The Flattening of Literary Culture
And a witchy little wine pairing
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It started with a petty annoyance: the same five books showing up on my feed, over and over again.
It evolved when I went to dinner with close friends and mentioned this little grievance I had, still assuming it was nothing. Across the table, one of them lit up. “Did you read the West Village Girl article in New York Mag?”
Errr, no, I had not. But tell me more. It sounds right up my alley! So of course I ran home to read it. Then I read it again the next day. The nagging thought grew louder, banging on drums for my attention.
“It Must Be Nice to Be a West Village Girl” by Brock Colyar, is, on the surface, about how a new generation of young people are transforming the village and the fantasy of living in New York City. If you poke just a little deeper, it’s about a clone invasion. The clones? Women in their 20s drinking the same things, wearing the same white crop top and baggy jeans, meeting up at the same bars, doing the same running and pilates workouts.
I’m not making the argument here that white women had much of a culture, or West Village women for that matter, but it is concerning that what’s cool [sidebar, is there a gen-z term for this?] is dictated by TikTok videos that are pushed out to all these women, over and over again, until that’s all there is. That’s the aesthetic they all strive for.
And I couldn’t stop thinking. This is happening with books. What happens when we read pureply for vibes? Or simply because something went viral? What happens when we stop thinking about what we consume, in life and in literature?
BookTok has revolutionized readership—but at what cost? When literature becomes just another aesthetic, we risk forgetting what stories are meant to do: challenge, complicate, and awaken us.
I’ve always believed books are one of the healthiest forms of escapism. But the increasingly flattened, vibe-first approach to publishing and reading risks numbing our ability to think critically—especially about urgent themes embedded in stories we claim to love. Even escape requires intention sometimes—and awareness of what we’re escaping from.
I’d be remiss to not acknowledge the incredible benefits BookTok has had on readership and transforming the lives of certain authors. It serves as an incredible platform to create community of like minded readers, a way to discover books you may never have heard of (this is solely responsible for my irresponsible To-Be-Read pile). It makes marketing and discoverability for Indie authors attainable. It’s helped me find incredible writing groups. There are positives!
But it also rewards fast consumption, surface level engagement, and aesthetic over substance. The creators I see doing well are typically reading over 100 books a year. How can they do that? Choosing books with a lot of fluff, tropes we’ve seen over and over again, and turning off their brains.
This, in turn, has created pressure on authors and publishers to churn out more books a year than they otherwise might have. Recently I have read too many books that I think could have used another 2 rounds of editing or books from authors I usually love succumbing to Tiktok vernacular in their stories.
To feed the consumption machine, there’s been a shift in writing styles—shorter sentences, less nuances, quicker moving plots—all designed for pace over depth.
Let’s look at a case study - Silver Elite by Dani Francis published by Penguin Random House under a mysterious pen name, has gone viral for its dystopian “vibes.” But those vibes obscure the fact that the plot centers on a genocidal regime. Shouldn’t we be asking why the marketing is centered on “best selling author” rather than the heavy themes?
When a book’s plot revolves around genocide, it should invite reflection, not just aesthetic consumption. Dystopian violence isn’t window dressing—it’s allegory. Or at least, it should be.
Given the world we live in today, this was such an amazing (lost) opportunity to create empathy in readers, help them understand that this actually happens in our world. Help them identify how and when political leaders overstep. Personally, I think this could have been accomplished with a little more interiority from the main character about the government, maybe a little more interest from the main character, and then the marketing from PRH.
What does it say about us when a story of systemic violence becomes just another darkly aesthetic?
Art has always been political, but when we focus on vibes instead of engaging with the work, we risk becoming blind to real-life horrors, we normalize apathy.
And this does happen in real life! First instance that comes to mind is a large orange man with an oversized ego and little brain who has droned on and on about fake news for years now. In the beginning, the general population considered hogwash and absolutely outrageous. Almost a decade later, this way of thinking has become mainstream. American trust in our newspaper and reporters is ever diminishing. He’s doing it now with the narrative that illegal immigrants are violent criminals. And with book bans.
Repetition and meme-ification erode seriousness over time. Flattening means forgetting.
Literature has historically been a tool for reckoning with the world. Now I’m afraid Booktok and Bookstagram are turning it into a mood board for a clone of readers that will not be able to discern propaganda when it inevitably comes for us in our books.
Part of the reason I love Bookstagram is the trends that make me think—what books are my cornerstones or influenced my tastes or inspired me. A recent trend that is pretty much killing me is “bookish propaganda I won’t fall for.”
Why? It sounds so serious! Critical thinking!
It’s not. It’s platitudes that are being repeated over and over again (audiobooks don’t count as reading, you need to read from your TBR, you have to write everyday to be considered a writer).
What isn’t happening is an interrogation of the bigger propaganda: the depoliticization of art.
Not all books have to make a statement. Not every story has to be mind-altering. But when a plot is centered around an oppressive military regime systematically killing its citizens, maybe we should reconsider the approach. And when everything is shallow, we actually lose our ability to go deep.
Read for Joy. Escape into fantasy. But don’t forget that fiction can shape our reality—or numb us to it. And when everything is reduced to vibes, what gets lost is our ability to feel, to think, and to care.
Book and wine pairing
Weyward by Emilia Hart is earthy, fierce, and quietly magical. A story rooted in nature, bloodlines, and resistance. It’s a slow, quiet read, but one I fell in love with instantly. Three women, three different times, all fighting for their voice and independence. I wanted to match it with a wine that matches its wild femininity, herbal undertones, and generational strength, and so I’ve picked Tillingham ‘Col.’ It’s the color of hay with pale green hues made in the United Kingdom, just like this story. It is a little bubbly, which to me feels witchy, and a little rebellious. There’s a floral-meets-fermented funk, and feels like something passed down in a spellbook. It’s a wine that doesn’t care to be liked by everyone, but those who get it? Obsessed. Just like Weyward.
It’s also a natural wine and boasts an ancestral method of re-fermentation. It’s a wild technique, like the women of the Weyward line who refuse to be tamed.
Writing Update
Well, I’ve started the revisions. And I’ve been swimming again… which means every minute in the pool is a minute I’m in Suze’s head. I’ve rewritten the first chapter, have a new outline… and it’s slow going. But I’m picking up speed! Fingers crossed I can maintain momentum.
What I’ve been consuming recently
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent - I watched this for research. Honestly I still have no idea what I watched… Allie, I want my time back!
Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily Austin - This was my pick for book club and I absolutely loved it. My second Emily Austin book and it has confirmed she is now an auto-buy author for me. LOVE LOVE LOVE.
On the Calculation of Volume 1 by Solvej Balle- I’m slowly making my way through the International Booker Prize list. This was good, but I also felt a little lost? I’m sure we are all supposed to feel that way. I couldn’t help but be a little bored with the redundancy of it…. but I guess that’s what you get for 365 November 18ths?
Silver Elite by Dani Francis - I think my essay covers it.
A Curse Carved in Bone by Danielle Jensen - A Fate Inked in Blood was one of my favorites of the year it came out… but I was so disappointed by this. The pacing felt off and inconsistent, the bickering felt immature, and the dialogue was stiff.
Babel by RF Kuang - I keep picking up this book and then decide I’m too tired to engage. I want to save it for when my brain is top notch!
Please consider clicking the little heart on this essay—your engagement helps more than you think! I’d love to hear from you if this essay made you ~feel~ something, have read a book I recommended, or think I’m wildly off about my wine pairings. 🍷
xx,
bb
I found Emily Austin this past year and love both books I read, including this one. This was a great essay with many worries/concerns I’ve had. Thx!