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DJ Psyched: I'm DJ Psyched and you're listening to the Get Psyched podcast. Let's get psyched about reading! We're talking about John Dies at the End by David Wong. I'm joined here today with Ella aka Miss Psych. And we're going to talk about this book because we've been reading it together for the last few weeks, you want to say hi, for me, Ella.

Ella: Hey, guys.

DJ Psyched: This book is chaotic. We're gonna talk more about it in a second. But the genre of this book is humorous fiction, or fiction, I personally don't think that there's any easy way to put this book into a category. It's pretty crazy. A lot of things happen in it. And the length of this book, it also varies on the edition, I had said 362 pages online, my addition was over 400 pages. It is kind of big, not the biggest book ever. But it is incredibly dense, a lot happens in it. So it is it is kind of a long story to read. But it is a total page turner, so it didn't take too long to read.

DJ Psyched: I'm gonna give a short summary, which is really hard to do from this story. So I'm just gonna say a little bit about what it's about. Basically, there's these two main characters, right, and one of the main characters is told from the author's perspective to David Wong, than the other characters, his best friend, john, they take this drug, it's called soy sauce, and it makes them see things from other worlds. It makes crazy things happen to them, it puts them into these weird scenarios that would have never been a part of their life before. And it just ends up being total chaos. There's like a portal to hell. And there's all these demons and monsters, and they just have all these side effects and abilities. They're just dealing with the supernatural now. And it's all because of this drug. And they're just trying to figure out what's happening because it's not like they know what's going on or what the endgame is or what they're even doing. They're not hero type characters. They heard they really don't give a shit. They're just stuck in this scenario. And they're doing the best they can. They still work normal day job, they still do normal things. They are not like, Oh, yay, we got this opportunity to save the world and they just want to live their lives, but they can't. So that's the best summary I could give for this book. It's a long, wild story. And we're just we're gonna get into now before I jump right into all the notes we have, I just want to know what your general thoughts on the book where Ella is your first time reading it.

Ella: Like you said, it was definitely a real page turner. It was really like super easy for me to like, get there pretty quick. Yeah, it was really fucking funny. I wasn't expecting it to be not only so funny, but also so gory. Yeah, there were, like, equally as shocking, like things happen as funny. So like, there were a lot of times where I like literally started laughing. But there are also times where I like gasp because I was like, Oh, my God, that actually happened. But yeah, it was a really good book. It was really fun to read. Definitely.

DJ Psyched: Yeah, this story is absolutely chaotic. And I remember my first time reading it, I had no idea what is about like, my friend just started playing the audio book in the car, and they didn't give me a synopsis or anything that was going on. So I was trying to like judge it as I was listening to what was happening. And I was like, Oh, it's just some ghost story. Oh, it's just some this. But then the more I was listening to it, I was like, I have no idea what's happening right now. I can't put my finger on this story at all.

Ella: Yeah, it was like I would read on and I would be like, Okay, I understand what's happening. And then like, three pages later, I'd be like, okay, just kidding. I have no idea what's going on, but in like the best way because it was so good. So....

DJ Psyched: Yeah, I think it makes it really fun that there's always something happening that you really don't understand what's going on. The story isn't laid out for you right in front of you. It's like the timeline isn't even straightforward. Things are just jumping all over the place. There's the main story that he's talking to this reporter about the main story. And then they kind of jump into these random moments to just kind of give you background on what's happening. And just keep the pace of this story is crazy.

Ella: Yes. But 10 out of 10.

DJ Psyched: 10 out of 10. Yeah, this is my second time reading the series. I only so I only read this series back in January. So it's kind of exciting to reread it so soon. Because usually if I read a book like what like six, a little over six, seven months ago, whatever hasn't even been a full year. I normally would not want to reread a book this soon because I would know what happens. It'd be kind of boring. It hasn't even been a full year. And as I'm reading this, I'm like, I recall, like 20% of all this because there's so much happening, that it's kind of impossible to just remember the story The first time I think this is definitely a book series worth buying. Because you need to read it many, many times before it gets old over like you know what's gonna happen.

Ella: Yeah, I feel the same about books. And I know I'll definitely be rereading this not far from now.

DJ Psyched: Yeah, so we're just gonna get into it started From the beginning, and like I already said, there's just so many different, like, vantage points that this story is told from and the first part of this story is this like x riddle introduction. So there was that intro where they talk about the x. And it's just saying like if you had to replace the top of the x, and then if you had to replace the handle VX, meaning that over time you've replaced the entire x, is it still the same x, and becomes really relevant later in the story? But what do you think when you first started reading it, and it had that intro? I didn't think much of it.

Ella: Until you like asked me again. So like, what do you think of it? And then I was like, I didn't know if it was relevant, even though I mean, make sense that it would be relevant. But when I first read it, I was just like, Alright, let's get on to the nitty gritty story, you know?

DJ Psyched: Yeah, this story starts out So interestingly, because it starts out with that axe intro, and then you get the intro with the girl in the house. And then we finally get the intro where he meets up with Arnie. And I think it's kind of confusing the first time you read because I was sure confused. First time I read. It's like, you jump from this riddle into the scene with this girl. And you're like, Okay, so the riddle, I don't know, maybe that'll be relevant later. The scene with this girl you're like, Okay, so they're paranormal hunters and then jump into RNA. And you're like, I don't know what's going on. happening. Yeah.

Ella: And then there, and then you jump from that to like, the actual story.

DJ Psyched: The actual story, I thought it was interesting, because I still, I never really put it together in my head. Like I said, there's like, there was that girl, and they're doing that activity. And then he's telling the full story. I don't really understand where that event happened in the timeline.

Ella: Yeah, I think it had to have happened like, right before he went to meet the guy, the interviewer reporter already, that's what I would think. I don't know, though. It's definitely more towards like the end. Like it's not like in the beginning where they talked about, like all the shit that happened, like when they first did the soy sauce, because like they were already like, recognized or whatever.

DJ Psyched: Yeah, definitely happened somewhere after they had taken the drug and learn about the effects and all that. It's just kind of confusing as to where a lot of things happen. Because there's like that time period where they're just jumping through a few years. Like there's like, oh, there was a few years that they forgot about this. And then there's a few years that John's not really close to Dave and yeah.

Ella: They leap through time, so much Dave didn't even remember. It was like amnesia within like, huge chunks of his life.

DJ Psyched: Yeah, I know. I didn't say this earlier. So my bad spoiler alerts, we're definitely gonna be giving them now. But yeah, it was like really weird during that lapse time to because like Vegas was this huge, crazy, life changing thing. And then Dave, just apparently he moves in with JLo. And apparently, he's like, not talking to john anymore. And it's like weird for him. I think it's interesting the way they did this, because whenever he wakes up, he's like, Well, why would I ignore you, john, and like, he's just kind of confused as to what's going on. But the him that was living the life, it was easy for him to get caught up in the money and be with JLo and not talk to john. But then every time he'd wake up as the person he was before the money and before all that happened. He's like, Well, of course, I'm going to go to Johnny's my best friend. Yeah, I thought that part was kind of cool. The fact that like, you know, he was who he was before his memory was lapsed. But apparently he was a whole different person before that time period. Yeah. How does memory intact? Yeah, sort of intact? Yeah, I don't know. That whole part just confused the life out of me. Because I'm like, there's How many years has it been since Vegas? How long? Is this story going on? Yeah. They're not teenagers anymore. Because like, when they go to that party, they're like, fresh out of high school. But now you got to assume they're in their mid 20s.

Ella: Yeah. And Dave has his own house.

DJ Psyched: So yeah, then he's also like talking to the interviewer, this whole thing. And he's somehow relaying this long period of time, the army in one sitting, talking about his whole life and all that. And he's on the sauce while he's talking to Arnie. And we got to talk about this, because it's not gonna make sense. Anyone doesn't know this story. But soy sauce. It's a miraculous drug. What did you think when you first started learning about what soy sauce did to them?

Ella: Well, it scared me first of all, because half the people who check it die also because like, we're we're just talking about how confusing the story was. And it was because of soy sauce. It messes with your conception of time. It's just it like enhances everything. But also, if you're not on the soy sauce, like us, we weren't on it. So it was confusing to like, kind of understand what the hell was happening.

DJ Psyched:  Yeah, the soy sauce was just so weird, because there was like so much stuff that you could and couldn't do on the sauce. And I don't know, it was just really inconsistent. And it was weird. Like, they could kind of time travel sometimes. But then again, it wasn't like real time traveling. It was just like when Dave traveled, like he's like in the trailer where he was about to get shot. And he ends up going through all these different places and stuff. But then he can't actually escape the trailer. So when he wakes up, he's still in the trailer and he still gets shot. Yeah, and then there's so many effects of the sauce that are just like really random like the music one. Yeah. The lyrics and like popular songs would just change to be really really terrible.

Ella: Yeah.

DJ Psyched: That was a weird effect of the sauce.

Ella: I thought it was just a funny like, touch like hear what they made up. Like as a filler is funny.

DJ Psyched: Yeah. I also love the part where like, I don't remember who they were doing the sauce in front of I think it was Amy or something. But they were like, Oh, yeah, let's take some and let's see if it hits and they're like, Oh, I don't think it's hit. And then they're doing all this weird stuff at the same time. And Amy's just looking at them. Like, why? And they're like, yeah, and now the soy sauce isn't hitting and then they're doing like the weirdest things at the same time. Yeah. I just thought it was funny because like, you know, with like normal substances like alcohol and stuff. Most people are like that, like, Oh, I don't feel it. And you could tell that they have it and apparently soy sauce in the same way.

Ella: Yeah. And also it affects everybody differently. There were just so many things you can do in soy sauce, like we encounter the rice on the way and then he said where the origin of the rice was like getting in climate change was in Arnie's pocket. And then he knew, like if he would have flipped it 10 times he knew exactly what the outcomes are going to be.

DJ Psyched: And then of course, there's just the fact that being on the sauce means that you've kind of opened yourself up to this like otherworldly thing where you can see all these creatures and stuff that sober person wouldn't be able to see someone not on the sauce. Soy sauce is interesting, because it is like this weird, crazy drug. But at the same time, it does have a lot of parallels to real drugs.

Ella: Yeah, well, the first time Dave take the sauce it was in voluntarily, like borst itself.

DJ Psyched: Yeah, that's another good point. Soy Sauce isn't like always their choice to take like Dave, you know, soy sauce injected itself into him.

Ella: And then also ate its way through the cheek.

DJ Psyched: Yeah, like they like little bugs that like flew into his face. And so it's also interesting to because it takes on so many different forms, like john in them, you could assume they all like shot it up with syringes, because the way they described it, but then Dave has these little pellets, shoot up him and then later on, they're eating them. And it's like, you can adjust soy sauce in any way as long as he wants you too. Yeah. And desire you creatures, like injected Molly with the sauce too. It's just weird. Like, the drug has so many rules to itself like it chooses you. And it chooses how it affects you. And most of all, like the weirdest part, like you said, most people who take soy sauce will die. And it's like interesting in the story to see that like john and Dave, were kind of chosen not to die on the sauce. Yeah, so the sauce won't kill them.

Ella: It's really weird. It made me very amused

DJ Psyched: Still has me confused. Like I've read this whole book series. And I can't sit here and tell you that I understand the story any more than you do. Yeah, yeah, the main story is just chaotic. Like, it's just trying to understand what the sauce has done to them what they supposed to do about it. They're really not on the search to be like saving the world or anything. Dave just wants his life to be normal. That's all he's trying to do this whole story, but he gets sucked into these situations because of the drug. And it's all John's fault because he went to that party with the weird like guy who was impersonating a magician, Jamaican man. Yeah. And Big Jim who like brought it into their town. And then you know, john was the only one that survived that whole incident. And then it was forced in a day's life. Dave wanted nothing to do with any of this.

Ella: Yeah, he literally went home early.

DJ Psyched: Which is a shame because this whole story ends up changing Dave's life the most. Yeah, I guess we could talk about now what Dave ends up finding out with all this soy sauce and all these adventures, everything becomes connected. There's the shadow people that he sees. There's these little white bugs that are flying around the place. All these strange occurrences and demons and stuff that he's getting like to see like wig monsters, and then there's shitload. There's all this crazy stuff that he's encountering. It all comes down to this karate. Yeah, the all seeing eye. You have any thoughts on Kronk?

Ella: Yeah, he's confusing. So basically, he reaches all the universes like when he speaks through people, you know, karate, is I follow no one but karate or whatever. They say that he's like, killed like planets. Then they say like planets are in his intestines or something like that. Yeah, it's fucking weird.

DJ Psyched: Yeah, Kroc is really weird. Like, they kind of talk about him as being very multi dimensional. He's been in multiple worlds, a lot of people have experienced what is this being Kroc, but in different forms. So it's like Kroc has taken on many forms over many years, over many ages, through time and space, different zones. Kroc has just always been around but called different things. I think really interesting part of the story is Dr. Marconi. Because, you know, when they went off to Vegas, and they went to that big adventure, they met Marconi, who was like, famous for the stuff that they do, even though Dave wants nothing to do with this paranormal stuff. Marconi, that's his whole life. That's his whole career. And when they meet Marconi, he's been doing like research on all this. They see like his papers on croc, and that's when they find like the symbol. Okay, Croc, I thought the symbol part was really cool. What do you think of that, like when they like, made the connection between like the ancient drawings and the symbol that they were seeing everywhere?

Ella: I thought that was really cool. Yeah. And that was interesting to see that like, every like thing that I guess has been touched on. correctly had that symbol that was cool. And it was a good way to like kind of confirm whether I mean not really though, because of Dave. Yeah, it freaked me out a little bit just because it was like saying that he was like God, right from what Marconi found, because he found like a group of people in somewhere like a tribe or something that like worshiped curl.

DJ Psyched: Yeah, Kroc was like worshipped in other worlds and stuff. And I thought it was interesting, because like, one of my favorite things about this story is the fact that it's funny. And it's weird. And they, it's not taken too seriously. Even when it gets gory and stuff. There's always like, the light humor and all that to it. And even with the symbol, there was a lot of that like stupid humor, because you find out that like, the way that the symbol works is like, it's kind of like a sideways pie. That's how they describe it. It's like the pie symbol, but it's sideways. And then in the ancient drawings, there's a person standing and there's an arrow coming down from their crotch and their mouth. And then they're talking about how like, the reason there's arrows in those two spots of their bodies is because those are like the two pleasure points of man. And they also say some gross stuff about like vomit and peeing. Yeah, I just thought it was funny, though, telling like this very serious story about like Kroc, and how he's rude through all these ages and his symbols everywhere. And the symbol stands for something ridiculous like that.

Ella: And pure evil and then they still make it like a child.

DJ Psyched: And the symbol of Kroc becomes a big point later on in the story, because the first place they find a symbol, I'm pretty sure this is the first place they find it was on molly.

Ella: Yeah, aside from in the papers.

DJ Psyched: Yeah, like the first being they see it on it's like it's on Molly's pour or something. Right before Molly's blown up. And then later on in the story, there's Molly, it took them a really long time to make the connection between symbol Molly blows up and Molly's here without the symbol. Like it took them a while to realize that these were clones. Yes, Brock. 

Ella: Same, it honestly took me a second.

DJ Psyched: Yeah. And that becomes a real big deal later on. Because in the story, you know, it was like, you know, like we said, like Dave had this tendency to lose memory after Vegas, which I think is interesting. I really don't know what the connection here is between why Dave was losing all that memory. But I think it's interesting, because the next time he loses his memory in a series, we know why it happened. Because he lost his memory and died. And then he gained his conscious back in his croc self.

Ella: Body. Yeah.

DJ Psyched: Yeah. But in the other ones, I don't know why they really don't explain to Well, why he kept losing his memory from that. But I think it's interesting, because I just assumed that when crock made these beings, these creatures, they had nothing to do with the original person, right? Like if you made a Molly, it's just a clone. It looks like Molly, but it isn't Molly. So it's really interesting when Dave is made into a being a crock. And then he kills the original Dave. And Dave believes that he is that version of himself. Like there's that connection between Dave and the Kroc version. But I just thought it was interesting that there was like that connection there. Because I just, I thought they would be two totally different things. Like it doesn't make sense to me that when real Dave dies, his conscience would wake up inside of the other one.

Ella: Yeah. Also doesn't make sense. But that's what that actually has to do with the story.

DJ Psyched: Yeah, the metaphor at the beginning where he's like, Is it still the axe?

Ella: Yeah. Because that's another thing like karate has control over people's memories, because he can like either Iraq or something. Can like completely erase people and things from people's memories? Yeah. aren't even talks about it. It's like the Mandela effect, but like, not the Mandela effect, because it's actually crazy.

DJ Psyched:  Yeah. And we experienced a lot of that during like, the Vegas scene when like, john says something about how JLo shouted Todd, and it was like, really random sounding when he said in the story, because he's like, why would she say that? But then afterwards, when he explains like, I just told you this whole story, the way I remember it, but sometimes when it's late at night, I kind of dream of this guy named Todd and I'm pretty sure Todd was there the whole time. That whole scene blew my mind The first time I read it, yeah. What did you think when you read all that, like when you realize just how confusing This story was gonna get, because now that you see the kind of power Kroc has and the things that he's gonna do to them, he realized that this story is only gonna keep getting more confusing, because they could totally do something and remember it, but it could be absolutely not what happened. I mean, it just made me like very interested in what the hell's gonna happen next. Like I was just like, okay, to see what else like who else is a race. I think that moment really showed me how crazy the story was going to be. Because, like we said, like, it was very unexpected. Like I really didn't see that coming. The first time I read it. I was like, totally Mind blown from that scene, because they're not immune to what's happening with them. Even though john and Dave are like, kind of like the special ones. They don't die from soy sauce. There's still a lot of things that are going to happen to them. Like Dave is now he's Dave, and everyone accepts him as Dave but in reality he's Caracas version of Dave.

Ella: Yeah, it was crazy. I think it also just like kind of gave him I mean, sort of Have a little bit more information about Kroc but not really cuz still don't know what's his deal, but like, I don't know it just showed a little bit more about like how powerful he was like kind of what he could do i mean still don't know everything you can do but no they erase people from everyone's like Pierre Raphael from existence is only he can kill people but it's like completely like they never existed which is crazy.

DJ Psyched: Yeah and they're capable these shadow people currach everyone is working for him. I think what blows my mind about this story? There's so many like evil entities that it's kind of hard to realize that they're all like, they're all part of one agenda because there's like, you know, we said like the shadow people. There's those little bugs there's the wig monsters and there's crocs like clones and there anymore. There's like the roach man.

Ella: They're big creatures that like we're in the in the mall.

DJ Psyched: Yeah, there's all these like creatures and entities that are trying to like, get in on them. And I think in the book, it's way more confusing. Like, like reading the book. There's just all these entities and it's like what there's like the jellyfish thing. There's all these entities doing random crazy stuff. It was some it was something that wasn't a jellyfish. I remember. I don't remember the name of it, but it was something something I like the way he describes things because he'll say something like yeah, it's like a jellyfish but actually nothing like jellyfish. Yeah, still envision is a jellyfish in my head. Because he said it like that the first time -

Ella: where they'll say like the way monsters He said it was the size of a golden retriever. So I was thinking, Oh, like a dog? Nope,
not a dog.

DJ Psyched:  It's ridiculous. Like, it's just so confusing. There's so many forces of evil. And I feel like we'll talk about this more once we get to the movie comparison. But I just feel like in the movie, it's very straightforward. Like there's these people trying to invade the earth, and they're trying to stop them. But in the book, it doesn't feel like that's the end all be all of the story. I feel there's like a lot more going on. And you read the entire book, and you still don't know, I want to know what is happening. What's gonna happen to the world. Like I still don't know what Kroc has planned or like for Dave, it was so confusing, then. Same. I totally agree. You know, like, Dave feels the same way too. Like he's like, I mean, we've sort of had a win by planting that bomb. We got out of that world safely. But we still know there's things coming for us, we still know that we're in trouble. It was like, they evaded death. But they didn't really prevent anything. They didn't really stop anything. They just survived that one occasion. Yeah, before we finish up here, one of my favorite aspects of this book is, is the fact that they never stop being real people. Like we already said, like, they're not hero types. They're not like, oh, we're gonna save the world. Neither of them give a fuck, they just want to drink. And they just want to chill. And they still have their day jobs. They're still worried about their relationships. They still talk about how broke they are all the time. Like, it doesn't matter if they're saving the world, or if they're fighting these evil monsters. They never stop being regular people in this book.

Ella: Yeah, I just thought it was so funny because they don't stop being regular people, but like, they still are so calm throughout the whole thing. I mean, like not really because like you're in Dave's head. So like, Yeah, but he's just like, so sarcastic and stuff that even when he's losing his shit, it's like so funny in, I guess in his head, he stays like calm. And also, john, like, anytime. I don't know how john always comes up with like, the perfect response. Or like, the perfect thing to do in any given moment. Like, it's just always the funniest dumb is what you would not expect. But it like helps. It works. And I made the book so easy to read. Just the fact that they were so like real. And I don't know, I feel like sometimes I feel like I'm David. But then also sometimes I feel like I'm john. So they're both like relatable characters.

DJ Psyched:  Yeah, they are really good characters. And I totally agree with like the way that like, it seems as if they're just really calm and chill about everything. But I think we do see like slight moments in David's head where he's just had enough and where he's like, starting to just act, but he's trying his best to just get through things. You can very much tell by the way he talks about Amy, the way that he's you know, because you know, he starts to bond with Amy near the end of the book, he starts to get closer to her. You can tell that he had shut himself off from most of his emotions before he met Amy because he talks about how like, what my life was perfect. Before I met Amy, they had no one to hold against me because I didn't have anyone that I cared about besides john and he's reckless. So who cares? Yeah, he's kind of opening himself up to a new world of Dave emotions. Because he's, he's not really the most emotional person in the world. But he's starting to realize that he has feelings that he can't control because he wanted to tell Amy to like fuck off. Like, I don't want you getting hurt because I care about you. But he couldn't stop himself from agreeing to engagement with her. Yes, literally. That was so funny. I thought he was gonna say no, until I read. Yes. And I think it's interesting to when john says to Amy like, you didn't know him. He was such a dick before you met him. Like this version of Dave, you know, was never the real Dave and he was not Good, bro. Like, I just think he's really interesting the way that john was talking about Dave like that.

Ella: Yeah, I also thought that was interesting. But I thought that was so like, in my mind, I was reading that because I thought that john didn't trust Dave and I thought john was like keeping an eye on him and ready to like it. Like if Dave did like, switch over, like, some shadow person, like took over his body and stuff. I thought john was like preparing himself and Amy to like, get ready to attack him. That's that's what I was thinking when I was reading that part. Because I mean, they just found out that Dave's had a symbol of Iraq on it with his body.

DJ Psyched: Yeah, I it was definitely a part of the tactic. I just still thought it was interesting, because I think near the end of the story, I think we start getting a lot of character development from Dave. Oh, yeah, finally starting to see a different side of Dave. And I can't wait until we do the next couple of books. because like you said, like you Oh, he's so calm and all that you definitely get to understand Dave more in the next two books. Like I think this one, it makes sense that he's like, seems chaotically calm through all this, because he's in shock. Like, he was living a normal life. And now he's living this weird life where demons and stuff are the norm. And he knows that he's not safe everywhere he goes, he's kind of like in a state of shock. But I think in the next few books, the shock wears off, and he realizes his life. And that's a whole different scenario, you know. And I think it's kind of cool, in a sense, because it kind of like to me, I could parallel that with like, the idea of this pandemic, right. We were all kind of in shock and acting a certain way and feeling a certain way when it first started. And we didn't know how long it would last. But we were just in the moment there. And now I feel like people are reacting very differently to it. Now that they see, this may be a much longer term thing. And that's kind of what Dave is experiencing in this story. Yeah. But yeah, so that's most of the notes that we had as far as what happens in the book. Oh, the last part I want to bring up because it was it was a big part of the ending. By the way, the ending was so long to this book. I loved it. I had no problem with it. But I felt like this book was ending for a while.

Ella: Yeah, I spent, like, I don't even know how long, maybe two hours, I was like, I'm gonna finish this book. I'm gonna get it. And then by the time I was ready to just be done reading I still had like five pages left, but I had no more reading in me that night.

DJ Psyched:  No, I completely feel that when I sat down to finish reading it that last time I thought I was gonna blaze through it, too. And I spent like two and a half hours reading that last part, but I just I, I was like, Okay, I'm so close. I gotta finish. I finished I kept saying that and turning the pages and it still wasn't happening. But it's a really, it is a really good ending. It's just, it's a lot more than I was expecting. Like, there's a lot of things that happen. And the most interesting thing that happens at the end was what happened to Arnie.

Ella: Oh yeah, he ended up not even existing, or he didn't exist, but he was dead. And he wasn't even how was the funniest part? No, it was it. I mean, it was it was funny when they, I mean, okay, it wasn't funny. As soon as Dave made the connection. That's what was funny because Dave just started laughing. That part, I don't know, it was just relatable because sometimes I laugh at moments when you shouldn't laugh. And so I just thought that was funny.

DJ Psyched:  Yeah, I just thought the ending with Arnie is just is a huge slap in the face to Dave, you know, cuz he's like, I finally have someone who's kind of understanding my story. He finally like he's able to finally break through to Arnie and get him to kind of confess that he believes him because he knew that Arnie believed him to an extent Why else would he have listened to him? And he finally gets a breakthrough with Arnie finally gets into believing he finally gets into MIT why he's there, and then it amounts to absolutely nothing. And that's like, Dave's like, Okay, I'm over this crock cutter rock wins all the time. Like, he found out that I was gonna find someone who I could actually talk to and got rid of before I even had the chance, like he just kind of is defeated in that moment. And they just walks away. And it's like, the purpose of the whole first book was that conversation with RNA trying to explain everything to him. I think that's what makes the story really interesting, which I can't wait to start this next book. It's very different because we're used to this being a story being told to someone but there's a different perspective and the other books because our knees no longer around. I think it's really interesting how this series started out that way because it's it's very different the rest of the series. I'm ready to read the second book too exciting. So stay psyched and stay around because we're going to talk about those as we read them. Last part of this is the movie comparison, because we did watch the movie and it is it is something to talk about. Give me your basic impressions of the movie right off the bat.

Ella: Um, well, compared to the book. Yeah, some of the best parts were completely not in the movie at all. My favorite character Jayla not in it at all. They just took out whole last characters, and Marconi was in it. And weirdly, it didn't make any sense. And then the end. They had Molly like, grab the bomb and then jump into the crock. I thought that was so dumb. Molly's name wasn't even Molly. Aaron. It was Barkley! 

DJ Psyched: That was pretty stupid.

Ella: It was so stupid. Wat are your thoughts on the movie?

DJ Psyched: My thoughts on the movie now, I will say that I do think that the movie is missing a lot. It's it's definitely not the full story, which, I mean, I ain't even mad about if you try to put this whole thing into one movie. Of course, it's not going to be everything in here because there's way too much happening here. That'd be like a nine hour movie. But I will say I was happy with what was in it for the most part, not everything. I think that there were definitely some stuff like the Barclay thing bothered me. I didn't why even change Molly's name, Molly's name was fine as Molly, Molly didn't need to die at the end. But I think some of this stuff like certain scenes were really cool because they were really spot on. Like the scenes that were spot on. Were very neat to see because they were just what you envision from the movie like the intro scene with the x That was really good. Then the next scene after that with the girls house that was pretty spot on. They even had like the friggin penis door handle. It was amazingly spot on. But once they started changing the story to save time, like getting rid of Vegas and changing how they find the trap door and including Marconi in a different way and ended the movie just felt like they rushed through the book as fast as possible, and jumping over whatever was like too long for them.

Ella: I just feel like the movie didn't do that great of a job kind of showing just how like dark and like evil currach actually was like the book had so many just so many different things that just made it like I would definitely consider the book a horror fiction. I don't think I would consider the movie a horror movie.

DJ Psyched: Yeah, I totally agree with that. I think that the way that the movie was done, it's kind of a comedy. Like it's just a comedy at the end of the movie. Like when you watch it, you're like, haha, that was funny and weird. But you're not really going to get the full grasp of this story. You're not going to get the horror or the gore. You're not even really getting a lot of the characters.

Ella: I think they kind of disrespected Amy by giving her that stupid face.

DJ Psyched: Yeah, Amy was like we didn't talk enough about Amy on this podcast, but Amy's an amazing character and baby definitely did her dirty in the movie.

Ella: Yeah. And she was a redhead in the book.

DJ Psyched: Okay, that's another thing about the movie, the cast for the movie. I think the only person that kind of fit what they were in my head was shitload. shitload was the only one that was on par for me. The rest of them I, Dave and john were like, really young and attractive, which there's nothing wrong with except the fact that Dave always described himself as like, kind of overweight and like kind of old and he kind of the way he talks about until you kind of imagine him as a little old as raggedy and shit like, not this young put together, ma'am.

Ella: Mm hmm. The actors just didn't fit the vibes that I had for john and Dave, or Amy or Dr. Marconi.

DJ Psyched: Dr. Marconi wasn't too far off for me. I think Dr. Marconi was it was pretty All right. I didn't like the Amy thing at all. Like Amy was a good ass character in the book. Amy was like very one dimensional and just brushed off and the movie.

Ella: Yeah, Jayla wasn't even in it.

DJ Psyched: I'm just really mad about this JLo thing.

Ella: I mean, yeah. I think the worst out of all the characters was Mali slash Berkeley's and just don't get it.

DJ Psyched: And they left out huge parts of the plot, which is why i mean, i and this movie, like, I'm not trying to give it hate. Like, I'm pretty sure this movie was made a very small budget, it was like, kinda like a film festival movie or something. And I think they did a good job for what they did. But there were small details that I think just didn't need to happen. Like, I agree the Barclay changing Mali name thing was a bit unnecessary. Putting the fake hand on Amy was a bit unnecessary, I think it would have been fine, that they had to get rid of certain portions of this book to make it fit the movie length. But I think that they just didn't need to add in those details. And if they weren't going, they probably were just going for a weird comedy. That wasn't a reflection of the book, but more as inspired by the book, which, if that's what they were going for, which I do think that's what they're going for. I think giving me that weird hand was definitely a comedic choice, then it's fine. But as someone who was a huge fan of the book and was looking forward to a movie that would represent it. I wasn't like, it doesn't serve that purpose at all.

Ella: I think a lot of people who read the book probably would say Amy was one of the characters.

DJ Psyched: I do think that yeah, this movie was intentionally made to be some kind of comedy or something. Because it works for that purpose. If you have someone who's never read the book, I showed this movie to some of my older roommates in my last apartment, and it was a really great night because they were all like, What is wrong with you? Who's amazing? You mentioned show it to my roommate. You should. It's a great movie. There's some big things missing from the movie, like the fact that Dave never dies. There's really not I don't think they mentioned the symbol of croc in the movie.

Ella: When they go to the other universe. It's not at all how I would have mentioned it.

DJ Psyched: Yeah, a weird chipmunk looking guy with his weird mask.

Ella: Like I don't know, I thought I would see a bunch of nasty ass bugs and shit. I didn't see any of that. Yeah, even Caracas like Caracas. Kinda I imagined it to be but like not really at the same time.

DJ Psyched: Agreed. Well that's it that's our movie comparison. Honestly, there's probably so much more we could talk about for the book and movie cuz a lot that happened.

Ella: Oh, Dave's entire mental history like shit that happened him in school.

DJ Psyched:  Yeah, the background stories. Yeah. Because that's I think that's another reason why him and Amy are so cute. That was cute like you really get his background there with like, he got into that fight and let him into that school. And then you find you find out as tragic as backstory where her parents literally died in front of her. And then she like had a hand that hardly worked most of her life until she gave up on it and had it amputated. Like Amy had a lot of depth to her. And she was a character that the beginning they just kind of Dave just kind of brushed her off.

 Ella: He came up with a nickname for her. And that's why Dave was terrified of her older brother.

DJ Psyched:  I think it's really cool that we do get to see the story of his perspective, because we get to see him like judge Amy, even before he meets her, she right off the bat. And then slowly as he actually gets to know her and understand what really happened in high school. Like he just assumed she was there forever. Like she had always been in those classes. And that Oh, he was the only one with the circumstance that had nothing to do with that. But she was the same way she was in those classes because of something that was totally out of her control.

Ella: Yeah. Okay. I told her my favorite john moment before, that's not it anymore. Now, so just because, like I'm thinking about when Amy was like telling Dave, like, you know about her stuff and about how it sucks. Like, she doesn't have a hand she always tries to hide he doesn't want to be that girl who's doesn't have a hand. And I just thought it was super cute. When when Dave said like when john described you He never said anything girl without a hand. I thought that was super cute.

DJ Psyched: I thought it was also interesting to how like john knew what had happened to her way before Dave did, because I think they mentioned it somewhere that like he's like, Yeah, she lost that hand. And like john just says it like offhandedly and then walks away. And Dave's just like, yeah, I didn't know any of that.

Ella: John's a weird one. Do we get to see like different parts of john in the next two books?

DJ Psyched: Yeah, john has a lot that happens to this is exciting. Very interesting. A lot of fun to read. Like just everything he says mostly is just funny, or everything he does these next two books. I honestly, I listened to them both as audiobooks. I never read them. I have a hard time remembering what happened in which book and like, where what is going on? I remember these next few books are just as if not much more chaotic than that first one.

Ella: Do John and Dave ever, like not become friends?

DJ Psyched: No. Okay, good. I don't think that happens. I mean, that's one of the great things about john and Dave, they're very normal, regular people, they had those periods in their life where they were closer, there was periods in their life where they weren't all friends go through that, you know, like, you're really close in certain periods. And sometimes you're just kind of not around each other. And they kind of experienced that. But like, at the end of the day, they are friends. So they kind of have that consistency of like, they're friends. But there are moments that there's more john and Dave and there's moments where there's less especially you know, now we finally have Dave and Amy they get a put together at the end of this book. So you do know that like, there's gonna be something going on there as Dave develops his relationship with Amy. Yeah. Which will be interesting to watch because or read about because we know that Amy's off in school now. Can't wait for you to find out what happens in this next book.

Ella: I swear they better not. They better be fine. Happily ever after. They're so cute.

DJ Psyched: We'll definitely see we're leaving you on a cliffhanger here. So you now that you know what happens in this book, you know, we have a lot of investment in this series. And I hope you do now to whoever's listening to this. But yeah, that's it for today. We'll talk more about this series on the next episode of the podcast. But that's it. Last thing I'm going to say is the discussion question. We have a good reads where we have a book club for this podcast. I'm gonna link below in the description, the link to the Goodreads account so you can join in on the discussion. So our discussion question for the week is would you take soy sauce? Ella? Would you take soy sauce?

Ella: No, I still think no. Would you?

DJ Psyched: Yes. I sure hope that I have john and Dave's luck and don't die when I take it. But I think it'd be really interesting to experience like all the side effects of soy sauce and get to see like being like really smart and really weird and like being able to like manipulate time and the way I communicate with people. I think it'd be interesting to see what that kind of is like for them because they say that the sauce the effects lasts your whole life. So it is kind of a hard choice. You know, if you take the soy sauce, you can never go back from that decision. But it seems interesting. I want to try it.

Ella: Music could never listen to music the same way again.

DJ Psyched:  Oh, no. You just thought you can never listen to music the same way again, like their moments that they haven't like normal music, you know when they use the boombox and stuff but there are just there gonna be times when music is terrible, but thank you Have you listened to all of this? Let us know what you think in the comment section below if you're on YouTube or not on YouTube, then you can click on The link in the description go to Goodreads and talk to us about this. Thank you so much for listening and thank you Ella for being a guest on the podcast again. This was Miss Psyched and DJ Psyched thoughts on john Dies at the End.

Ella: Thanks for having me.

DJ Psyched: Thank you for listening and until next time, stay safe.