Latest / Bookies' Favourite / Flashlight by Susan Choi | Review | Booker Prize 2025

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Flashlight by Susan Choi | Review | Booker Prize 2025 · Bookies' Favourite

0:13
Hi hello, welcome to the club, the bookies favorite book club.
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We discuss literary shortlists and award-winning novels.
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This episode we're discussing Flashlight by Susan Choi.
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Hi, I'm Colin, I'm the resident writer and I'm currently
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performing a seance in my hostel bedroom.
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I audiobooked this book. I liked it overall.
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I think there's parts maybe a bit too long, things kind of
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stretch on and I didn't enjoy as each of the viewpoints equally
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and but overall, I think there's a lot to take from this book and
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it was a very entertaining family epic, if you will.
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And also I really like how the book, the blurb kind of kind of
0:57
takes you One Direction, but then the book actually swivels
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and kind of reinvents kind of where you think it's going to
1:03
go. And it's a much more interesting
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book because of that, I think. Hi, I'm Lucy and I am currently
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with some Buddhist monks in a Japanese coastal town.
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And Colin, I'm probably just going to echo similar sentiments
1:17
to you. I I thought that, and I said
1:20
this last week that I don't really like like really
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prescriptive point of view, kind of like this is this person's
1:25
chapter, this is the next person's chapter.
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This is but I actually think it worked a lot better for this
1:29
than the Lantern winter. But one thing I would say is
1:32
that it could have been like, it wasn't like I was bored, but I
1:37
could have dropped like left the book and not picked it up again.
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But then it did definitely pick up towards the middle and I was
1:46
really enjoying it. And then, yeah, I thought, I
1:50
thought it was pretty good. A lot of the character
1:52
development was really good. I thought all the characters
1:53
really interesting. And yeah, I really liked it.
1:56
But I think it had flaws with like how it was written.
1:59
Hi I'm Hannah and I'm currently wandering a strawberry field and
2:03
wondering if I should touch the electric buttons.
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I really like this book converged last week.
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I mean I. It was long.
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And I literally, like everyone else, I think could have been
2:18
edited down to like, way shorter.
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But I really enjoyed having the different parts because I felt
2:25
like we were like, you got to go through all the different
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decades, you know, of their lives.
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But yeah, some of it I felt like we spent chapters really in
2:36
things and the next minute you're skipping like decades or
2:39
whatever and you're like fast forwarded on.
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So I definitely think that didn't get even better.
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But yeah, I really loved everyone having their little
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chapters and, you know, finding out bits and pieces more about
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the character. So yeah, enjoyed this one bit
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too long, but overall, goodbye. Hi, I'm Aaron, our resident
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broadcast journalist, and I am missing at the beach because I
3:08
didn't everyone's laughing at me because I only read 10 pages of
3:13
this book. I.
3:15
Don't even think. I don't even think it comes off
3:17
in the 1st 10 pages. It does.
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It does. She's oh, does it.
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She's at the. Beach with her father and then
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he. Reread those 10 pages 44 times.
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I couldn't have read the whole thing, but he he wanted to
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really get. They meant so much.
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I just have a really busy lifestyle and I commute a lot
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for work and that takes like 4 hours out of my day just
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commuting. So I'm going to audio book the
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rest of these books so I actually complete them and I
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will aim to finish this before the winner is announced.
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I'm excited again to listen to everyone's thoughts, but again,
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I apologize that I did not complete this book.
4:01
Spoiler warning from this point onwards if you haven't read the
4:03
book yet and you're planning to come back to this discussion
4:07
after you've done so. To kick things off, we're going
4:09
to start with a quote. Love is perhaps the sensation of
4:15
expertise that erupts out of nowhere and as time goes on,
4:18
accumulates enough soil at its feet to be standing on
4:21
something. In flashlight there are some
4:28
central characters and they all kind of centre the round of
4:32
family and it's their lives from the 6th, well pre the 60s to
4:40
roughly the mainly the 60s to the early 2000s.
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And it goes through America, Korea, Japan, except just China
4:52
actually briefly as well. The main characters are Louisa
4:55
who is a girl who is on the beach with her dad and he
4:59
disappears on this trip, Her mother who is American and her
5:05
father who was born in Japan but is of Korean ancestry from an
5:10
island of Korea. And then her mother, who had a
5:16
child when she was 19 and his life, he's an American.
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There's a guy, Jihun, I think his name is, and he is a South
5:27
Korean trying to rescue people from North Korea after his
5:30
father is taken into North Korea.
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The book, and That's the Big Spoiled Warning deals with the
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fact people are taken from America, from South Korea and
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Japan by the North Koreans and taken and forced to be prisoners
5:45
of war. But it also features like Louisa
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and her life as an American traveling in Europe and just the
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ways in which her life goes, not ever knowing what has happened
5:55
to her father, who she believes is dead.
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I. Mean this is a big book and
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there's a lot in it. It's kind of hard to like pin
6:00
down, but I think you've had all the the nails with like the main
6:03
characters and like they obviously have their own dramas
6:05
and and stuff in their own lives that like kind of takes the
6:08
forefront. But the main arc of the story is
6:10
like, I guess the father, father vanishing.
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And I mean, I know we're kind of starting at the end of the book,
6:16
but it's like I already said kind of in the introduction that
6:20
I really liked how it was set up as like you think he drowns and,
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and, you know, that's it. And like, obviously everyone's
6:26
like talking about this and they, they just assumed this.
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But then, yeah, we, we, it like lifts the veil of like
6:32
whatever's going on in North Korea and the DP Arca.
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I think that's such an interesting take.
6:38
Do you know what the age is that Once I'd read the first, I
6:42
think, few chapters, I think in particular when Louisa isn't
6:47
with the psychiatrist, I was like, he hasn't drowned.
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I was like, he's definitely even taken or something.
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And then as it started to come to you, I was like, yes, I know
6:54
how to do. You spotted it.
6:56
Yeah. Do I, I don't even know if I did
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necessarily think there was anything.
7:02
I just like this that is a bit weird, but I kind of forgot
7:05
about it because I read it like the start bit and then I stopped
7:08
reading it for like a month and then started reading it.
7:10
So I'd kind of forgotten about that.
7:12
I was like just involved in like the family drama.
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But something that I don't know if it this is just like a
7:17
biases, but I at no point until it was spelled out did I think
7:22
it was North Korea his family were going back to.
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What? No, I was like.
7:26
I just assumed I knew that they were communists and stuff.
7:28
But right. I do the Korean War in history
7:33
when I was a child, so I do remember.
7:36
I did OK in it and I did remember vaguely what happened,
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but I kind of had assumed maybe I was getting maybe a bit more
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mixed up with the Vietnam War again.
7:47
I was much. Easily done.
7:49
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I kind of was.
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I, I assumed when they said communist, I thought like there
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was definitely a time with the whole country and we didn't know
8:00
exactly the date. Well, maybe we did, I can't
8:03
remember. But I think I had that bias in
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my head where it's like anything Korean.
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I just assume it's South Korean. Yes, I can understand where
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you're coming from, to be honest, because I thought that
8:13
they they were describing it in a way and not factually like I
8:16
thought that they were like, it took me a bit to figure that out
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as well. I think so.
8:20
So you're not on your own, Lucy, I think because they're not
8:23
outright saying. It seems like people are saying
8:24
those things, but they're not. That's not the truth, you know.
8:27
They just assumed they were communists in in South Korea I
8:30
think as well, because for our whole lives, North Korea has
8:33
been completely like a new. Exactly.
8:35
Yeah, yeah. I just always kind of was like,
8:37
oh, we're just talking about South Korea here.
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And the people that I suppose it would would be of Korean origin
8:44
that you would need would be South Korean.
8:47
You know, it's not like you really meet North Koreans.
8:50
North Korean. I think this is so interesting.
8:52
I don't know because like I studied politics and all like
8:55
that. So maybe I just some more aware
8:58
or like caught on to it if it's sooner, I don't know.
9:00
But especially when the father, his colleague goes missing, you
9:07
know, and the wife is in such a panic.
9:10
And I was like, oh, connecting the dots because obviously the
9:12
father is getting really upset about this propaganda, like, you
9:17
know, piece of paper showing up with him.
9:19
I think I knew by then, but it was just a start.
9:21
When he was writing letters to his family and they were like,
9:24
we're going back home. I didn't realize it was North
9:26
Korea, I think. Because they were resettling,
9:29
weren't they? They were like, yeah.
9:31
Yeah, by the time that they I didn't think South Korea was
9:34
threatening people with things. I do, yeah, I think he does say
9:39
specifically at some point. And I was like oh this all makes
9:43
so much sense why he is so anti his family going back to South
9:46
Korea. I think even when they were
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saying like, oh look, they've built like these like apartments
9:53
and all for us and all this, I was like, no, don't go.
9:56
Don't do it. It's a trap.
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That's when I cottoned on. I think I was like then also,
10:03
no, actually, wait a second. Is his family not from an island
10:07
in South Korea? Well, I think was it not just
10:10
called Korea then? Like it wasn't.
10:12
He was from an island off South Korea.
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Yeah. Why would they go back to North
10:18
Korea? But is it maybe that their
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family like did they move there but their actual like family
10:22
line is like North Korean? Well, yeah, because I think they
10:27
like their beliefs are definitely like heightened
10:30
during their time there. And that's probably also to do
10:33
with them and being in Japan but not recognized as like citizens
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with no rights, you know, people not wanting them there.
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So therefore they have this political ideology and therefore
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if you're promised if you return home, you'll be given like
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wealth, you know, enough to sustain you and then home and
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health care and all that. Why wouldn't you return back to
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your home? That is Korea, you know, that is
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North Korea, but. So yeah, his family are from.
11:06
He talks about it. His family are from an island
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off the South of that's their homeland.
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I'm just looking here. So that's probably why I didn't
11:14
think at any point they'd be going to North Korea.
11:16
Because. I wasn't why?
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Why is this so in my head that they're not that makes.
11:23
Sense it's only because I, I, I, it only seems like later on does
11:26
that actually become a big plot thing?
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Like it's, it's, you know, it's kind of ignored and they're
11:30
focusing more in Japan and that's how things rather than
11:34
being or being Korean. I know because like I wanted a
11:38
tiny bit more about the father when in his time in like North
11:45
Korea. Like I know that there is a big
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there's a bigger bit on it, but like I want it even more in that
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part like his life because I think I don't know if it's for
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me. Sometimes I felt like it just
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skimmed over years and slightly backtracked it and a bit or like
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went further. But I think I just wanted to
12:02
know more about his life in North Korea.
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I don't know, it's just fascinated me.
12:07
There was a strange piercing with a lot of it.
12:10
I found it would be like discussed for like pages or like
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a big long paragraph, but like, I don't know, something quite
12:17
Florrie or something. Not, not Florrie, but just like
12:19
something that was kind of just like and she was thinking.
12:21
About, yeah. Yeah.
12:23
And then I was like, yeah. And then it did just be like,
12:25
and then, you know, an Anne's whole life before she, when she
12:31
had to buy us and there was that guy Adrian, it was obviously
12:34
some kind of weird cult creep. And she kind of it's over that
12:38
and you're just like, yeah. And she never has a conversation
12:40
with Louisa and she never has like or conversation.
12:43
We don't have those. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
12:46
Like or not, anything that we know.
12:48
And I thought it was interesting though the contrasts between the
12:51
characters. There was something a bit like
12:53
East of Eden. Yeah, that's what I that, yeah,
12:55
that's what I was like when I was reading it.
12:57
I mean, The thing is I was saying this earlier, like when I
13:00
was talking to like, umm, someone else about it, I was
13:03
saying like East of Eden, like normally with these multi, multi
13:06
viewpoint books, like you're kind of like, uh, Paul from one
13:09
to the next and you're like, oh, I really want to get back to
13:10
that person because I love, I'd prefer that, that point of view
13:14
or whatever. East of Eden, I never had that.
13:16
I loved every single point of view.
13:17
I could have stayed with every character frequently in this
13:20
though there definitely was like preferential like treatment I
13:24
was giving to different characters, you know?
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I think like, while I find Anne's stuff interesting, I
13:30
think, uh, her whole like Ms. and like the agoraphobia or
13:34
whatever it was going all, all these different things and like
13:37
her next door, her neighbor Walt, is that his name?
13:39
I can't remember. Walt, Yeah.
13:41
Walt Yeah. Yeah, like I think that's really
13:43
interesting. But I was like, give me the
13:45
other things more. Like, do you know, every time I
13:47
was I was on like an an section, I was like, ah, I want the other
13:51
stuff. I.
13:52
Can't believe that I loved Anne. I mean, I done stuff, but it was
13:57
yeah, Louis of the run. For me, I'm not, I'm not, I
14:00
have, no, I'm not. I'm like if an wasn't for you.
14:04
But I really like, I kind of really liked her and Louisa's
14:09
relationship. And I kind of hate the fact that
14:12
I felt like Louisa is such an awful person.
14:16
Like maybe a bit mean, but she wasn't particularly the nicest
14:19
character. But I was like reminded of
14:22
myself and the way I behave at times.
14:24
I was like, you're just annoyed. So you take it out on everybody
14:29
else and you're just like, I'm annoyed.
14:31
So like my family will feel this.
14:33
Yeah. Doesn't ever let her mom in and
14:36
she doesn't ever let her mom's not the type of person that's
14:39
obviously even going to try. Her mom just takes everything so
14:42
defensively, like, so anytime there's anything she's like,
14:45
they're going to snipe at each other.
14:46
So it was such a sad relationship they had.
14:49
It is sad. Brushed over the fact that I'm
14:52
dies, it's like. Yeah.
14:54
I feel like this woman had this whole life that her daughter had
14:58
no interest in and to an extent she obviously did love her son
15:02
Tobias. He didn't really get her life.
15:06
It wasn't like they had like he was just off sworn and about
15:10
doing like different stuff. It wasn't like he really like
15:14
got her, spent time with her. And I can't imagine what it
15:16
would be like. I don't know, like, again, just
15:19
can't imagine what her life would have been like.
15:21
But I was glad that she did have people in her life.
15:26
You know, we were with her. Yeah, one of the bigger, like,
15:29
bigger themes of the book is the idea of like, loneliness.
15:32
Like even with people or without people, like, everyone can be
15:35
lonely. And I really loved, like, one
15:38
part I really particularly loved was, you know, when Anne is
15:41
like, her body's obviously starting to feel her and she
15:44
doesn't know what's wrong. And all the Japanese doctors are
15:46
saying there's nothing wrong with you.
15:49
And then she finally gets the diagnosis.
15:51
And I thought the really powerful part was her saying,
15:53
like, crying, not because she has it, but finally being like,
15:56
understood. And like anyone who's going
15:59
through medical stuff and has been so dismissed, when you
16:03
finally get that diagnosis, it's like, Oh my God, I'm not crazy.
16:08
And like, I really resonated with that part and I loved that
16:11
being in it. But also I just felt that Anne
16:14
was so lonely. Like her whole life.
16:17
I know. Like it was so sad.
16:19
Yeah, I think Lucy, like you saying about like the
16:22
relationship with Louisa, like I think it was I like I wanted, I
16:26
I hated that. I loved how opposite they were,
16:30
like how how constantly they were at each other's throats.
16:32
Like that's so juicy to like devour, you know, as a reader,
16:35
like you're like, Oh my God. Like, I can't believe I've been
16:38
joining this family. Like these people talking to
16:40
each other like this, but I think it's such an honest
16:44
representation of how people can feel towards their parents.
16:47
And like, they will treat their parents differently than other
16:49
people in their life. They will they will take things
16:51
out and then they will they will make them be the problem.
16:53
Like she got dealt a bad hand, you know, like all of them did
16:57
really. But it doesn't mean like, like
16:59
they were doing the like Anne was doing the best with what she
17:01
had just mean. Like obviously things fell
17:04
through the cracks and but I think, yeah, Louisa could have
17:07
been a bit more gentle. And I do think like, while I
17:11
think Luisa was maybe my favorite character, I think she
17:14
is also, yeah, one the more morally, you know, reprehensible
17:19
people. I.
17:20
Mean I feel bad for in that both parents have secrets and they're
17:24
using her being like don't tell the other that like I have a
17:28
friend like just keep this from each parent like.
17:32
And something that I thought was really interesting was that at
17:35
the end when Louisa meets her dad again and she's like, it's
17:38
just a skimmed pass. I think it's like a part of a
17:40
sentence where it just talks about the fact that her eldest
17:43
son and her don't speak anymore. And it's like I was just
17:45
throwing the way there. Yeah.
17:48
Yeah. Any more text to that?
17:52
You don't need to pressure because like you can totally
17:54
believe it like 100. Yeah, I thought.
17:56
Yeah, it was really interesting. Heard the difference between her
18:00
and Tobias because he was. So.
18:04
He just, well, he has like a brain tumor that's removed and
18:08
his mother and kind of believes that it has affected him
18:11
throughout his life like in other ways, but he's very sweet
18:15
and like. Bohemian.
18:18
Yeah, but happy go lucky Type 5, yeah.
18:22
But he, I think Louisa at one point when she's like 19 and
18:26
says to him, you know, like hurt like an abandoned him, like
18:32
because she doesn't know the situation, she doesn't know what
18:34
happened to Anne because she's obviously never bothered to ask.
18:38
She doesn't know what's happened.
18:40
And I don't even think Tobias is what happened.
18:41
But it's like he doesn't care that his mom, yeah, give him up,
18:45
or at least he thinks his mom gave him up.
18:47
Like he doesn't, it doesn't register to him that that
18:50
matters. He just like, like spending time
18:53
with her and like, it was just such an interesting.
18:55
I really was like, obviously most people need to be a balance
18:58
between those two people, but I'm like, it worries me how
19:01
close to Louisa I am. Oh.
19:03
No. But do you think it's the
19:06
difference of like a parent, like I said, guess like someone
19:12
who's like biologically your parent rather than someone who's
19:15
parenting you? So like Kitty appreciate and
19:19
more because she wasn't the one who he grew up with, who paid in
19:23
all the rules and things like that.
19:25
And that's why he has this appreciation for because I
19:29
suppose in a way, she's kind of more like a friend than a
19:31
parent. Yeah, and I think as well, she's
19:33
obviously a lot less harsh than the parents he grew up with and
19:36
a lot less cultish than the parents he grew up with.
19:39
So maybe he just sees her as like a nice woman.
19:43
Yeah. Also his biological mother,
19:46
which, yeah. Well, like, I think the
19:49
interesting thing with Tobias is the whole religious aspect of
19:54
like he keeps referring to this dance, the altered dance, that
19:59
is it Shinto is it? Is that what it is?
20:01
I mean, I don't think they ever give a name to it.
20:03
I. Don't think it specifies exactly
20:05
the religion, but they go to a temple and is it is it an or
20:09
Cirque isn't happy about the fact they're going to attempt.
20:13
Oh yeah, Anne. Isn't.
20:15
I think it's Anne, yeah. Yeah, she was like, take her to
20:17
the International School now, because we don't.
20:19
Work. Yeah.
20:19
Yeah. Like in Osaka, yeah.
20:21
Yeah. But just think, I think that's
20:24
so interesting because like obviously like religion, like
20:28
it's not religion based on like believing in God, it's like
20:30
believing in like the connection to nature or whatever.
20:33
And I think there's a whole aspect of the book talking about
20:38
like nature and how we are the we where we are because we're
20:42
born like that or whatever and like, but then all these
20:44
different things happen to us. I don't know if I'm making sense
20:47
with this, but it's like. Nature versus nurture type.
20:50
Yeah, I was getting this thread throughout it that there was
20:53
like, like things that have happened, people alter who they
20:57
are, but at the same time, like Louisa and Anne are very, very
20:59
similar and in terms of like how they approach things and like,
21:03
they're both like standoffish and kind of, you know, they're
21:06
not big talkers or like communicators, but they can't
21:10
see that, you know, they can't see this stuff.
21:11
They just blame each other. I think like it's like what is
21:14
inherited and what is natural. And I think like the whole
21:17
religious aspect of that, like Tobias is very, he's like
21:21
inherited this appreciation for the good things in life, you
21:26
know, like he's from Anne as well, but he doesn't harbor any
21:29
of these Like I'll, I'll like these.
21:32
I don't know what's the word. I'm looking for pessimistic sort
21:38
of outlooks and things. You know, I think like, that's
21:42
why I kept picking up throughout like these different connection
21:45
to parents and children and who is like, like what affects
21:48
people in the environment and also what they're born with, you
21:51
know? That's really interesting point
21:53
because I think that's not something I've specifically
21:56
thought about while I was reading the book.
21:57
But you're right. I think as well the fact that
22:00
like Louisa doesn't just start having this tense relationship
22:04
with her mother because of how her father was missing the
22:07
relate. Like the relationship is tense
22:09
before this and the move to Japan and the fact that her mom
22:15
is white and her mom is not picking the language up and just
22:20
stays in her house all the time makes Louisa want to distance
22:23
herself from her mother. And the fact that her mom is
22:26
almost kind of very alien in this world.
22:29
And they just where her dad's been very alien to a world where
22:33
her mom's been very alien. And it's like she also her mom
22:37
is has the beginnings of Ms. So she's not able to walk at a lot
22:41
of the time and no one knows why.
22:43
So she probably has this massive resentment against her mother,
22:46
like feeling like there's nothing wrong with her, you
22:49
know? And that also seems to be a
22:51
threat throughout the thing where she speaks about the fact
22:54
that she's never pushed her mother in a wheelchair, even
22:55
though her mom's been in a wheelchair.
22:57
Yeah, good point. Yeah.
23:00
So it's like that started when she went to Japan and it's like
23:03
this Colonel has just grown and all of the events after that
23:09
have just made them further and further apart.
23:12
And you can tell that they are both very similar.
23:14
They're both very defensive and they're both very they're not
23:18
listeners, whereas act opposite heels he's.
23:21
Just. He's not going to take anything
23:23
offensively, He's just going to. And Louisa also hits that.
23:27
It's like. She's so rude to him and he just
23:29
kind of bounces off him and he's like.
23:33
You would want to be a Tobias in this situation.
23:36
She's so and she's so angry at everything.
23:41
Doesn't seem to me to be something that stems directly
23:43
from this event and this this traumatic event in her life.
23:46
It seems to stem from her personality in general and how
23:52
she's taken her mom as a person, as her mom has not managed to
23:57
overcome things in her life. And she's obviously seen her mom
24:00
in, in some weird way as like, weaker, I don't know, I got 550.
24:05
And then she's her dad. And as like, he's on a pedestal
24:08
and he's obviously she respects him a lot more.
24:11
And yeah, it's just so interesting.
24:15
I think my like favorite kind of chapters was when Louisa was in
24:21
Europe. Like she gets to London and this
24:25
whole thing like a Lucy. Like again, I didn't know there
24:31
was something about the adventure like of going on.
24:33
Your I really like, I agree, Hannah.
24:35
I think that's funny because maybe I just prefer those type
24:37
of books. You know, there's like, you
24:38
know, travel, travel journeys or yeah, travel books.
24:43
But yeah, I agree. I think that like, I really like
24:45
Luis's travels through Europe. It's so different from the rest
24:49
of the book. And like, she's just constantly
24:51
hitting walls and like, you know, meeting strange people
24:55
and, and like, it's just entertaining, you know?
24:58
I find it anxiety provoking. I find a lot of this book
25:03
anxiety provoking, but I find that part specifically.
25:06
But there's something. By.
25:08
A lot of that stuff, a lot of the other stuff in the book
25:10
that's very anxiety provoking, will never happen to me.
25:13
Yes, yeah. Very, very unlikely to be a
25:16
North Korean prisoner of war in my life, I mean.
25:20
You never say never. Yeah, those things could have
25:23
happened. Something that I actually
25:24
thought was quite interesting. And I don't know if you guys
25:26
thought about this, but Louisa is mixed Reus, obviously.
25:31
And and she, I feel like it throughout the story, it's kind
25:35
of very slightly hinted. And I'm trying to think of times
25:37
where I thought that this was the thing, but I was like, she
25:40
doesn't it's never kind of directly kind of targeted that
25:43
Louisa might have suffered from any form of like racism or
25:46
racial bias. But I just felt like throughout
25:48
the story, there were we things where I was like, she's not
25:53
written it like it there's any racism or anything happening in
25:56
it. But I felt like when she was
25:57
like searched in the ferry, I was like, why were none of the
26:02
white people searched? Obviously they can bring their
26:04
bags, like not bring their bags across, but it seemed to me like
26:08
it was, it was just various things where I was like, is she
26:11
being, is she being treated by the people around her
26:14
differently because of the ratios and the way she's thrown
26:17
out at the Paris apartment and all this other stuff.
26:20
It's kind of like, I don't know if I was just overthinking it,
26:22
but I was kind of like, this would be tough.
26:25
Maybe because they said, like the people who take buses,
26:28
they're like drug runners, you know?
26:32
So like nightmares? Yeah, it's like, is this
26:36
assumption of like, if you're a person of color or whatever and
26:40
you don't take your bag off the bus, you're automatically
26:43
assumed to be a criminal, you know, that type of thing.
26:46
I don't know. There was something about her
26:49
traveling, like on her own. I think it brings back to those
26:52
ideas of when you're like, yeah, I got to book that ticket and go
26:56
somewhere. And then the anxiety of like
26:58
going or doing it and like, sometimes it turns out good,
27:02
sometimes it turns out bad. But I really loved.
27:06
To me, it felt like so unrealistic of this actually
27:08
happening. But when the boss obviously
27:11
drives off without her and then she gets back to London and the
27:14
people are waiting there with her by yeah, I feel like that
27:17
was such a fairy tale moment. Such a nice twist, Like a nice
27:20
twist, you know, where it's like, oh, they didn't betray
27:22
her, you know? Yeah.
27:25
Yeah, I know. I was completely edge my seat.
27:32
Yeah. What do you think of?
27:34
So the title of the book is obviously Flashlight, and
27:36
flashlights come up a lot. Yeah.
27:41
Like what? What do we think about that as a
27:43
thing? Like to me, the flashlight is
27:45
searching. Like when you have a flashlight,
27:47
you're searching in the dark for something obviously like that's
27:49
the thematic thing. And like they do the whole
27:51
seance with the flashlight and all these, you know, it's like
27:56
you're lucky. I think it's to me it's that all
27:58
these characters are looking for something that they don't they
28:01
they can't find, if you know what I mean.
28:03
But but it's always been there, like it's always been in the
28:06
dark around them, you know, that kind of thing.
28:08
I don't know. What does everyone else think?
28:10
That makes know that you've kind of said it.
28:11
I would never have thought. I was just thinking of the
28:13
literal times where they talk about flashlights throughout it.
28:16
Which is a lot. That is a lot a.
28:18
Lot more than I thought, but yeah, no, I think you're right.
28:23
Because they're, I feel like they're all looking for like
28:26
something in, in these relationships and they're all
28:29
searching for things and they're, they're doing a really
28:31
terrible job about it. Like shockingly bad.
28:35
And I don't know, like I read like, I think this book could
28:40
have been an absolutely excellent book if it was shorter
28:44
and had. Yeah.
28:47
The writing was maybe a bit more coherent and I I didn't find
28:51
that there was a lot of the book like usually I underline loads
28:53
of bits of the book and I didn't feel like there was anything
28:57
that I was like, oh, that's an amazing quote that I've really
28:59
thought about afterwards or whereas those there was other
29:03
books where I have underlined a lot of stuff, but the, the
29:07
people and the characters, the characters are all brilliant
29:10
like that. The strength and also the
29:13
storyline is like, wow, it's so. Interesting.
29:17
I know it goes, it goes everywhere and I think it's in.
29:20
It's funny to compare this to last week's book when we were
29:23
doing The Land and Winter, because that had very similar
29:25
sort of tone, different characters, viewpoints, but
29:28
they're just so much more interesting here.
29:29
They're just better characters, you know?
29:32
It's that like depth to them, like finding out a bit more
29:35
about their past and then how it affects like this future.
29:40
Whereas I guess land and winter were stuck in this one small
29:43
period of time where things don't seem to really move.
29:48
Whereas this span, this book is spanned in like decades.
29:52
I really love it. Having the North Korean twist.
29:55
I really enjoyed that. I don't know, maybe I just like
29:57
books with a bit of political tension in him.
30:01
But I feel like it balance, like a balance, family dynamics and
30:03
family politics, but also politics.
30:06
Do you know, greater geopolitical politics And and
30:09
like, like you said, Lucy, maybe it's touching racism.
30:12
And like I can see where you're coming from with that.
30:13
Like there's so many smaller themes and things that like you,
30:17
I think, you know, there's a lot in this book that makes it so
30:21
much more engaging than something like The Land in
30:23
Winter. I think there's much more to
30:25
kind of pick on. The plot itself is just a more
30:28
interesting plot. Yeah.
30:30
What did you think about? So for me, the idea that Sir is
30:35
that's his name, isn't it? The father?
30:37
Yeah. That he remains alive, like he
30:40
survives being in North Korea and escapes.
30:44
I just like. I just imagined that he would
30:46
die at some point before. Like.
30:48
In the camp and like Louisa would never find out what
30:50
happened to him, but I think the part that broke me was when he
30:55
starts losing his memory like that.
30:58
Was sad. Yeah, because I'd seen a few
31:01
people in their reviews saying they cried when they finished
31:05
the book. Like, they sobbed.
31:06
And I was just like, oh, no. And like, there's a few moments
31:09
near the end I was like, hold it, hold it, like, but yeah.
31:15
Do you know, that's interesting He said that.
31:16
So I isn't this one really bad? I didn't find the bets with him.
31:21
That's odd. I find the bet where like so
31:25
there's a family that Tobias meets in Japan and they their
31:30
daughter was 13 and she's taken from on her way to school her
31:34
way back from school and they they were her names like Yumi.
31:37
Is it Yumi? Yeah.
31:39
Yeah, and they've learned like, don't call us by our names, just
31:42
call us Yumi's mom and dad. But that's how they were fair to
31:45
themselves. And I was like, that's it made
31:48
me so emotional. I was like.
31:49
Yeah, there we so tragic. And then they're like spend
31:53
every like day going about the country, just bringing this
31:56
little table, right? And this is another thing.
31:58
OK, So because I'm very cultured and I am, I'm well traveled.
32:04
So there's a part where Yumi's parents, they are doing this
32:11
thing where they're, and they make, they fold up like 1000
32:15
origami and cranes right now that is a Japanese thing that I
32:20
already knew about because I'm so well travelled and I'm so
32:23
knowledgeable. So if someone is ill or if
32:27
there's something wrong, what you do is you make 1000 cranes
32:31
for them. That's like a it's in Japanese,
32:34
like whatever. Like I'm going to say like it's
32:37
like a folk tale. But there's this like there's a
32:40
statue in Hiroshima where there's like a little girl
32:43
holding up a big origami Korean. So this girl in Hiroshima, she
32:48
was like, this is maybe like a couple of years, maybe I don't
32:50
know how much longer after Hiroshima happened, but she got
32:54
cancer. Like, I mean, again, so many
32:57
people did in that time. But like, she, they all her
33:02
classmates and all started making origami cranes for.
33:05
They didn't get to the full 1000 before she died, but tourists in
33:10
Hiroshima do the whole, they fold them up and then you put
33:14
them in this thing where there's like just thousands and
33:16
thousands and thousands. So I actually, yeah.
33:18
So I've I feel like I've taken. That's so interesting.
33:26
My goodness, when I read that, I was like, this brings me back to
33:28
my days in Japan. I love that yours is like well
33:32
traveled, been to Japan and last week it's like guys, I have also
33:35
been to Somerset. Very different vibes.
33:39
One thing really annoyed me with the plot really wind me Up is
33:45
right, OK, Tobias hears all these stories about these people
33:50
who have mysteriously gone missing at the beach, and he
33:56
knows that his stepfather didn't swim, was at a beach and just
34:04
and he knew where it was. And in that point is he like,
34:07
well, I have a relevant story to tell these people while I'm
34:10
living with them for months? Yeah, I didn't think it was a
34:12
bit convenient because then some woman just as yeah, sparks as my
34:17
brain or whatever, but like, yeah, yeah, I didn't think that
34:21
was a bit force maybe. That was, that just was like,
34:25
and then when your woman shows up and he's, she's like, and
34:29
we've got this picture of this man, he's like, Oh yes, my
34:32
stepfather also went missing. Just wind me up.
34:36
But maybe also that's the type of character that Tobias is, you
34:38
know, maybe maybe it's just like a dance really.
34:41
Like I do think like I'm talking about the flashlight.
34:46
I did again, I think Hannah, you had said like he or something
34:51
about like how Stark is like, you know, he he fights, he
34:54
survives this prisoner of war camp.
34:56
I think the main thing that keeps him going is he's trying
34:59
to find his daughter because as far as he believes she is there
35:02
in in somewhere, you know, somewhere in that land where she
35:06
managed to like escape and get away without being abducted.
35:09
But I think like it's so interesting because he like
35:12
fights until the very end and then he's losing his memories,
35:16
He's losing everything. Very, very sad ending and he
35:20
like let's himself go is when he finds her, you know, like as
35:22
soon as he he gets a clarity in that moment where he's like, oh,
35:26
you're here and they talk. You know, that's that's enough
35:28
for him to sort of like drift away.
35:31
I think that's I thought that was very powerful.
35:33
I really like that. Yeah, even thinking back, did
35:35
you say that? Sorry, the flashlight part is
35:37
when they're initially on the beach and they're looking out
35:41
and just saying like, oh, look, I and you can see like these
35:43
little flashes. And I was like, oh, that's
35:46
another point. I just know I'd really love
35:49
this, the whole ideas in the book.
35:51
But yeah, this moment where he passes like, it's, I don't know.
35:55
It's like not sad that he's dead.
35:58
I think it's just more sad. I kept thinking about Louisa and
36:01
hi. She had to grieve her father
36:03
when she was younger, dying in this tragic accident, believed
36:07
for all this time he was gone and then reunites with him and
36:10
has to grieve almost like a second time that he's gone.
36:16
But I'm like, I just wanted maybe more about that and like.
36:21
Yeah, but I think also the, I think her second grief might
36:24
more more be like joy in a way, because she managed to get, you
36:30
know, I think like if you've gotten over that grieve grieving
36:33
and you think they're already dead and someone comes back into
36:35
your life, like I feel like you would be more appreciative and
36:38
be like, as opposed to grieving them again, you know?
36:42
Yeah, I can see that. Like maybe you grieve the chance
36:45
that the time you had, but like, the chances were gone.
36:48
You know, you miss those opportunities, but it seems like
36:50
she's quite at peace with it at the end.
36:52
Like she doesn't seem upset or devastated.
36:56
She doesn't strike me as a griever.
36:58
Yeah, maybe she's not too. Yeah.
37:00
Like, I mean, she just mentions Anstead and like, that's, it's
37:03
like, oh, OK. Right.
37:04
Well, moving swiftly on, yeah. Maybe like I've got feelings
37:08
about that. I don't know what they are.
37:09
I'll think about them a bit of a start over.
37:12
She'll think about them tomorrow.
37:13
I can't picture her like thinking about them with the
37:16
time and dwelling on it. Yeah, sorry.
37:21
And he like puts everything in a box and then tells people to
37:23
like it's like Tobias gets all this stuff shipped back to and
37:27
and then I'm puts it in another storage place.
37:29
And I like to think of is how much did they spend on storage
37:32
fees, like for like these pieces of paper of like homework like,
37:38
oh, yeah, that was one point about.
37:39
And I. So I thought this part was going
37:42
to go further. So Anne's friend Walt is
37:44
listening to her tapes, then deciphers at this like a North
37:47
Korean code. No one cracks the code.
37:50
I know he says like, oh, if he ever did crack the code, he
37:52
would no one would ever have told him.
37:55
But I thought there was going to be some secret message and that
37:57
would help on find her husband. Did we not think that Walt and
38:03
her were an item? I think they are.
38:06
It's at least, yeah. Did they go the whole way?
38:11
I don't know. When I started reading, I don't
38:13
know if I maybe missed the line or something because I thought
38:15
that he was much younger than her.
38:17
And then later on, maybe like a couple of pages later when I'd
38:21
already got this image of my head of him being young and then
38:25
he was, he's only eight years older than I'm.
38:27
And I was like, I was not picturing like he messed with me
38:32
because I would be a romantic relationship because I'm pretty
38:34
sure like he's like a college student.
38:37
What's happening here? Oh, but then I mean, I should
38:42
have, with my prior knowledge of the Korean War, known that he
38:46
wouldn't have a student in like the 70s if he did the Korean
38:51
War. But no, I wasn't able to do a
38:54
lot of, there's a lot of deduction there of that one.
38:57
Now that you said it was like about the racism stuff, I just
39:01
realized as well with like Walt and his initial interaction with
39:05
Anne, he's like, oh, you know, I was thinking I would see someone
39:08
else, you know, around here. Yeah.
39:12
Same with the whole thing about how they pronounce their
39:14
surname. Right.
39:15
Yes. Right.
39:16
So how were they? Because Kang, like Bang is said
39:20
multiple times to be the correct way but she's always been saying
39:23
it wrong. Does that mean that Cirque has
39:25
always been saying it wrong? And also how have they said it
39:28
wrong? Because I obviously, when I say
39:30
the word Kang, think Kang. You think that?
39:32
Yeah. Well, what way would you say
39:35
that's not like that, is it? Maybe an?
39:37
American accent. Yeah.
39:39
But but is it also maybe that regionally they, they, I don't
39:44
know, highlight one? Like it's maybe not that the
39:47
name itself was is overtly pronounced wrong, which was
39:50
maybe 1 section is like, you know, sometimes regionally they
39:54
might have like emphasis on one part that isn't on the other.
39:57
So maybe it's more that than. Yeah, you know, everybody's
40:00
relationship with each other in this book is bad.
40:03
Yeah. It's a can you people speak to
40:06
each other? I say this is probably I would
40:09
fit right into this book. Yeah, the secret chapter, the
40:14
secret lost chapter, the Lucy viewpoint.
40:16
You know, like she. Maybe met me and she's like
40:19
written a book, a boy, people like me.
40:23
No, I know that you like this book made me think about, you
40:27
know, like times you went to therapy to try and deal with
40:29
things and you're like, I'm like, what character?
40:34
Yeah. Louisa try therapy again please
40:38
like you can work on this. Also like the like the fact
40:46
people disappear all the time is quite a like, and the fact that
40:51
we do as well as readers kind of just be like, oh, they're
40:55
probably dead. Like especially with the, when
40:58
those families were first introduced, I did kind of be
41:01
like, oh, I think we're going for like a North Korea's taking
41:04
them kind of thing that you do when you first hear.
41:07
You're just kind of like, oh, they're dead.
41:10
And that's kind of what obviously the whole Japanese
41:14
government and all we're saying was just like died.
41:18
And which probably is all they would have really known because
41:21
what was the chances that North Korea was kind of coming over
41:24
and taking them? Because it seems like such a big
41:28
thing to do. Like, yeah, I'm like, that
41:31
sounds bananas that they actually did that sort of stuff.
41:35
But like they seem the type to be honest.
41:38
Yeah, I guess. And it also like it makes sense
41:42
to take people like Sir, like, you know, he's academic is blue
41:47
and yeah, but they. Didn't know that though
41:48
beforehand. Like they just grabbed these
41:50
people. I.
41:51
Was wondering because they obviously did grab some people
41:54
just completely randomly but that seems like a targeted thing
41:57
and they seem to want him. Maybe that's true, yeah.
42:00
But you do you remember where it's like he rents the house?
42:05
Like he gets the information from his sister who has close
42:08
ties with the Communist Party so they would know where he is and
42:13
this is by the water and that's easiest to get him.
42:16
I feel like he he was more targeted because of his
42:20
intelligence slash language abilities also.
42:24
Just said the sisters been sending messages to a parent
42:27
what she thinks is her parents and I know, yeah.
42:30
But who knows? Yeah, they're probably.
42:33
I wish. We wouldn't know what happened
42:36
to them. But it still seems the odds of
42:39
because he it's not like he lives by the beach.
42:42
Do you know, it's not like he's he's there.
42:46
You know, actually, this really raises another point.
42:48
Like I thought that earlier on one of my theories was that he
42:52
had ran off, you know, with like by Mrs. He's sick.
42:58
I can't remember her name. This.
43:00
This woman is that. Not his sister.
43:02
No. Do you mean that?
43:05
The woman who he keeps, who's who he's visiting, that's his.
43:09
Sister. Oh, that's his sister.
43:12
Yes, yeah. How did I miss that?
43:16
But but maybe I'm confused because Louisa at least in a
43:19
chapter is like who is this woman?
43:21
Like she she doesn't. He doesn't tell her.
43:24
OK, well, I think I was still stuck in that because I was
43:26
like, oh, I one of my running theories.
43:28
Obviously this got like debunked very, very quickly.
43:30
But I was like, did he like run off with this woman?
43:33
You know, is he like like I thought it was instead of going
43:36
for the murder or like death angle, no murder angle, but
43:39
like, you know, accidental drowning or suicide or whatever,
43:42
I thought it was going to be that.
43:44
Yeah, have another family. Like this is another thing of
43:49
like, well, I did think at one point was he going to run away
43:52
with someone else slightly. But I think one thing that came
43:55
into my head that although their marriage was awful, I don't
43:59
think Cirque necessarily really hated.
44:01
And I think it's more like the idea of never really belonging
44:05
anywhere or to anyone really, you know?
44:09
Yeah, I think, I think there's always a shame that he had an
44:13
American. Like why you?
44:15
Know like wife, I think I'm like, I don't think you could
44:18
ever look past that completely, even though he kind of made let
44:21
that happen, you know, it's like.
44:24
Yeah. And it's this idea of he wasn't
44:27
born in Korea. So I he, I guess he struggles
44:30
with the identity of being seen as Korean, but Japan doesn't
44:34
recognize him as a citizen. And he only got the green card
44:37
in America, so he's not American.
44:39
So it's like, where does he fit in in all these different
44:43
places? Have any of you guys ever read
44:46
that book Pan Chinko? Oh, Pachinko, No, I so you know,
44:52
I'm literally starting right now.
44:54
I started the other week and then I was like, I don't have
44:56
time to read this because we have all these books to read.
44:59
Yeah, you do not. That's a Monmouth book.
45:01
You do not. Have yeah, you.
45:02
Be looking at. That have you read it?
45:09
Yeah, yeah, it's very good. It's very similar to, well, not
45:12
very similar, but I was reminded of it just because of the two
45:14
countries. Because it follows time like
45:16
decades, doesn't it? Of their this family.
45:19
And it's how a lot of it is to do.
45:20
It's more in depth with how Koreans are treated in Japan.
45:24
And so like the idea that actually apart from their names,
45:29
there's no way to like racially distinguish them, but there's no
45:33
way to racially distinguish between Koreans and Japanese
45:35
people. But they're treated so much
45:37
worse. But like if you just change your
45:39
name, you can just. Yeah, blend in.
45:43
You know, it's kind of an interesting just like like race
45:47
in general. And that book is is really
45:48
interesting. And but yeah, I was really
45:51
reminded of that book when I was reading class that.
45:56
Makes sense? Yeah, actually I think there was
45:58
another book I was thinking about as well.
46:00
You know, I kept thinking about the bee sting by oh.
46:06
What is his name? I think that's a good book.
46:09
But but I kept comparing like I was like, oh, this is like the
46:12
bee sting because we're getting this family.
46:13
We're getting these four different things.
46:14
I was like, you know, bee sting is so much better like this.
46:17
I think there's just yeah. And I was like, this is good.
46:22
But I just think when I compared to those other like Easter,
46:24
Eden, Bee Sting, there's a bunch of other family dynamic books
46:28
that I can't think of right now. Paul Murray.
46:30
Paul Murray. That's him.
46:32
That's him. So I think I was always in like
46:33
an island vibe for some reason, even though it's not.
46:38
I suppose just put on Hawaii. So that's.
46:42
True, yes, that part where like Louise is like, oh, I've been
46:46
here, I've been here or something like it's earlier I
46:49
was like. She's unlocking the amnesia or
46:51
whatever of her childhood. I.
46:53
Suppose memories. Smell and yeah.
46:59
And I suppose it comes back to what you were saying about the
47:02
fact that it's like nature and nurture.
47:05
It's like your environment and the things that have happened to
47:08
you kind of shape you and like your memory of them and like how
47:13
that works. And then at the end, obviously,
47:15
Sirc has lost his memory and is going back to like Korean.
47:20
And that bit so interesting because there was another book
47:23
that I kind of read in preparation for this, The
47:26
Language of Remembering, where the main character goes back to
47:31
his hometown, Cork, and finds out that his mom's gone back to
47:38
speaking Irish with dementia, which is kind of interesting,
47:41
but it's kind of a similar thing.
47:42
It's like you go back to your childhood and.
47:44
That's what that was. The chapters at the end kind of
47:47
reminded me of like having a relative who has, you know,
47:50
dementia or Alzheimer's and it's like going along with what
47:54
they're saying without trying to upset them type thing.
47:58
Yeah, there's just like I, I kind of, I really appreciate it,
48:01
the ones. Yeah, Like there's so many
48:02
things about this book that I really, really like.
48:04
I think if it had been shorter and if it had been like the
48:07
language, the language and the way it was written had been like
48:09
sharper or like there'd been less fat on it, I would have
48:13
been like loving it. But it's.
48:15
Yeah, I feel like I. Needed an edit.
48:18
Yeah, it did. I think that's me.
48:21
And downfall is really like someone need to grab this and
48:24
shred it. You know they needed to like cut
48:26
away chunks. I don't understand how this
48:29
could have been edited. Like it is brilliant.
48:32
Like again I couldn't read it but like I've seen time.
48:35
I am like surely someone could have come with like a red pen
48:38
and just been. Like done something to it, yeah.
48:42
Yeah. Because I'm thinking about like
48:44
a book doesn't necessarily have to be long to have impact.
48:46
Like yeah, I've read. Way of other books.
48:49
And it sits with me like 10 times more.
48:53
And I feel like there could be stuff from this you could chop
48:55
or like edit way down. But see, part of it to me, yes,
49:00
part of to me is like all these family epics are always big and
49:04
like epic, you know, it kind of implies and I think was she
49:08
might be doing like trying to emulate that sort of epicness by
49:11
making it long whereas the others earn it.
49:14
You know, they earned a long time, but I don't know if this
49:17
has necessarily earned that sort of length.
49:19
I. Think it's.
49:21
Because as as. Maybe.
49:23
Yeah, she. Is like, I don't think she's
49:26
stretching this plot because I think that the plot could be as
49:30
long. It's not like she is, but for
49:33
some reason the way it's written feels like she's stretching it
49:36
because there's. Yeah, Hannah, there's so many
49:38
bets were there in North Korea where you're like, this could be
49:41
longer or do you? Like, I don't even like,
49:45
obviously because she does seem to want that to be a bit of A
49:48
twist that he's still alive at some part of the book.
49:50
But it's also like, at the same time, she could have had those
49:53
bits throughout. Yeah, maybe wouldn't have worked
49:56
as well, but like, at least she could have started chopping them
49:59
in earlier. Like.
50:02
There's something that something needed reworked about it.
50:05
Something needed reworked, I mean.
50:07
You know, what was surprising to me is that there was no weird
50:10
chapter this week, no weird chapter for me to.
50:13
Comment on you like your Europe chapter and I.
50:15
Was going to say the European one is kind of, it's kind of a
50:18
weirdish sort. It's.
50:20
Not weird. I think when I think they're
50:22
weird, it's like for me, they're just like out of the blue weird.
50:26
I have to reread it, think about it like we're the audition where
50:29
they're like crawling on the floor.
50:30
And then and then last week it wasn't a spaceship, but like
50:33
this book, I got it. Like there's nothing I had to
50:36
like really reread to grab the contact.
50:39
So the part about Louisa and the psychiatrist was its own short
50:44
story. And then obviously it's evolved
50:48
from there. I love.
50:49
My so big. Yeah, that's why I'm thinking
50:53
like, how did it evolve from this little short story to get
50:57
so big, you know, and all this depth and knowledge and how to
51:03
like put it all together? Like I really do love when
51:06
people are trying to talk about topics that maybe they don't
51:10
have like a super, like, I don't know, They're like the
51:13
references in the back of like all the different books and
51:16
things that people have read and like she read, you know, to give
51:20
her a bit more understanding about like N Koreans and stuff
51:22
like that. I actually really appreciate it.
51:25
So it's really interesting the way you're saying about the fact
51:27
that it started as a short story and obviously, like, she wanted
51:30
to go in further with all the characters.
51:32
And well, I went to see Wendy Erskine chat about like the
51:37
benefactors. But she's mainly, that was her
51:39
first novel. She's mainly written short
51:43
stories, but she left like someone in the audience asked
51:47
her, they were like, do you ever want to like stick with someone
51:50
from one of your short stories? Like, do you ever want to just
51:52
like, write more? And she just went, no, it was
51:59
very funny, but yeah. We love you, Wendy.
52:02
Delivery. Do you have any alternative
52:06
titles this week? I I think for this week,
52:11
flashlight is actually pretty apartment and mostly because
52:13
they say it about 3 million times throughout the book.
52:16
And so I don't know how you could like bring flashlight up
52:20
so many times and not, and not like have it as the title.
52:23
I I don't I grapple with like what else?
52:26
You can name it. And honestly, I don't think
52:28
anything wraps that up. Like I just can't think of
52:31
anything. What rating would everyone give
52:34
Colin? Start is off.
52:38
I'm a bit divided in this or sorry but I've become conflicted
52:42
on this because I actually did like it quite a lot.
52:45
But again, I agree with what we've said, it's a bit
52:48
overridden. Sometimes things be felt like
52:51
unnecessary and I felt like we could have found more
52:53
interesting subjects and other things that they the writer just
52:56
skim past. I think I'm going to give it a
53:00
3.5. I think it's still pretty good
53:03
and I did enjoy it more so than like I was expecting, but still
53:08
it kind of fell short of like being what I wanted from it.
53:13
Do you see it being a winner of the overall prize or?
53:16
I could, I could see it, yeah, I wouldn't.
53:19
I wouldn't be against a winning either.
53:21
I think if it won I would be quite happy.
53:24
Yeah, yeah, Lucy, what do you think?
53:29
I'm joining the hive mind here. I'm going to give it a 3.5 and I
53:34
I feel a bit weird about it because I did enjoy it an awful
53:37
lot more than I enjoyed the land and winter.
53:40
So I maybe regret not putting the lands in winter further down
53:45
the marking kind of scheme. But yeah, same as Colin there.
53:50
It's like maybe a bit overwritten then didn't enjoy
53:55
the writing at time. Plot was, it was definitely
53:57
towards the end more contrived. And like I really loved the
54:02
relationships between the characters and I thought the
54:04
characters were really, really good.
54:05
And that's where it really kind of stood out.
54:07
I am also the high mind. I want to give it a 3.5.
54:12
Wow, clean streak. Yeah, I feel like this never
54:15
happens, but literally like everyone else said, I think the
54:19
book was just a tiny bit shorter and maybe it times a bit like
54:23
snappier. Like this would have been a
54:25
definite like four or five for me because I love the part.
54:29
I love the characters and like certain chapters I've absolutely
54:33
adored and I definitely could see this now is like a potential
54:38
could be winner of the overall prize.
54:41
I just think it tackles so much in it and it's not boring or
54:46
it's not like I put me to sleep. Like I actually enjoyed picking
54:50
up and reading the different chapters with each different
54:53
character. So it's a potential winner for
54:55
me. I'm putting it on my list.
54:57
Next week we'll be reading The Rest of Our Lives by Ben
54:59
Markovitz. Are we all excited?
55:03
How are you feeling about this? This is or judging the book by
55:06
the judging book by its cover segment.
55:10
I've already read it, not looking forward to like,
55:13
rereading it. Don't think I will.
55:15
So sorry Ben, the slam on your book.
55:19
But yeah, I'm excited to see what everyone thinks next week
55:24
if they're on the same wavelength as me.
55:28
Yeah, so I'm going to kind of part what has said, but I'm also
55:31
going to give a wee shout out to the cover colors because I'm a
55:35
big Sesame Street fan and those colors are pretty much exactly
55:40
big birds legs. And I'm a big big bird fan as
55:43
well. So yeah, yeah, definitely.
55:47
Like, he could kind of just set the book by his leg and you
55:50
wouldn't see it and perfect. But yeah, I really don't want to
55:56
reread this book. I don't think you're going to
56:00
find a weird chapter in it either, Hannah.
56:05
That's sad. It's funny because I'm seeing
56:09
like, obviously hearing you guys talk about it, like you really
56:12
killed any enthusiasm I would have had for this book.
56:14
Yeah, I agree. Color's nice on it or whatever,
56:17
but interestingly enough, I was looking at this on the
56:20
Waterstones app. I was going to buy the book and
56:22
it has stellar reviews. Like I'm talking multiple, like
56:27
no one reviews in the Waterstones app, but this is
56:29
like maybe 7 or 8, you know, four or five star reviews
56:33
talking about how incredible, incredible it is.
56:36
So yeah, maybe so. I mean, that's at least
56:40
intrigued me. You know, in a way I'm like,
56:42
what's going on here? Well, like my mom put out this
56:45
article in the paper, whatever paper she reads, and it was like
56:48
about all the the what they thought was going to be in the
56:52
shortlist when it was a long list.
56:55
And they were like, Oh yeah, this is this is amazing.
56:57
One of the best books and all this stuff.
56:59
It basically was this guy saying that he thought that the rest of
57:03
our lives would make it in the shortlist.
57:05
It was like a no brainer. It would make it in the
57:06
shortlist. And that was when I read maybe
57:08
like 9 or 10 of them. And I was like, what if this is
57:13
in the shortlist? I couldn't be furious.
57:15
Lo and behold, it wasn't a shortlist.
57:18
I actually, if it wins, will never like.
57:25
Roddy Doyle would be dead to me. Sarah Jessica Parker will be
57:27
dead to me. That's it.
57:30
In the book here again, I'm like, I'm furious.
57:34
The International will be fine, but not the actual Booker.
57:39
Trey. So I am actually looking forward
57:43
to reading this book, not because I don't think I'm going
57:46
to like it, but I'm hopeful that I will.
57:49
And I'm just excited to actually complete a book again.
57:53
And. I'm very hopeful that you will
57:56
complete this one. This is the only one he finishes
57:59
and it'll be the only one he likes like.
58:01
I excuse me, I read audition. Don't don't dismiss that.
58:07
But yeah, it's, it's a bit of a Shorty.
58:10
I mean, it's not short, but it's it's definitely not as long as
58:14
the rest of these books and. Aaron, with you missing, if
58:18
you're not finishing the books, we're not going to get this
58:20
weird alternative universe where we all didn't see, you know,
58:23
like what you can see. So you got to finish it.
58:26
I know I will finish this and and I'll share my wacky thoughts
58:30
on it. I think of the things that we've
58:32
missed about Flashlight, like he will read this or no, he won't
58:38
read it actually. But if he does read it, he's
58:40
going to message us being like, what did you guys think of the
58:43
Wasp in Part 4? What do you think we're?
58:47
Going to be like what Wasp? That's what I look forward to
58:52
with this. Aaron.
58:53
I'm going to say you're going to read.
58:56
I'm going to bat my three books and that's and I'm actually,
59:01
it's between 2:00 and 3:00. No, but I'm just being honest.
59:10
There's no way. And with that, ladies and
59:14
gentlemen, you can read along and share your thoughts on
59:17
Instagram, a bookie's favorite book club.
59:21
Let us know if you think Aaron will finish any books.
59:25
You can also e-mail us a bookie's favorite
59:28
bookclub@gmail.com. We will be uploading an episode
59:32
each week until we finished the Booker Prize shortlist.
59:35
Subscribe on whatever podcast platform you're listening on so
59:38
you don't miss the next episode. Share this episode with the book
59:41
delivery. You think we'd like this book?
59:44
Great podcast. 5 stars. And that's it for another week,
59:47
ladies and gentlemen. Bookies out.
59:52
Bye bye.