Defending ‘trashy’ BookTok romances against snobs (Colleen Hoover & Fourth Wing)
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- Опубликовано: 27 июл 2024
- Is social media (BookTok) turning books into fast fashion? In this video essay, we’re going to deep dive into the buzz and criticism behind BookTok’s most viral books (Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros) and Colleen Hoover’s list of normcore romances.
What gives a book literary merit?
What makes a book trash? Is social media churning out subpar books or are the critics just literary snobs?
We’ll also dive into the unappreciated art of simple writing and explore the differences between commercial fiction prose vs. literary prose.
#booktok
#colleenhoover
#booktoktrend
I understand the "fast fashion" argument more in the context of consumerism. Just one example of this - I was recently browsing the Fantasy section on Vinted and on almost every page of the search result there was at least one person trying to sell their copy of Fourth Wing. That's basically the equivalent of people getting rid of last season's fashion trends.
Obviously with books you have options that aren't wasting (that many) resources, like libraries and digital media. But still, the trend driven behavior, the giant hauls followed by unhauls, we know from fast fashion consumers has become a thing in the online book community too.
Once upon a time, I was a child who only pretended to read. Then I was introduced to the world of fanfiction through a video game I adored, and I solidly became a reader. An online reader. I rarely obtain physical books due to my mysophobia.
So now I read a lot of questionably titled isekai romance web novels, where the women often use the power of capitalism to win at life. Many of them are popular enough that they become webtoons. Then I read the webtoons. Or I start with the incomplete webtoons and then track down the finished web novels when I thirst for more.
When I lost someone I loved in 2023 I completed changed my priorities, including what I read. I read smut, fanfic and other stories as long as they make me laugh and feel warm inside. One issue I have is running into a LOT of books that emulate all the tropes I have read before and the writing is cringey. But the hunt for what makes my heart sing is worthwhile.
Well do pimp your books a little bit - I am a romance reader, I want to sample. With which book should I start?
Teresa, Thank you for another chaotic video essay. I absolutely love the way you think! It's honest, unpretentious, witty and smart. As someone who also writes a bit I agree with you completely that it is so important to be clear, not clever. I actually love editing my work much more than I do writing a piece, because then I can discard the clutter and get down to the basics. I've loved reading since I could pick up a book, and learned to read from comic books, which, speaking of snobbery, back in the day, was thought of as trash. It actually led me to want to read all types of books, and later in life, have articles and essays published. I've not read your efforts yet, but if they are half as entertaining as the video essays you've presented (and I've watched PLENTY in the past week or so) they are of great value. Keep presenting your unique brand of distraction!
While I agree that there is a lot of snobbery surrounding these books and the romance genre in general (I am a primarily a romance reader so I've heard it all when it comes to this genre and so have you!) I think there is a lot of valid criticism about these books and authors. People have not only criticized Yarros' Gaelic pronunciations they've also criticized the material itself and how harmful it is (harmful disability representation etc.) Yarros' zionism. As for Colleen Hoover I feel like people are being pretty much snobby about her work because it's no different from any other traditional indie romance book/ taboo romance book. There are valid criticisms when it comes to her promotion of her work (It Ends With US colouring book, nail polish etc.) I feel like most of it is just literary snobbery. Great video Teresa! I would love to read your books! What name are they under, I'm new here 😂❤
I also want to add that I was completely blown away when you mentioned that you don't pre-script these videos. That's incredible! My respect for your presentation has risen to an even higher level, Teresa! (and its hard to believe that in "real life" you hardly talk!)
😅 thank you! I just like to torture myself with hours upon hours of editing... I just can't read from a script.
Not everything can be Shakespeare and that’s ok!!! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
I don’t know much about Book Tok .. but I saw Hoover on TT come up a lot so I read one. I personally didn’t like it. It didn’t do anything for me. But that’s just me… everyone likes different things. So I wouldn’t criticise someone else for reading it.
I like easy reading as much as I like something a bit meatier… for me that may not be Hoover, but another simple-style writer. So I agree with you, there’s no bad books if they have an audience. There’s a world of literature and we all have out corners.
I am so glad I found you. I could listen to you talk for hours. I’m loving your content, comedy and love of language 🫶✨🫶
🥰 awww thank you so much! ❤️
Colleen got me out of multi year reading slump, so I will always be a fan & I enjoyed her books, idc if ppl disagree. Who said that we all had to agree? That article came across as snobbish to me. I completely agree with your take on her books here, really enjoyed this video.
So I just recently found your channel and would love to find your books. My TBR pile is huge but i love supporting smaller authors
“fizzy fuzzy feeling”. Instant classic!
No longer a Brony, I am full on Teresa ChaCo now
They can pry Ice Planet Barbarians from my cold dead hands, those are my comfort books.
🤣
What is your pen name?
This channel is so damn great 🙌
thank you so much! ❤️
I haven't watch the video but i just wanna say that having a job that drains your emotions and envolves intellectual work, the best thing to do after coming home is reading anything that makes me happy. Do I have to read serious literature and think about the world's problems after being a doctor at work? No, I just want to decompress my head! I'm sick of people thinking we don't need comedy or romance. Dude, what else is going to make me have positive emotions after being depressed? Definitely not Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment"
I've just finished the video and agree with everything. Also, I read "It ends with us" in 2017 and actually really liked the message. "It ends with us, I'm not going to let my child repeat the unhealthy patterns of relationship I repeated after my mother". Isn't it a beautiful message? It was the only Coleen Hoover book I have read so I thought what a healing book it is, I should also stop doing whatever unhealthy shit I've been doing because I was used to it since childhood. It was booktok of 2022 that told me that Coleen Hoover actually teaches the readers to be in toxic relationships. I mean I have only read one book so I can't 100% argue with that, but the one book I read was the actual opposite of what they said. Treat everything you hear on the Internet with a grain of salt
@@MsHermyGranger I hope this doesn't come across as argumentative but as someone who has read a few coho books to see what people were talking about, the message of "it ends with us" doesn't exactly land because the male love interests of her other books act similar to the abuser in iewu. i can appreciate the message she was trying to send with that book and can totally see why it was powerful for some people, but it's kind of hilarious that this guy is a big bad abuser, but the stalker who sexually harassed and committed (accidental) arson from her other book is really a good guy the protag should forgive 🥺 that is the reason why people are critical of iewu
what's up with this generation's obsession with not giving things credit and making everything underwhelming? it's like calling Margot Robbie mid. I mean, come on now. Chill out and let people enjoy the things they like
she is most definitely not mid 🤔
when someone becomes successful, they become big game and big target for hunters who want to vampire off their glory.
I grew up reading fan fiction in the late 90's as a tween. Sometimes you just need a popcorn book. As long as people are reading who cares, right?
I did read Verity last year - the only CoHo I've read. It was wild but fun. If you've read Jane Eyre and Rebecca you are just making ALL the guesses on what the hell is really going on?!
I know exactly what you mean about writing with your thesaurus and how reading it back years later how pretentious you were! The cringe. Yes less is more... Its ok and saves us more time to read more books. :)
That’s what I say, look at how many ppl are actually reading now. Who cares what they read, as long as they ARE reading Lol I enjoyed Verity as well. I love how reading a CH book in public can start so many interesting convos with strangers.
c'mon tell us which books you have written 😭
Hi I just stumbled across your channel and have really enjoyed the few videos I have watched
I have subscribed but RUclips isn't giving me the option to get notifications when you upload a new video
Thats quite important to make sure people like me don't forget to come back
I'm surprised that you only have 4.5K subscribers and only 98 views for this video and notifications could help with that
I will share the video but I don't know how many clicks that will generate (probably none )
john
It’s just annoying that as a woman who doesn’t read that kind of stuff, I honestly cannot find a single woman who doesn’t. And thus- when it comes to reading groups I’ve tried to join, they all curl their noses when I suggest things outside of trash romance. It’s annoying to me that trash romance has now come to be seen as encompassing all of what women are capable of reading.
Personally I prefer a good thriller or mystery. Even a well done science fiction. I could never join a book group it all they did was romance 😬