appreciate that touch. And I now have a new found respect for her because of that. I also liked that they gave her those fortune telling talents and made her seem kind of other wordly and weird. I loved all of that. And the thing is we don't know anything about Anne Hathaway. So this is just like all up, but I love it. ⁓ yeah. That was fantastic. The whole finger grab to. ⁓ tell me or I think it was like some on top. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever this. Yeah. In between some and four finger, she pinched there and she could see somebody into somebody's soul. Yep. Yep. She could get a a glimpse of what was your life. Yeah. that's how she knew she wanted to marry William because I wonder if they ever call them Bill. I don't think that was a name back then. Probably not. But she pinched and she said she saw a deepness. Yeah, something like that. Yeah, she could see into his soul and he was more than just. seen in anybody before, which turns out to be very true. makes sense, yeah. Yeah, his writing becomes famous. Iconic. Yeah, thank you. That's a better word, iconic. Yeah. And I loved her healing properties and how she knew every, well, yeah. That was cool. All in all, very, very cool character. Really neat. Yeah. To take a historical character like that or person and then to just be able to think through all these different kinds of things and then apply it and like make it work. So good job, Maggie. ⁓ for Maggie. ⁓ ⁓ right. Let's talk about Shakespeare. So they never once refer to him by name, ⁓ seems significant. And I want to see if you have a take on that. Why do you think that is? Because I have a take. But I want to see if you have a take. Well, I did notice that. And in the beginning, it was bothering me. Yep. But eventually, kind of stopped Yeah, in the beginning, she did that with almost everyone. wasn't your name. was your identifier. Yeah. But then I noticed she did that for him all the time, the entire time. His name was never mentioned once. So I don't have a take. didn't even catch it. Well, I have a take and my take is this is not his story. He gets all the praise, all the glory, all the focus throughout all of history. And here is the one time when he does it. This is not his story. He's a player in it. He's a key player in it, but he's not the focus for once in his miserable, brilliant life. He is not the focus. So I absolutely agree with you. I think that's the right take, Leah, because it is focused on Agnes. Mm-hmm. Anne is such an- Anne is. now we gotta talk about my boy, Bartholomew. ⁓ he is just my favorite. He's good. He's solid. He's stand up. The movie just nailed his portrayal to it. So good. He's just a- kiss. Yep. He's a rock of a guy. He is a true gem. He is a prince among men. Yep. ⁓ for that time when I do think, like, men's status was... ⁓ The highest. For real. You own your women. That's why he had to go help Anne. Like she couldn't make any decision on her own. She had to get a male stamp of approval on it. Yes. So crazy. But he just listened to her. He was nice. Yeah. loved him. Loved him. All right. Any other characters? Real quick, I want to talk about Mary. Who's Mary? Oh, the mother-in-law. The mother-in-law. Shakespeare's mom. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. She comes off initially as a hard ass, but she was there. She was there. She was in the thick of things. She was like, you are not having this baby in the woods. Get over here. Which thank god. Had she gone to have the babies in the woods, it would not have gone well. And she was there to help wash him and his body and get him ready for burial. ⁓ helped her through the grieving process and just, she started off as like a, my God. You trapped my son. Yeah, you trapped my son by getting pregnant. then, no, when it came down to it, Mary, she was there. She did it. Joan. Real quick on Joan, man, what a bitch. real, like just to saunter all over that. Have you seen this? like, I hate people like that. Like, why you be so mean? Why you gotta be so mean? I love, though, that Agnes was like. Joan is the type of person who. is miserable and wants to make everyone else miserable around her. And I was like, snap! We all know those people. She called her out. I ain't happy, so none of y'all gonna be happy. Yep, yep, yep. So get some therapy. Figure it out. Yeah. Oh, Joan. Oh, Joan. Oh, Joan. All right. So I do character cocktail. If I had gotten our lives together, I was thinking black coffee with honey. ⁓ Yeah. of her honey bees. Yep. Yep. And black coffee just because this time was black. It was all black. Everything was dirty. Everyone's was black. Yes. Everyone's depressed. Yeah. Everyone's. Yeah. So that's where I would have. All right. That's a good pick. Yep. Yep. So I have one for Anne and one for Shakespeare. So Anne is getting some type of like witchy brew to help inflammation, you know, cause she's like got those witch properties. You gotta have some elderberry in there. Yep. Yep. Some crushed something. Yeah. All those herbs and spices and probably some lavender for being real. Some chaga mushrooms, maybe. Yep. So she reminds me very much of my witch doctor. I have a witch doctor and the witch doctor had me taking a couple months ago, gelatin actually to help my hamstring issue. And guess what? It actually worked. It helped the inflammation and all of that. it was so crazy. So I was doing all these exercises and stretches. Nothing was working. ⁓ So she was take this gelatin once a day for two weeks and it's going to help loosen the tendon or something. And what do you know it? It worked. I get it. It got, it feels better. when you say gelatin, like making jello. Yeah. Yeah. You just ate Jell-O? Mm-hmm. Yep. Hmm. Yep. What a prescription. I know. I was like, all right, I'll some Jell-O. That's fantastic. And then Shakespeare gets a cocktail called The Narcissist because I think he does display some elements of narcissism in the fact that he makes choices that are good for him, that are not necessarily good for his family. And so according to the internet, a narcissist drink has gin, lime juice, ginger beer. Rem de velette. Flower stuff, I ⁓ hate flower stuff in drinks. I I know. I have ⁓ another book that we're going to cover later that has a character cocktail that's got some lavender in it, so. you know more about Shakespeare's like true history than I do. ⁓ I feel like you're really harsh on him. ⁓ Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The movie helped soften to him a little bit, I think, because they left out some of those key. OK, ⁓ let's keep going. ⁓ All right. Highs lows. Hi. ⁓ like the little small insights into life. Like he lived so long ago. ⁓ He's kind of an enigma because we really literally don't even know if he looked like that a hundred percent for sure. there were two paintings made of him in his lifetime ⁓ a bust that his family commissioned. that's all that's how that those are the three things that we operate, you know, thinking he looks the way he does. So ⁓ it really fun to read about his life, ⁓ like it could have been like. ⁓ I like the imagining of Anne story. it just, I like how that all. It just gave us like some concrete, tangible details for something that we just literally don't know anything about. Yep. Totally love it. I mean, I know it still is like a work of fiction, but it's based on real people. For real. And it real. Yes. It absolutely felt real. Yeah. In addition to that, the writing style, it's just, it was beautiful. I don't even know another way to say it. know. Yes. Like even some of the mundane parts of the story felt more meaningful just because of how she wrote it. Yep. I liked how she had those different point of views in there too, because that would really, that really offered like close insight into what a character notices and clocks. for example, the plague doctor came to the door and he had that dumb beak mask on that they thought would, would help and Hamnet freaks out because why wouldn't I? is horrible. And can pick up on the fact too that the doctor doesn't like his mom. it's not obvious, but he's just, he's reading it. ⁓ He can't his brain around like why they couldn't just work together to solve this ⁓ illness. why it have to be a competition? his childlike view of the world just helped us make it seem like it's more complicated than it has to be. why are adults the way we are? So it was really nice. What'd you for low? the time hopping. think mainly the time hopping in the beginning when were getting- When we were trying to figure out where we even were. Yes. There were three different time periods we were jumping between. was the ⁓ Hamnet, ⁓ Agnes as teenager falling in love, ⁓ and then as a child losing her mother. Yes. So I was like, I don't know everyone who- And then I would have to tell myself, okay, this is Hamnett's grandma, but Hamnett's not alive yet. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I was like, it was so hard for me to keep track. Yes. There's too much time hopping in the beginning. Yep. I agree with you on that. Cause Hamnett was supposed to be like the anchor. Yeah. Like who we kind of got acclimated on, but really this is Anne's story. this is about her, but Hamnett's just the the son that we revolve around. Yes. So yeah, I literally was like Hamnett's grandma, Hamnett's mom is Agnes, Agnes's mom is, we can't even remember her name. And then at some point she died. like, had a lot of time with her though. More than let, there was more time with her upfront than I- Yeah. I didn't, I did not think that was going to happen. I don't think it was totally necessary, but whatever. So that was my low. What about you? I'm just pissed that they changed Anne Hathaway's name to Agnes. And she said in the afterword why she did it, but it just does seem dumb to me. Yeah, ⁓ ⁓ not know that her last name was Hathaway. ⁓ do you think ⁓ Anne Hathaway was named after her? ⁓ I don't know. That's a good question. But people got all confused when on our tour in ⁓ it was like, we're going to Anne Hathaway's cottage. And they were like, ⁓ neat. And I'm like, you guys. Nope, this is not the one that you're thinking of. Why would she let people go tour her cottage? And why does she have a cottage in Stratford-upon-Avon? Nope. That shattered some people's... They were like, wait, ⁓ yeah. Yeah, mean, shame on you if you're going on a paid tour to not know who you're going to see things for, but like. We had 30 teenagers, so. ⁓ that's so funny. ⁓ this was in your group. Yes, yes, yes. you were talking about other people. ⁓ no, no, no, no, no. OK, got it, got it, got it. then, yeah, my other low at first was like the writing style. It threw me. It was in present tense. which I always feel weird about. I have read books that are written in present tense before, but it is not my favorite. And it takes me a while to like get, get used to it. was also hard cause she rarely used the names. She was using their identifiers. really know why she did that other than I think our Shakespeare theory, but I don't, I'm thrown on your take on a present tense. Most books are written in past tense. They are? Yeah. That didn't bother me. Like, Farrah screamed. Farrah doesn't scream. Yeah. She screamed, yeah. Oh, now I'm going to have attention to that. Great. Yeah. It didn't bother me though, so interesting. I noticed it and it felt weird. Oh, okay. All right, didn't bother you. Nope. Good to know. did not. Let's do best and worst. Okay. My best scene is I'm going with what stuck with me the most. And I'm quoting it because this just really hit me hard. What is the word, Judith asks her mother, for someone who was a twin but is no longer a twin? Her mother, dipping a folded double wick into heated tallow pauses but doesn't turn around. If you were a wife, Judith continues, and your husband dies, then you are a widow. And if it is a parent who died, a child becomes an orphan. But what is the word for what I am? and her mother answers, I don't know. ⁓ that is heartbreaking. That was the most unbelievable part of the whole story for me. had the hardest time with that. Yeah, I was probably sobbing at that point. somehow I never shed a tear once during the book or the movie. Oh, it rocked me when she said that and I was like, there's not a word for that. There actually isn't and that's sad. I did ask Gemini though. Gemini said there are support groups out there that have come up with the term lone twin or a twinless twin. Oh, those are both sad. They are both sad. I know. I mean the whole thing is sad. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You literally lost like the other half The other half of you, yeah. Well, my, and again, this isn't my favorite, but this was, think the best and the most well done scene is when Hamnet is trading places with Judith and death was there. It was just such a well written scene. ⁓ He said he could see death in the doorway. And he's like, don't worry, I'll dress up and you know, it'll be just like when we were kids, no one will know the difference. ⁓ I can do this. I'm stronger than you. ⁓ too ⁓ Too pure. Yeah, And he doesn't even know what that means. I know. I know. And then the movie too, when they cut to that one scene where he was like in the dark room, just kind of looking around like, OK. I was like, no, no, no, no, no, no. I have so many thoughts on that. I'm saving it for the movie section. OK. OK. All right. What's your worst? When Shakespeare tells her that he's leaving for London after Hamnet dies and she's so confused what he's telling her. and she can't believe that he's leaving them. you would do that. Ugh. That was heartbreaking. That was poorly done, my guy. Yeah. Poorly done. Badly handled. She was totally blindsided. Yeah. Had no idea that you were not only thinking about leaving, but leaving that day. and was like, no, there's a party leaving today and they can spare a horse for me. I'm out of here. making stupid excuses to it's almost the play season. I have to get back. They can't, they can't do it without me. Well, they're going to have to for a month or so, you know? Like, oh my gosh. And like, I know he had to process his grief. Yep. Like that was a part of the reason why he left. Sure. Yep. For sure. But my guy, you've got to have the conversation. You can't just bring it on her. Super selfish. That did suck. that was the thing he did in the whole story. Yeah, not cool, bro. ⁓ Not cool. No. my worst is the ending. I really like how she goes to the play and locks eyes with him on stage and then she realizes why he wrote it and all of that. I wanted them to have the conversation afterwards. Like I wanted to see that. I wanted that healing to happen for them. I wanted to see it. And I'm sad I didn't get to. Agreed. ⁓ And then I had hope when we watched the movie, I was like, maybe they'll give it to us here. And then they didn't again. And I was like, ⁓ you. ⁓ I the closure. ⁓ It feel like it was left just like, ⁓ here's this carrot. ⁓ Bye. Okay, bye. You can imagine it. You can figure it out on your own, I guess. Pretend that that carrot was crunchy and good. Think of the juice. No, carrots aren't juicy. Never mind. They do make carrot juice somehow. ⁓ yeah. Probably just got to grind it up pretty good, Sprinkle that in your coffee. ⁓ gross. Ew, ew, ew, well, are we changing? Easy. There's an entire chapter in the book about how the disease made its way to Judith. What in the hell? I liked that. I thought that was cool. Oh my to get on the flea, on the monkey and the, but I did, that was a little needlessly cruel. when the, the, the monkey was stolen from the boy or something and then they hit it. that part I did not like, but. I think again, that really sets the scene for that time period. That's absolutely how it was. Children were just stupid, ⁓ useless things and they had no respect and people could just whoop on them with no consequences. So I think that did a good job for illustrating that. But it was like extra heartbreaking too. It was so long. It was so long. I was like, are we done yet? Are we done? I don't care anymore. Just like the lice. Yeah. But it was interesting too, because what did I learn? I learned something about lice. They can't fly. They just have to, they can jump. They can jump like three feet. Yeah. It was that. They and then they bite. Yeah. I am changing. I you to use the characters names. I don't like the Glover. I didn't like the tutor. I didn't like the brother. just use their names and I'm, I'm curious. why she did that. If that is just her writing style and she does this for all of her books, or if this was an intentional choice for this one. I feel it's intentional for this one. If I had to guess, if I'm making a guess on it, I would feel that it was intentional. Back to your point on not making it about Shakespeare. Yep. Yeah. It feels intentional. It feels too weird to be like, this is just how I normally write. So, all right. But no, I'm with you. It would have cleaned up the beginning a lot. Yeah. would have made following the characters a little way easier. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Hot take debate. I got a good one. Do you got one? All right. I've got one. Ooh. OK, you go first. OK. ready. I'm ready. OK. I think you're going to have a real hot take on this one. ⁓ boy. ⁓ boy. ⁓ John really love her? ⁓ did she make the right call for giving him for his adultery? ⁓ ⁓ These are tough questions. Okay. We're going Shakespeare in the book. ⁓ yeah. Shakespeare. call them John. Not real life Shakespeare. Okay. Yeah. Book Shakespeare. Shakespeare. Yes. I think they really did love each other. And I think they just kind of were fundamentally a little bit incompatible in the way that they needed to live. had she gone to London, she would have been stifled just like he was stifled living in the small town life. So think they did love each other. Yep. Man, ⁓ really hate when a cheater gets forgiven in a book. ⁓ I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. I think that is just so, ⁓ are you doing? either be married or don't. you don't get to have it both ways. So ⁓ I get mad about that. My counter on that piece is he didn't cheat until Hamnet died. Correct. So do you think it was a part of his grieving process? Could have been, still doesn't excuse it. No. Yeah. So, but okay, yes. I Didn't she make the right call? I think, yes, I mean, did love each other very deeply. And think, yep, it was a mistake. I think he thought he was gonna get away with it. I think he didn't realize she was gonna- Oh, that's fair. I think he was then a little bit Well, he's a fool for thinking that. Oh, for sure. Yeah, yeah. So I'm glad she was mad at him for a while and let him, you know, stew about it for a bit. But I guess, yeah, but tough call. It is a tough one. It is tough. Okay. Mine's kind of a heavy one too. So. What isn't heavy about this Yeah, good point. Good point. Does. the quality a writer's character, so who they are as a person, affect the quality of their writing. So what I mean by this is, should we be canceling authors who are not good people? And does your answer change if the author that we are canceling is dead? For a hemplo, Edgar Allan Poe was a drunk and a fighter and just not a good guy. but he writes really crazy short stories. Shakespeare abandoned his family, lived his entire life in London, just living it up on his own bachelor style. ⁓ Sherman Alexi is a Native American writer, has slash had some sexual assault allegations against him. So his books fell out of favor. I love his books though, but do we, are we canceling people because of how they act? that affect their- Does that affect their books? Like do we cancel their books or their writing? based on the actions of the author. We are getting political again here people. No, I'm just kidding. I know. The answer is no, because at the end of the day, these works of literature are iconic, like you said before. can't ignore the genius in them just because they were a trash person that wrote it. Yes. a line, right? Like if Hitler was writing like Shakespeare I do think we'd be canceling that. ⁓ Yeah, are some, yeah. That's a good, I'm glad you gave that example. ⁓ There's a bar of tolerance where your, quote, normal problems, kind of get ⁓ a pass. right. That's fair. Yeah. So I was very, yeah, very much along the same lines. I obviously don't want to be supporting sex offenders, like full stop. talking about the Sherman Alexi, I really, I really liked some of his books. they're good. is it one of those things where you can- offender is tough I know. And he's still alive too. So that's the thing. It's not like he's a dead guy and ⁓ you know, not that that that excuses any behavior like that either, but like, so. ⁓ Sex offender might cross, and that might be a personal line that you gotta determine, but that one feels like it might be crossing the line for me. Yeah, yeah. It's so, yeah. It's so tough. It is tough. Because I already have the book. It's not like I'm going to go throw it away, you know? Yeah. ⁓ Or you wanna get real controversial, ⁓ Stephanie Meyer has painted herself in some light, so. What's the light? Tell me. What? I'm not up on this. What's the tea? She's like anti-trans, anti-gay. See that gets tough too because like you're allowed to have opinions on how you feel about things. You know? But if you're going out and spewing hate, like we need to kill all these people, you know, then that's a problem. Wow. I'm going to have to do some investigating. Do some investigating. Interesting. Now wait, who am I talking about? Whose name did I say? Stephanie Meyer. JK Rowling. Said the wrong name. Said the wrong name. Okay, knew, yes, knew JK Rowling, like, Sorry, Stephanie Meyer. You're never gonna Oh, that's a new one. But sorry, that was my bad. You're never gonna hear this. We're gonna chalk that up to pregnancy brain. I don't know what the right answer is. ⁓ Nope. ⁓ Again, I think it's personal choice at the of day. I'm not going to cancel Harry Potter. Right? I love Harry Potter. ⁓ Yep. and it's not like it'd be different too if the stuff that they're is being hateful also, like in the books. But Harry Potter teaches a lot of really good moral lessons, I would say, right? It teaches forgiveness and all these different things and stop judging people, blah, blah, blah, all of that. So I think that is also different. If the thing that you're reading is a hateful piece of rhetoric, then that also changes things. Edgar Allan Poe. I don't care. I don't care that he was a drunk. I love Egger Alan Poe. He's got good stuff, It's so dark and it's so twisted. Yes. What's the one, the crypt of Monte Cristo? The Count of Monte Cristo? Well, he didn't write that. No, like buried alive, cemented into the crypt. Yeah. Why can't I think of this? I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. It's fine. It's fine. fine. Just because he was drunk, whatever that like, dude, you get a pass. Yeah. Yeah. That one's okay. All right. You're a drunk and you're on your own. All right. F M K. All right. I guess I'm F in Shakespeare. Same. We probably have the same marry and the same kill. I don't know. ⁓ My Shakespeare's on here two times, just so you know. You can't have him on here twice? Well, I did. No. You didn't let me have someone on here twice. dang it. OK, well then. Yeah, had the F and the ⁓ I had the same one time. you're like, you can't do that. okay, well, I'm killing Shakespeare if that's any consolation. No, have to pick one or the other. All right, well, I'll have to come back to that because I think he's my kill. Okay, well, okay, well, I'm picking Shakespeare for my fuck. Okay. ⁓ My ⁓ is Bartholomew, of course. He's got a house. He's got a business. He takes care of his sister. He's a stand-up dude. He listens to women. Yep. Absolutely. And that he's very level-headed. ⁓ He's intelligent. Yep. Hard worker. Great. Yep. Oh, or I have another backup, marry I'll let you have Bartholomew. Oh. I'd maybe marry the friar that gave Ann the falcon. I know you can't marry priests, but maybe he's a Protestant and you can get married. So. No. Like that was a thoughtful thing. He does one thoughtful thing and you're like, yep, marry him. Who are I? Jordan, bad dad Glover? Like, no? Heart pass, ham nuts eight, that's not gonna work. I'm not marrying plague doctor guy, he's just getting germs everywhere. We didn't have a lot of choice, the pickings were slim in this book. They were, they were slim. who are you killing Well, okay, I was gonna kill Shakespeare because I think he's really selfish in this book. It would literally kill me though, not to have one of the most brilliant playwrights out there, but dang son. You a dog, like your son died, take some PTO. Yeah. Or, or I said Joan, cause she's a bee. Like just cause you're unhappy doesn't mean you have to make everybody miserable. her name really should be Karen because she is a Karen. Yeah. when she came over and slapped in the face with the playbill of Hamnet ⁓ dirty. Yeah. right. So fine. I guess I will kill Joan. Okay. me kill Shakespeare. ⁓ yeah, correct. ⁓ Correct. Okay. you killing? bad dad, glover He's an abusive piece of shit asshole. You don't need to be on this earth. No, no, you were not helpful to anyone. No, literally nobody. All you did was get everyone in debt. ⁓ So he actually had a crazy life too. He was like the town constable for a while. Yeah. And then, you know, fell out of favor with that. Yep. Then he did the glove and stuff. Yeah. Just a dirt ball. Yeah. Scum bag. I had to ask Gemini what it meant to have bags of wool in the attic. Oh. And it meant in terms of Hamnet that they were doing like black market trading. Some illegal shady. So he was like keeping this off to the side. Tax Not declaring it on his taxes. I see, see, I see. Yep, yep, yep. I knew it was something uncouth. Yeah, I know that's all you like really tell when I was like wow, but why this is bothering me. You wanted the etymology of that. Yes I did. I was like what does this mean? Don't you ever say we have a woolen or attic. I was like what? Isn't it insulation? What are we talking about? Oh gosh yeah how super terrible back then too. I know I was like this sounds like a great thing to have in your attic. Guys, guys, I just invented something. It's like, what are we talking about? Do you have a surprise question? It's not a good one. Oh, OK. All right. What time period would you want to visit for one week? Ugh. Ugh. Not this one. No, not this one. for one week, would probably pick... This so tough. Yep. I'm torn between like, I think it'd be really cool if I to go back and see my dad as a baby. Oh! And like my grandma as a young mom. Oh man. That would like in their prime. Yeah. That would be cool. I do think that would be like really fun. I want to go back to some, medieval is not the right word because gross. But like when there is a legit King and Queen monarchy somewhere, I just want to go to court and see what it's like, you know, have all the, all the, what are the court people called? Why can't I remember this? Gestures. No, no, no. But like the, the, the Lords and the ladies and the, don't know, all that. I just want to see that, that whole production. to see the whole thing. Like Bridgerton? Yeah, yes, like that. But then come home and take a real hot shower. And turn my lights on and off a bunch. Yeah. And have some flavorful food. So yeah, maybe Bridgerton era. Yeah. Yeah. I could see that. Have you watched The Crown on Netflix? Yes. Yeah. That's good stuff. It is good. Where are we clocking in for Harry Potter legendary scale? The burrow. That's where I went with it too, which was surprising to me. Yes. did not think this was going to be a four star. No, me either, especially with how slow it was. no, was both a heart, well, yeah, heartwarming and magical experience, just in a totally different way. it wasn't perfect. No. It was messy and full of charm. Yeah. Just like the burrow. Yeah. Like it started so poorly. But then like you said, whenever that switch flipped, it just was like, Oh yes. you really just appreciated it. Yeah. And you fell in love with the characters and you. It was beautiful. was well, well told on how to seeing grief being processed. Oh, poor Susanna. haven't talked about her grief at all. That was brutal. Yes. And just how she's acting out too. Oh, tough, tough, tough, So I wrote on Goodreads. This one took me a while to get into, but I'm glad I did. I'm rating it like a 3.75, which rounded up to a four. The writing style and narrative structure really threw me for a loop because I had just finished project Hail Mary. So I was not mentally prepared to appreciate Hamnet, but as I got used to the style, I started to respect it. I enjoyed the theories that Maggie presents about the members of Shakespeare family. And it's just so crazy to me how little we know about him and his life. So if you are someone who appreciates unique style of writing and character driven plots, you will love this. Yep. Goodreads has this at 4.21 stars out of, wow, only 466,000 ratings. Wow. Doesn't that seem low? Yeah. For all the hype that is just getting on the gram, I thought that would be way higher. Yeah. That seems surprisingly low. Huh. But in line with our four stars. So. Yep. Who are you recommending this to? I would say this is for people who like ⁓ writing books that are meaningful. lot of my ELA colleagues would eat this shite up. if you are fast place plot person, you are going to be disappointed in this book. But if you can appreciate quality writing style that like makes you work for it, but not too hard, ⁓ this is your I'd almost call this a classic light. It's got elements of a classic, but it's not that sloggy. Yep, totally. ⁓ if you're looking to just expand, dip your toes into something that feels classic-y. Right, yeah. Get some capital L literature in your life. Yep. Good place to do it. So at said, she found it slow in the beginning, brutal in the middle, but totally worth reading. And I would agree. Brutal? Yeah. Probably just the grief. ⁓ OK. Yeah. Sure, sure. My coworker Stephanie did read it and love it. I was talking to her about it a little bit in the halls. And I was like, I ⁓ like this book. And she was like, I really do. And I was like, OK, Stephanie, I'm going to keep through with that. And I did. And I was glad. Yeah. It turned out. Awesome. I do have one other fan thought from my friend Elizabeth. But it is focused on the movie. OK. Well, that's our next segment, too. So roll it on. said the only thing she really wanted to comment on was major, major kudos to Jessie Buckley for a beyond incredible performance on what it means to be a strong woman and a strong mother. Pin drop moments in the theater. ⁓ yeah, she nailed it. That was a good actress pick. that was ⁓ really done. Yep. Fantastic. And I think you said she won best actress for it, didn't she? ⁓ have to double check. There were a couple of awards that were won. So yes, we came and watched the movie. I think it was on Mother's Day, wasn't it? Yes, Yes, I came over and I was like, OK, ⁓ this great. We had some little ⁓ &M's, snacky snacks. Well, because we had planned on recording. Yes. And then I was like, wait, we didn't watch We didn't watch the movie. were like, crap, you're right. So you had, what is it, Paramount? Peacock. Peacock. Peacock Paramount Prime, what's with the peas, people? Peas. Peas and TV. So yeah, we sat down, watched that in the afternoon. It was really well done. I thought they did a good job with the pacing. It never felt like really slow. I think they did a good job with that. They told this chronological. There was no time hopping here, which I think was necessary for the movie. That was the right call, for sure. I liked the family dynamic that they portrayed. when they, I don't know, they did, they did like a, like just a little family picnic or something. they really did a good job of capturing that close relationship they had and how excited they'd be when Shakespeare would come back to visit. they just, they did a good job with that. ⁓ yeah. I loved that scene where he had, the kids all do the play. Yeah. acted it out for them. ⁓ was so cute. then Afterwards, Hamnet was like, I wanna be a player on the stage with my sword. then they did the full circle, the actor with his cornstarch in his hair to make him look blonde. But the Hamnet scene broke me. It was too much, it was too sad. I was sitting on the couch being like, don't do it, don't do it, don't do it. No tears actually fell out of my eyes, but they were there. Oh my gosh. felt like they took it one step too far. Yes, I agree. They just, they grounded in there a little bit too much. And that flips, that takes me out of the moment and it makes me angry instead. I'm like, no, you're trying to be emotionally right now. So really bothered me when Hamnet is in that in-between world and he's ⁓ mom. And was like, ⁓ no, no. had to disassociate it. was like, look, there's a dog outside. Okay. ⁓ Like I couldn't be in it. No, let him wander and be peaceful about it. Yes. Don't be where's my mom? No, that took it too far. much. ⁓ The best was at the end when they're on the stage and she grabs the actor who plays Hamnet and grabs his thumb as he's like dying and just, ⁓ you could just see ⁓ all of grief and all of her feelings and all of her manifestations of what she wished her Hamnet would grow up to be ⁓ it's so good. Yep. That was. Oh, that was beautiful. That was a great addition because that wasn't done in the book. So that was super great. Something that also wasn't in the book that was in the movie that I did not like, that weird saying that Agnes and Bartholomew were saying. What was that? Did not like it. They were just repeating something that their mother had said and it was like 30 something, 30 something or 30 this, 30 that. And it was like, to remember that this plant does healing properties. they just saying it and I was like, okay, I'm annoyed with this. Yeah. yeah, it was unnecessary. Yep. Yep. no hug at the end. she just ends on the stage. ⁓ I know. I just, I wish I know they would done more. I did like though, too, when they showed his little apartment and she was like, This is what he lives in. we live in the biggest house in the town and he lives here in this little tiny thing like that. You know, it just softened her heart a little bit. could tell she was like, okay. Yes. But they didn't really him in the movie. she, he gave that bracelet and she was just mad and laugh, but they didn't acknowledge the fact that she could smell the other woman on it or whatever it was. And I wonder why they didn't that. Probably because they didn't want us to think he was a big, big asshole like I did. Yeah. ⁓ yeah. They did him a favor for sure. ⁓ yeah. A real big favor by not bringing up his adultery. But again, the small apartment that she could tell no women had been to, I was just like, oh, thank God. She really was like, please just really love her. So I did feel relief there. okay, all in all, watch the movie. Read the book, both things. We really highly recommend both. All right. So what are your thoughts on our hot takes? Let us know at once upon a hot take at gmail.com or on TikTok or Instagram. We would love to hear from you. If you enjoyed today's episode, go and leave us a review and give us a follow so more book lovers can find our show. Yes, please. We will be covering the red letter next. Remember, fairy tales are just the beginning. So unplug for a bit and dive into the next adventure with us. If you have any book suggestions we would love for you to share, hit us up. Goodbye. You