PSA: Listen to your friend when they tell you to read the book first

My buddy Jake told me to actually read 'Project Hail Mary' before our club meeting, but I just watched a summary video. At the debate, I tried to argue about the ending and got totally shut down because I missed a key detail from chapter 15. I felt like a fool for a solid hour. Has anyone else messed up by skipping the reading and regretted it big time?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_joel1mo ago

Dude, I did the exact same thing with 'Dune' back in high school. I skimmed a wiki page and thought I was good, then my friend Sarah grilled me about the whole water of life thing and I had no idea what she was talking about. She literally pulled up the book and showed me the chapter I missed, and I felt like the biggest idiot at the lunch table. Now I never skip pages, even if I'm cramming for a discussion.

skyler_anderson651mo agoTop Commenter

The whole "felt like a fool for a solid hour" part is a bit much. You watched a summary, which is fine for getting the general idea. Who cares if you missed one detail from chapter 15? It's a book club, not a job interview. I've done the same thing with a few books and nobody really got that worked up about it. Maybe your friend Jake just likes feeling superior about remembering a sci-fi novel.

charles_coleman1mo ago

You're way off base here. Watching a summary video is not the same as reading the book, and pretending it is just makes you look lazy. Book clubs exist because people want to talk about the actual story, not some watered down version from YouTube. If you skip the reading, you're basically showing up to a dinner party empty handed and expecting to eat everyone else's food. That detail from chapter 15 was probably the whole point of the ending, so missing it means you didn't understand the author's message at all. Jake did you a favor by calling you out, because now you know better than to half-ass something again.