The favorite genre has sharply transitioned into the category of "I can't read this without laughing."
There has been a resurgence of mass interest in fiction. Once again, we have TikTok to thank for the revolution in the book world — the hashtag #booktok has garnered over 150 billion views on the social network. In videos lasting 60 seconds — and sometimes even less — users share their literary finds, recommend must-read works, share impressions, and offer subscribers collections for the month and year, by seasons and interests.
Content has quickly gone viral: sales of books "advertised" by bloggers have increased along with the overall interest in reading. Videos on literary themes cannot be called a novelty — a few years ago, reviews were popular on YouTube. However, since 2020, a fundamentally new community of interested readers has begun to form: owners of trendy Kindles, fans of fan fiction, and literature for teenagers (also read: How reading books has once again become a status symbol).
Influence on modern culture — overestimated or insufficiently cultivated?
The foundation of the community, of course, consists of Zoomers. Firstly, this generation is the main user base of TikTok. Secondly, the pandemic years coincided with their coming of age — as a result, reading has become not just a trend, but a way of life, a space that unites passionate people.
Book clubs have started transitioning to offline formats and have even become places for successful romantic encounters. However, today they exist under fundamentally new rules: booktokers prioritize emotional engagement, which is why many books from literary critics' top lists do not make it into influencers' collections.
The success of booktok bestsellers rests on four pillars: there must be a well-defined hot love line between the main characters, the plot should have unexpected twists and a pinch of mystique, and the climax often features a shock, such as the unexpected death of a significant character. It’s hard to come up with a more appealing formula for an audience aged 16 to 24.
The favorite genre has sharply transitioned into the category of "I can't read this without laughing." Zoomers have created a trend where they imagine themselves in the roles of secondary characters in iconic romantic stories. They mock the authors' artistic techniques, descriptions, actions, and behaviors, showing how the hero would appear in the eyes of those around him — friends, colleagues, and family — if the plot became a reality.
Criticism of the genre has existed for a long time. Moreover, it often comes from the booktokers themselves, who have sharply shifted their focus to world literary classics over the past year. The main complaints have been about unrealistic portrayals, monotony, and the popularization of patriarchal views on romantic relationships.
The typical main character of 21st-century romantic literature is an ordinary modern girl, lacking special charisma, brilliant knowledge, or lofty dreams. She studies at university, works part-time at a coffee shop, and spends her free moments with her childhood best friend. Fate inevitably brings her together with a man — the main character: authoritative, influential, very attractive, and endowed with interesting sexual experience. He is likely involved in the world of crime or heads a large company...
Often, the heroines of such stories do not even receive a name — instead, they are referred to as Y/N (your name). This is done to make it easier for fans to put themselves in her place and fully enjoy the plot — to live it not only on the pages but also in dreams and thoughts. The story of the relationship between the main characters resembles the most unrealistic fairy tale come to life, and this, by the way, is another complaint from critics — the plot is literally built on clichés. Rough and unfriendly to those around him, he becomes sensitive and tender next to her, or he is jealous of her for her childhood friend because he wants to protect her from fatal mistakes.
But it seems that it is precisely in this that true fans of the genre find the charm of the works. They react sharply to mockery and ask social media users to leave their favorite books alone and allow everyone to enjoy them in their own way.
