May 2, 2023
episode description
In an effort to read more books written by Black authors that feature Black characters (because for some reason this is something that I have to remind myself to intentionally seek out), I read 7 Days in June by Tia Williams. Listen to this episode for a non-spoiler review at the beginning of the episode with a spoiler review at the end of the episode where I do a deep dive into the memorable moments of the story.
transcript
So I took a break.
This episode was supposed to come out last week. And I just needed a break.
I'm about to graduate from college and I just wanted one weekend, where I didn't have to worry about deadlines. So that's what I did. I hope you take this as a sign to take a break when you need it to even when you feel like everything in the world is telling you not to.
But other than that, while I was editing this episode, I heard the background noise of like the lawnmower in my neighborhood coming through and also like birds chirping and stuff, and I was like editing that out but it made like the audio of me speaking sound kind of funky, like robotic. Like if you listen to some of my first episodes, you can probably hear that same vibe where sounds it like I'm like a robot. It's because I tried to edit out background noise and I didn't know what I was doing. I still don't know what I'm doing. Anyway, I'm getting better, hopefully.
But just consider it like we're on a FaceTime call or something. Anyways, thanks for sticking with me, even throughout my impromptu break. If you didn't know that I was going to take a break or you were like, hey where did she go? Follow me on Instagram @jumblepodcast because I announced it there.
So I want to say thanks for sticking with me through my break and be patient with me when there's background noise, I'm trying my best, I really am.
A couple of weeks ago, I went on a trip for spring break. And I where I was staying it was really nice, like, condo type area near the beach. And I saw I remember walking in one time from like the beach or whatever. And I was coming back inside and I saw these like to black men. And that was like, yes, black people living in luxury. Yes, I am too, a little bit. I'm not really— I don't actually own this condo. But I'm here and I'm spending time in a fancy place. And you are too, I love that for us. And then, as they were walking out, I saw them walking to a truck that said, plumbing repair.
And I remember being like sad about it like, oh my gosh. I was sad that the only reason they were here was because they were repair people and not as like guests, and I wanted them to be here as guests.
I don't really know what that means but, and I was sad and it made me reflect on the people that I saw from that point on in the condo, and I didn't see any other minorities, not even Asian people or Hispanic people.
Just white people.
It wouldn't surprise me if we were the only minorities in the entire building, which is kind of scary, crazy thought.
Anyway, today I want to talk about a book called Seven Days in June by Tia Williams.
This book has been recommended to me because a lot of people are reading it on Instagram or Bookstagram. And I wanted to read it. I planned to read it during February because February is Black History Month. Cause I wanted to read more black authors during Black History Month. But you see how that went for me.
But I'm not sure why I keep reading books with like seven in the title like I read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo before and I did an episode on that book review and now I'm doing Seven Days in June.
As always, when I do a book review, I'm going to start with a non spoiler part and then I'll get into this spoiler parts later in the episode. So you can click off once we get to the spoiler part.
But I want to start off by talking about some themes, some topics that are brought up in this book. So in this book, one of the main characters is a single mother and it mainly deals with like her chronic illness or invisible disability of migraines that are powerful to the point where no medicine or most medicines don't really help. Like she keeps taking Aleve and it's doesn't do anything.
It also talks about like childhood trauma and recovering from it and how it impacts your life forever, basically. And it talks a lot about the black literary scene in New York, which was interesting to read about. This book, of course, is a romance book so it has black love and and I don't know if it's my first book, but it is the first book in a long time that I've read where both of the love interests are black, like both the man and the woman.
I feel like I've been reading a lot of books, a lot of romance books where the protagonist is black, like a black woman, and then, like love interest is not a black man.
I've been hearing a lot of like, discourse about Jenny Han because all of her books, not just the To All the Boys I've Loved Before series, but all of her books have like an Asian girl or a Wasian girl with a white man, like, how many books can you write where the Asian girl gets together with the white man, and I think those points are very valid.
And that kind of brings the idea of diluted representation, where it's like representation is there, but not fully there. Or it's was watered down to make it more palatable for the general public. And I mean, I don't have anything against her books or it's not that I think books aren't good. I have a great time reading them. The books are just a little drama, comedy romance set in high school, but I do see the point, the valid point of wondering why are all her characters fall into this category. I do think it's worth talking about.
Anyway, back to Seven Days in June, this book does not fall into that category. It is unapologetically black, which is one of the things I really, really, really loved about it. I remember when I started reading this book, I got it in paperback. And I started to like, fold the corners of the page, instead of using a bookmark which was really rare for me, usually when I'm reading a book, I use a bookmark religiously. I don't want any like, crevices or like any type of like marring of it. But for this one, I felt like I kind of like, wanted permanent proof or like a reminder that I had read the book and where I'd stopped. And it kind of felt like liberating for some reason.
So this book was definitely like, written from a black perspective through and through, which I feel like, the reason I'm saying that is because sometimes you read a book about black people, by black people. And it gives, it's just like a hint, just a hint of blackness, it's not really like fully immersing yourself in what it means to be a black person. And what I mean by this is that there were several like parts of dialogue, where I was like, Oh, my gosh, are we allowed to say that?
Specifically, this quote, where Shane, one of the main characters is talking to one of his students, and Shane teaches students who remind him of himself. So you know, they come from a troubled background. Everything in the world is basically working against them as like black children. And he's talking to this one boy, and he's trying to convince him like, you know, how to find things that you're interested in that are not like harmful to you. And Shane goes, "There are no niggas here." And the student responds by saying, "Are you Dominican?" Like, that is such a funny joke that I feel like to explain the joke that Dominican people don't consider themselves as black is so funny and something that is like an inside joke for black people.
But like the point totally went over this student's head that Shane was saying like, don't call yourself that, because you're more than just that. Which is kind of interesting, because sometimes I feel like that term is used in like a positive way like to reclaim what was once a slur. But also like, it can be limiting and like, why are you limiting yourself to just that term, you can be that term, but also more than that, as well.
I also liked that the author mentioned and incorporated and discussed the multiple facets of black culture in America. Because I feel like a lot of times we think of black culture, or when the general public thinks of black culture, they think of this one homogenous thing, which is obviously everyone knows— couldn't be further from the truth. But I feel like a lot of times, it's kind of overlooked, especially in books when you're talking about representation. And this author Tia Williams talked a lot about a Creole black culture, she talked about DC black culture, talking about all kinds of black culture, and how it was distinctly different from the different variations of black culture and like how they were similar, but also they had their own like flavor.
This book also has like themes of growing as a person and being unapologetic about who you are. That's the main character's journey throughout the entire book. Obviously, there are other plot lines, but that is really like that's really what this book is about for all the characters but all specifically, it's really about that for the main character. I do want to give some content warnings for themes of self harm and sexual assault that are brought up briefly. It's not done in a way where it feels like intense, but it is definitely there.
And then another big theme in this book is strife between a mother and daughter, the mother-daughter relationship, which is it was it's really interesting how it unfolds and how you get to understand both the mother and the daughter, even though obviously, there's like someone the book is making you take a side with, like telling you which side that you should take. But you do definitely understand both perspectives.
So in summary, this book is about Eva and Shane who met each other in high school, and had like a whirlwind romance basically like a dangerous whirlwind romance. And then they like went their separate ways, and met again, as adults. And the reason it's so interesting, like that meeting as adults is because they're both like writers. And they've been literally been like writing about each other the whole time, like, Shane's main characters and his book is based on her. And her main characters in her book is based on him. So like, basically they've been like writing about each other the whole time, like, writing about the person that they were in love with, that they fell in love with, when they were teenagers. So it's like dramatic and romantic and full of like, tension. As they like, deal with who they were as teenagers and who they are now, as adults.
Overall, I would rate this book and 8 out of 10, because I enjoyed it, like it was good, I would recommend this book to other people. But it was easy for me to like, stop reading, when it's time to take a break. Like, you know what I'm saying? You know how some books you're reading, you're like, Okay, I'm gonna, I'm gonna stop reading at 2pm. And then 2pm comes, you're like, oh, my gosh, I can't stop reading. I gotta keep reading. I gotta know what happens next. This was not one of those books. For me. This book was like, oh, it's 2pm, okay, I'm gonna take a break, I'll come back to it later. And I wasn't like hung up about it. Like, don't get me wrong, I was still thinking about the book. After I was like, Man, I wonder what's gonna happen. But it wasn't like, killing me. I wasn't like on the edge of my seat, like, unable to do anything but read the book.
So I guess that was actually good for me, because I did have, like homework to do and lessons to plan. But whatever. That's why I gave it an 8 out of 10. To end this kind of non spoiler section of the review, I wanted to read a quote that I feel like, was really impactful for me and made me reflect on myself. And just like, what it means to grow as a person for so long.
"For so long and in so many ways, Eva had been holding herself back. Now she wanted to figure out who she was— and then be her, delight in her. Delight in everything! Have an actual life and live it! She vowed to herself to be honest— with herself and with everyone. In pain? Admit it. In love? Claim it. Life was too short to be anything but herself."
So I feel like that is really the epitome of that character's journey and the journey that she's on throughout the book. Now I'm gonna go into the nitty gritty, the spoiler part, the review. So if you haven't read the book yet, now is the time to click off of this episode and come back later so we can talk about what's going on with his book.
So I really really, really liked the titles that each chapter had. They made me laugh, just reading them. One of the titles that I really liked was "Fun Black Shit." I was like, yes, there's some fun black shit in the world. And it's like fun to be a black person and everything associated with us. But each each chapter title was really like witty and funny. And, like, even had like, I don't know, they made me think.
It was also interesting that this book had a close third person narrator so meaning like it was like, omniscient narrator who knew all, but you also like knew their character's feelings and thoughts and stuff. And it was like specifically for like one specific character that you had insight into most of the time. But the author did also switch between multiple characters in a way that reminded me of Nicola Yoon's The Sun is Also a Star.
The fact that it was like close to one character or close to two characters, even Shane most of the time, but sometimes it would give you like a peek into Eva's daughter or peek into the mother or even some other and stuff like that. I think that's the point of view that I want start writing my books in. Because it is so fun to like, be the narrator but also tell your reader what's going on with your characters.
Also, something that was really cool that made me excited about this book was that my name was in this book. And the reason that's important is not because like oh my gosh, my name is in the book is because my name is Sidney (S-I-D-N-E-Y) and it's not very common to see my name with that spelling in a book. And if it is, it's usually used for male characters. But this time the character was a woman like a woman, Sidney. That was really exciting for me. It was funny to me like I was thinking about I was like how representation can manifest itself in even like the smallest of ways because every time I would read my name in the book, even though the character was like so small, I would like start giggling, like smiling about it.
So I just thought like, that was interesting. When we think about representation, it's so much more than just race. And also while reading this book, I felt truly at home, reading the everyday thoughts and conversations of black people.
And there's this quote that I feel like truly explained like what I mean by this, it says, "When she worked as a cocktail waitress, the mere cadence of her walk inspired chaos, or at least inspired red-faced drunken white men to shout Halle Berry at her. Lizette looked nothing like Halle. It was that white person phenomenon where they see a pretty brown face and declare it to be like the first pretty brown face that springs to their minds. Just another way they make you feel invisible, she thought."
Now, this quote is so true, it reminds me of like, sometimes when black people talk about going to Asian countries, and everyone says they look like Beyonce if you're a black woman, or if you're a black man, everyone says you look like Michael Jordan, or any other type black famous athletes.
And I never even really, like knew how to articulate this phenomenon or this thing until the book did it for me. And I was like, yes, that's exactly what it is. And it made me remember this time when I was at the elementary school at my internship. And I was like, in another grade's area that I'm not usually in, I don't remember but I was over there for some reason.
But I saw this teacher, and she was like, "Oh, the kids are over there." And I was like, "Huh?"
I was so confused. And then she was like, "Oh, you're not—."She like did that white person laugh then was just like, "I'm so sorry."
And then I saw this other black girl behind me. And she said the same thing to her. And I realized in that moment that she had gotten me confused with that other black girl.
And it was like, I'm like, isn't this a microaggression? I don't know. But it was kind of irritating because we, first of all, look nothing alike. Like when I say we look nothing alike, not in the way like, oh my gosh, our noses look different or our hair is different. But our skin tones are the same like this girl was very light skinned. Like, you know, when you put too much milk in your coffee to the point where it's more milk than coffee. I drink my tea like that.
Anyway, like that, like creamy, and like creamy tan, beige. And she had like red hair, like red curly 3A hair. And I'm like, girl, you only got confused because we're both black. Like she's clearly black, even though she's light skinned and had a looser curl pattern. But the fact that we only got confused because we were both black racially, was like, so disappointing. And I really did not need that because I just I had happened to be on my period that day and happened to be going through stressful stuff with like being observed and all that.
But it really was like yeah, that's it I'm about to leave this school and never come back.
Like, teachings is the worst thing, but it was mainly because I was on my period. And everything was heightened.
But I obviously realize that no matter where I go, those are things that are
possible. Those are things that probably will end up happening to me in one form or another unfortunately, but that's what this quote reminded me of.
But even beyond these things, these observations where you where the author articulated things that I experience in my life, just like listening to the topics that are just like reading the topics that the characters are talking about, or the way in which they express themselves was like so welcoming, like it made me feel so validated in who I am as a person and how I speak, which I guess is the true purpose of representation, isn't it?
I feel like it's such a like a money grab these days, and I'm never sure. Like if the representation is working for me or not. But I think in this case, it does. And I think it's not just representation for the sake of representation, but it's representation that makes me feel validated as a person as a black person.
Saying all of that to say, I did want to talk about a lot of the aspects of these characters that carry you can interpret them as aligning with stereotypes from that the black community often is like entrenched in. I personally have a fear of aligning my black characters with stereotypes and like harmful stereotypes of the black community. Some examples being like absent fathers or tumultuous mother-daughter relationships and drugs and going to
jail and shooting people and all that.
I think that there's enough black characters in the world that are dealing with that, there are enough black characters in books and media that are dealing with that. And that are like talking about that and that it feels like I don't need to add to that and it feels like— I almost feel like I should be avoiding it. Because I don't want to add to that, because it's already so prevalent. And the characters in this book, mainly Eva and Shane, do both have absent fathers. Well, Shane was in the foster system when he grew up. But Eva definitely has an absent father.
And the book goes through like flashbacks of back when they were in high school to their adult lives. When they're in high school, they talk a lot about like drug use as a vessel to numb pain, whether that's physical pain that Eva feels from her migraines, or emotional pain that Shane is dealing with because of his childhood trauma. And I think that it was well done. But I personally, I always feel hesitant about writing black characters or dealing with black characters that do, like fit into those categories that are often stereotyped as the whole black community. And I do think it's valid to have these characters.
I'm not saying like, Oh my God, you shouldn't write these characters. I'm saying that I it makes me like hesitant. But it's there are black people and black experiences where these things are at the center of a conversation. And so it's valid to have characters like this. But it just makes me worry about like, how other people perceive black people and black characters because of that.
Are we like cementing the box even more, like locking ourselves in these confines of stereotypes even more by continuing to write these characters? Which I don't know, I don't have the answer for that. But it is something that I was thinking about.
Also, when I read that part about Eva's characters like getting Eva's book getting a film adaptation and I read that part where they tried to whitewash her characters like turn them into white people to make it basically more palatable for general public. I was so mad like you are you guys already know, that makes me mad. Like, I already talked about this in the stop whitewashing black characters episode, where I was like, why can't we just have a black girl or Black boy with 4c hair and dark skin in movies where they're happy? Why is it so difficult for Hollywood? Like why is it so hard?
Yeah, so I was really mad. I was like, I can't believe they're doing this. It's like so real and I'm glad they're talking about that. And if this book was someday turned into a film adaptation watch the characters get white washed, even though this scene is in the book, they will still do something like that.
I will always be upset about The Sun is Also A Star. Always. I refuse to watch it. Anyway, So a major plot point in this book is Eva and Lizette's relationship. So Eva, the main character, and Lizette, her mother, have a strained relationship, to say the least. So Lizette is like this person who was basically like Miss America and almost Miss Universe or whatever. So she is very vain, very used to being celebrated from her looks and stuff like that. But when she's pregnant, when she's pregnant with Eva, all that basically comes to a halt. And she has to start using men or pandering to men to support her lifestyle. Whether that's like with the house and apartment or whatever. And basically like she has a bunch of boyfriends coming in and out of her life and doesn't really care about her daughter, like kind of, well, not that she doesn't care about her daughter, but her actions make her daughter have to take on the adult role. While Lizette still gets to be like a young woman, a young girl staying out all night and stuff. So this is the source of a lot of like, hurt for Eva.
And she does this thing where she calls her mother by her first name. She calls her mother Lizette and I feel like she's doing this to distance herself from her mother. By calling her mother Lizette it's like the disappointment she feels in her mother for not fulfilling that motherly role is like lessened because she's calling her Lizette instead of mom. I feel like the pain would be heightened if she called her mom.
I personally couldn't see myself like doing this, like I know this is just another way people use to like diminish the power or influence that they have over them. But I feel like if it were me, I probably just wouldn't like, call them anything. Like, I just I would avoid that as much as possible.
But then sometimes I wonder if that like inversely gives them power over me like, you know, Harry Potter with Voldemort, whatever, like he who must not be named, and then in that case saying his name was a way to regain power.
So, I don't know. There is no solution, there's no right way. But I just thought it was interesting, especially because that's flipped. That's something millennials do a lot. And like privileged white kids do a lot. And it can be a form of disrespect. But like a form of leveling the playing field like not not giving them that title gives you your power back in some way.
But it was very clear that Lisette was jealous of Eva throughout the entire book. But towards the end of the book, it basically spells it out the mother was jealous of Eva experiencing true loves before Lizette had ever experienced something like that. Lizette was aware that all those boyfriends she'd had in the past was not like true love, but they were just there for a beauty or whatever she could give them.
And there are these two quotes that I think are really paramount understanding her. One of them being, "When you're pregnant, you think you're going to have a little you. A tiny person with your same thoughts, same feelings. But her daughter came out wholly herself. Lizette never really knew how to raise her. Lord knows Genevieve never gave her any clues."
I don't know if that's how you say her name. Because there was like a phonetic spelling in there but I was I couldn't figure it out. I was like, whatever that fucking means.
But this is another quote that I think helps us get a good understanding of who Lizette is and why she did the things she did. "Genevieve was a child. She hadn't even lived yet. Why did she get that kind of adoration, when Lizette had never experienced it? It wasn't the order of things. It wasn't fair."
Why are we as humans so obsessed with the order that we think things should go? I honestly feel like I am also like, I fall into this as well, where I'm like, okay, you know, you go to high school and you will go to college and then you get a job. And then you work hard to get things that you want.
And like, why are we so obsessed with it being in that order? It's like what our society is built on. So it's so hard to like, deviate from it and not feel like anxious about it.
But back to Lizette, the twist that revealed that Lizette was actually the one that sent Shane away, like Shane didn't like leave Eva, but like Lizette called the police on him and sent him to jail, basically, because of the state that she found Eva in was really sad because like, it was like, Lizette knew that she was wrong for that. That's why she didn't tell Eva I mean, otherwise, why wouldn't you bragging about like doing that. But I thought that scene was really powerful, especially when Shane was like crying. When Eva was like, it seemed like she was gonna die.
And I was really refreshing to see, like, tears from a male character and like sadness as a natural part of masculinity. I thought that was really well done. I also, when thinking about this mother-daughter relationship between Lizette and Eva, thought about Eva and her daughter's relationship and the parallels between them, especially when they had that fight.
It was so clear that Eva was trying to be the mother that she never had. But because she had only experienced a mother like Lizette, she was worried that she only knew how to be that kind of mother. That kind which was a bad mother, someone who like gave her basically trauma that she's still unraveling to this day. And so her insecurity in her mothering tactics was super interesting to see how the ramifications between one mother-daughter relationship doesn't end there. It bleeds into the next one, which can then lead to the next one. And the next one, the next one if it's like not addressed or not— I don't know solved. And I think that's a part of generational trauma. That's a big part of it.
And I also want to talk about Shane. So Shane has a really interesting character, especially his desire to save black children that reminds him of himself.
And like that, it was his way of like, saving himself maybe by like trying to save himself by trying to save others. And the story specifically follows like Ty being the main one that we see the most of.
And I remember when I read that scene about Ty going to the house where he thought he was going to record his tape or whatever, and being like mad at him. I was like, you're so stupid for making dumb decisions. Shane told Ty not to do it. But he chose to do something dumb and do it anyway. And even like I feel ignorant for saying— for like being mad at him because like I will never know what it's like to live in the life that he was living in.
Because well, you're you're desperate for any way to get out of it. I will never know that. So for me to be mad at him. Like maybe, maybe just because I don't understand— but I do understand to some extent, like I do understand like that need that desire to do anything you can to get out, but I haven't lived it.
So I was like mad at him. I was like, Oh my gosh, like what was gonna happen? And Shane and Eva are finally together. And I'm finally happy. And here Ty goes making bad decisions that's going to make Shane devastated. It's going to devastate him. I was like, I'm so upset.
But it was like, honestly, from a writer's perspective, like brilliant foreshadowing, because you knew, you knew that this, whatever happened to Ty whether it was good or bad, whatever happened to him, you knew was gonna be bad, because you knew that whatever happened, Ty was going to basically unravel all the hard work that Shane had done, that it wasn't going to end well and that Shane was going to be destroyed.
And it was like, it went from that scene where Ty's about to walk into the house to Shane and Eva being happy together, and you as the reader being like, sad, because you know how brief this happiness is for them. It's going to end up being sad. It was so brilliant, that was really good.
And when we get to the scene, where Ty is basically like, where they tell us that Ty has like died from like, senseless violence, basically, it reminds us that he's only 13. I like couldn't believe that I forgot that Ty was 13. And I feel like it's like, part of our society's problem is perceiving black children as adults when they're just children.
Because black children look more mature faster, or I don't know, they just like grow taller, whatever. But even me, like I was not like a tall person, or I didn't, I didn't like have like, an hourglass figure anything. But I feel like adults still perceived me as older than I was. And I feel like that maturity, that perspective of like being an adult as a child— when people perceive you, as an adult, as a child is so harmful.
It's part of the reason why black children are so targeted in America. And it was really interesting to me in this book, because I knew that failure was inevitable for Shane, when he tried to save these black children. I knew it that failure was inevitable, because he was never going to be able to save them all. Like even if he saved, you know, quote on quote, saved a couple of kids that he mentored, there was always going to be a few that he was not going to be able to save. And it was toxic for Shane, because he wanted to save them all.
I'm not saying that, like, Oh, you're not going to save them all so why bother trying but I'm just saying like, he was so invested in this, that those failures were enough to unravel him. It wasn't even like a failure. It's just like those experiences were inevitability going to lead to him unravelling.
And now moving on to Shane and Eva's romance. Because this book is a romance book. So Black love, and I haven't talked about it that much.
I really, really liked that plot point where they were writing about each other. And I liked that people figured it out. That was funny. I do think it was interesting though, how they dealt with their childhood trauma and like extremely different ways, like drastically different ways.
Eva tried to sit down and create a life for herself that was like completely different from the life she had known where she was moving around from place to place to place with her mother. To having a kid and being with the husband that she saw as the epitome of stability before she got a divorce. Then we have Shane on the other hand, who's doing everything he can to experience things all over the world, not put down roots— doesn't even buy a house always rents. Where he's basically trying to outrun or experience as much as he can so that he can pretend like that trauma never happened or he doesn't have to dwell on it for too long and confront it because if he stays in one place for too long, eventually, you're going to have to confront it. Eventually those new experiences are going to become familiar and you'll be left with yourself looking within and you can't outrun yourself.
So I thought that was really interesting, just like seeing how trauma can manifest itself into your adult life. And I also remember when I was reading that part, like after a Ty dies and Eva is like, I don't have to do this anymore, basically, like they basically break up. It was like, towards the end of the book, there was like barely any pages left. I was like, Oh, my God. What do you mean?
And I was like, This is why I only read fluff, romance books, books that are not serious, don't take themselves seriously. When I'm stressed, I can't be dealing with the stress from this book on top of my schoolwork stress, like, I don't have time for that.
I was not even wanting to finish the book, because I was like, they better end up together.
Like, honestly, not every romance book has to end up with the characters together. But like, I really thought that this was ending because we were at the end of the book, and then all of a sudden, they broke up. And I was like, bruh, oh, my God.
And there was this idea that was kind of talked about in the book where the both Shane and Eva were talking about waiting until they're in a better place or until they've healed from whatever they need to heal from before they can be together. So that they like don't hurt the other person because of the like the inner growth that they still need to do. And I think that's very mature, that's very admirable to want to make sure that the best version of yourself is available when you're entering a relationship with someone else.
But I feel like there's always the risk that you're gonna hurt someone else or be hurt by someone else. No matter how much self growth you've done as a person, I think it's more just a matter of if you think it's worth the risk. Or if you're willing to take that risk of being hurt. Would you rather be with this person and still be hurt than to be without them? Like is the pain of being without them worse than being with them? Even with the pain that they might inflict on you? And I don't want that to be like a toxic mentality, I don't want you to be like, oh my gosh, like they're treating me bad, but I love them too much to deal with the pain of being without them. So I'm gonna be with them. Not like that.
More like when you know, both people are trying their best. But it still seems like you know, you guys are flawed. And you guys have the potential to do damage to each other. To then you feel like you should wait. And I feel like a lot of my friends talk about this, like, oh, we weren't ready or in the right place. Like, there is never going to be a right place.
Truly, truly, there's never going to be the perfect time the perfect place for a relationship. There's always going to be stuff that makes it like not perfect.
Because if K-dramas have taught me anything, it's that timing is everything in love. Timing is everything. If you miss that timing, that might be it. So while I thought that that like train of thought was was admirable, I did not agree. I was like you guys need to be together and work to grow together.
But then they did end up together. Thank God, I was like, how are they going to turn this around? And like with 10 pages left. What the heck, but they did.They ended up together.
And I think that was the right, the right ending. I don't that's not to say that I'm not a fan of books where they don't end up together where it doesn't work out in the way that you thought it would. But this was not the book for that. I would have rioted. I would have been upset if they did not end up together. Anyway, it was a good book. It was great. I enjoyed it. I don't know if it's a book that I reread again, but I did enjoy it. I would recommend it.
As always make sure to follow the podcast on Instagram at @jumblepodcast and also make sure check out our website at bit.ly/jumblepod. Also leave a review let me know what you thought about the episode.
Anyway, as always, I hope that tomorrow will be better for you than today. I'm hoping that for myself too. I don't know if you can tell but I'm kind of sick a little bit. But I'm recording this episode anyway for you guys and I don't want to forget like all the stuff I wanted to talk about from this book.
Anyway, I hope tomorrow better for you than today and I hope that you find a moment within your day to enjoy some fresh air, enjoy the breeze. Enjoy the birds chirping. It's warmer outside now and the birds won't shut up. Which is unfortunate. Also beautiful at the same time. I want to get a bird feeder for the birds but I know that the squirrels are just gonna take it. So maybe I won't do that.
Commentaires