TikTok's Worst Book Reviewers Are INFURIATING

To clarify what I thought was obvious but isn’t: there’s nothing wrong with needing bigger font sizes / layouts / anything if you need that, that’s fine. This woman wasn’t complaining about needing better accessibility to read, she was complaining that a basic book was too long and too difficult because it wasn’t Colleen Hoover levels of writing quality - critiquing that isn’t ableist because it has nothing to do with any kind of ability / disability / different needs and everything to do with her being lazy. Don’t try and compare her laziness to people who actually have things like dyslexia / adhd and are actually making and effort, that’s just insulting to those people.

😂Go read a manga if you don’t like seeing words on the pages! (But avoid hunter x hunter because you are still going to hit on a wall of words with that one 💀)
I mean, girl apparently chose the wrong book to read and she only has herself to blame IMO

They should read graphic novels instead. Another great media with beautiful art and way less filled with words but you also get to live a beautiful story!

I think we need to read diversely, and that means authors, characters, settings, genres, and lengths. If someone wants to build a platform around reading "trashy" books (I don't really like that term but I'll go with it here) then that's fine, but I don't think it's fair to people who actually read the whole story and understand it deeply to complain about the length of paragraphs or chapters. If it's not for you, don't read it and move on. Don't pick up books longer than 200 pages. Don't read literary fiction or cosmic horror or mysteries that have lots of descriptions. Don't listen to trends that say "read this book not that book" learn what you like and stick with it, but realize that there are going to be consequences and questions about why you don't read a variety of books. As a voracious reader and writer, I have learned my main genres are horror (of all types) and dark romance. I'll pick up a fluffy cozy romance once in a while, and maybe a philosophy book for some learning. But it is really just a competition for these people. Who can read the most books. It's ridiculous.

House of Leaves would break their brain

It seems to me like maybe part of the issue could be that these people are reading things above their reading level? I think there's this false conception that once someone is an adult they should be able to read anything and that it's immature to not be a proficient reader as an adult. Maybe more people would find enjoyment in reading if they let themselves stick to easier to read books (even if that means books intended for young adult, teens, or even kids), or novellas and short stories rather than full length novels.

I also think there's a bias against consuming literature in other forms that prevents some people from finding the way they could most enjoy books (or even access books at all for a me people). Some people would enjoy books more if they listened to an audiobook, watched a movie based on the book, read an abridged version, or alternatively a motorised version if available, a graphic novel, etc.

Most key, a lot of these people seem to be choosing books that don't fit the kind of story they want to read, but instead of realising that they could change what they are looking for they get angry because they want THAT book to be written how they want it to be. I completely get the frustration of thinking a description sounds good, only to find that the book isn't actually taken in a direction and style that you find enjoyable, but that happens to all readers sometimes. I often check out a few reviews and, if possible read a sample before buying a book to get a better idea of what it's going to be like.

Reading should be about personal enjoyment and it's sad to see what seems like people doing reading in a performative way to the detriment of their ability to enjoy it and then not understanding why they aren't enjoying it

Instant gratification takes too long
I agree 100% with what you have said.

And this is another reason why I refuse to feel bad about reading less than other people. I know plenty of people who read lots of books in a year do actually read them but there seems to be evidence that not all of them are!

The argument “why are there so many words on this page” is valid if it’s too tightly printed for your liking. I find myself reading more difficult and getting exhausted faster when the words and rows are tightly together, than if there is more space between it. I wanna read the words, just on the next page please and not this one .

Additional to that, I gotta admit I skipped paragraphs and pages before, but only in books that I found to be really boring and just not fun to read, usually right before just stopping to read it.

The only time I've ever skipped significant chunks of a book were all the alleged "spice" scenes in the second half of Hunting Adeline.

Why are these “book reviewers” scared of paragraphs

skimming is for university students who have 50+ pages of readings due almost everyday. i would LOVE to not need to skim my assigned readings for school, i'm just so busy that there's no other option. so when i do have time to actually sit down and study a text in depth, you know i am seated and ready. it's so sad that these are the creators who are getting sent books by publishers and are making money from talking about books when they don't even seem to understand what a privilege it is to have access to so much literature.

these creators would loathe sally rooney's lack of quotation marks. you actually have to read the WHOLE PARAGRAPH to be able to discern which parts are dialogue or not, something that makes her writing style very unique and interesting. i can only imagine the temper tantrum that would be thrown on tiktok if any of these people tried to read intermezzo

im going to be honest. i know very little about the authors of the books i read. i don’t care who wrote a book, i care if i like the book, and if it’s good. is the story interesting? do i like the characters? do i enjoy reading it? that’s much more important than anything about the authors to me. obviously, i’m not saying that the author doesn’t matter at all, it does matter, take j.k. rowling as an example, but i still enjoyed the harry potter series as a kid, and i have fond memories of it. i will never ignore the problems a book or author or piece of media has just because i like it. i may not notice the problems if im enjoying myself and having a good time consuming that media, but i won’t say that my favorite thing is perfect and infallible. i won’t say that something that i didn’t enjoy is awful and the worst and poorly done. i’ll say that personally, i wasn’t a fan.

Lol I was watching and then was like 'can I hear a beloved pet snoring in the background'... then you literally mentioned it 🤣🥰 very cute! My cat Stanley also snores in my videos! This was such a good video too - really interesting points and good to know someone else who finds this type of content infuriating when scrolling TT

Well there is always picture books for them 😅

To be fair though, at least I now finally understand how books like Twilight or 50 Shades ever managed to be popular. The people who enjoy them willingly and intentionally skip the awfully boring sections and terrible prose to get to the "action". I can see how that's the only way to get through those books and enjoy them.

The problem is that based on that, these people now thing this is THE way to read books and apply it to all other books. The books that have like... actually enjoyable prose... and actual deeper meaning between the "action". Sigh.

I skip paragraphs when I'm so into the plot that I can't wait to find out what they're going to say. My eyes go forward against my will. It also happens to me with chapter endings. I hate it because then I go back to the paragraph to read it well, so it is as if the emotion led me to spoilers haha, so when I see that's going to happen I cover the end with one hand to prevent the self-spoilers

Nah I refuse to believe they're not trolling for clout

Why is she using ACT strategies to get through books 😭

“why are there so many words” dude it’s a book

Oh my god y'all I kept pausing the video and pressing mute trying to figure out if one of my cats was breathing weird or if it was something in the video 🤦‍♂️

I will say in this time in my life I mainly read books that are simple. I am a mom to a small kid and so too really take my mind off of things. I do read a lot of simple trashy not very well written books.

I've only watched the intro so far, and ik I'm not the sort of person this video is targeting at all, but if it's a really tense scene and I'm reading physically and not in an audiobook, then I occasionally will skip to see what the next dialogue line is, but I always skip back to make sure I didn't miss anything. Sometimes you just have to know RIGHT NOW what someone's respone is on the next page.

This makes it more likely that those of us who actually read a lot of books will be accused of lying. I actually read the whole entire book! Y make a booktok if you don't enjoy the reading process. 🤔

I love your videos that are an hour or less!
Also I started thinking “what is that noise?” So cute that it’s her snoring 😂

The fact that they are privileged enough to be able to read, access all books in the world, make money for talking about books, and then trash books for "having too many words"?! Hello?!

I enjoyed the first fourth wing a lot and the second one was fine. But i think they didnt make her edit it or soemthing because everything you said it true. They needed to cut like 100 pages at least

"I want to read action action action" comic books girl.

These are the same readers who are now saying "reading isnt political"

I need them to read Good Omens (minus current allegations on neil gaiman) its a book with no romance, no sex, two main characters dont do anything to be fair, amazing writing, and the action and anticipation leads to a conversational finale...

They want TV shows. The media they are looking for is TV shows.

that blonde girl is a makeup girlie and ive seen her get dragged several times for mishandling and misusing products and just skipping over any and all backlash so at least we cant say she isnt consistent in every area of her life

I'm reminded of a technology in the book Echopraxia by Peter Watts, its described as plugging the memory of the story into your mind with a rush of all the emotions you're meant to feel instantly. Essentially the catharsis of the story building up and paying off in one hit like a drug. I feel folks like these would hop onto that tech like flies on shit.

This is the definition of seeing reading as a fashion or aesthetic that they can just wear.

A big irony to this is that if I will skim anything in a book, it's probably a sex scene. 99% of the time, they feel boring/awkward and tell you nothing new. Romance, love it, tension/banter, awesome, but like...yeah. I get the occasional trashy read alongside serious literature, but they're missing all the meaning and the good parts! "Action" constantly would bore me to death.

Also, gatekeeping is totally okay. You should not get to be an 'authority' if you don't understand the thing you want to be an arbiter for or particularly care about. If you failed the subject, don't teach it.

I have ADHD and when I read Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse the fact that the paragraphs were several pages long was a bit complicated to me lol, just because when I stop reading I like to finish at the end of a paragraph and the paragraphs were eternal and then I'd be too intrigued about what would happen next to stop myself so at first I didn't want to read at all and then I started devouring the book and I didn't know when to stop myself. Returning to the book was always confusing because if I needed to revisit the previous paragraph I'd have to go one or two pages back and re read everything just to refresh my memory and being able to continue reading. This was before I was medicated tho and to this day it's my favorite book because I related a lot to the main character as someone who also has BPD, I couldn't possibly imagine just reading dialogues, I'd feel like I missed everything and didn't even read the book at all.

As someone who absolutely loved Six of Crows, that one video around the 24 minute mark hit a spot - even worse than the other videos before. (edit: I now watched this video to the point of that content creator complaining about flashbacks/backstory in SoC ("I don't care about what you did when you were a child" and so on) and quite frankly I am at a loss for words. This is so disappointing and infuriating.)
Honestly, I personally find that kind of content so completely and utterly pathetic... also kind of worrying, but...
To me it almost seems like those content creators initially started the whole thing trying to rage bait their audience - but then people went along with it and actually agreed with them, so...
As someone who spent probably a fourth of their childhood/teenage years just reading, devouring books, this whole topic makes me sad. And also maybe slightly disappointed in "my generation"...

love love love when i can hear kaia snoring in the background. get my girl a mic 🎙️

It feels like the books they want are children’s books. “See Spot run” type of books. That’s the vibe I’m getting. Few words, dialogue or action only, and the page isn’t full.

Nice to know that even illiterate Booktokers love Kaz :)

I only read about 10-15 books per year. Partially because I don't have time to read an entire book in a day, but mainly because I want to actually enjoy reading. I don't treat it as a competition over how many books I can read. I read books on my iPhone screen. Chapters that would be 20 pages in a print book come out to 30 pages on my phone. In a single sitting I try to read 50 pages or one chapter- whichever comes last. For example, I'm reading A Dance With Dragons on my iPhone right now. Its page count is 2,854. Today I read chapter 52, which started on page 1,929 and ended on page 1,966. Yesterday, I read two chapters: chapters 50 (pgs 1,855-1,887) and 51 (pgs 1,888-1,928). Basically, I read until I hit a number xx50 or xx00 and I always read at least one whole chapter in one sitting. It's a weird and VEEEERY slow way to read (I know I will not complete my GoodReads reading challenge this year), but it allows me to actually READ a book without skimming. It's how I maintain my love of reading despite my limited time.

I don't get the people who "Skim" through most of a book.. what is the point in reading it then because you miss the story. there is another booktuber I watch who openly admits to skimming a lot of the books she reads,, and i'm like "why do a review on it then. you didn't read it"

The entire joy of reading a book is seeing what happens OUTSIDE of dialouge. The descriptions of subtle facial expressions, the internal struggles of characters, the fantastical worlds! Fucks sake.

“I feel like everyone will be judgy” well some things need to be judged…

Honestly this explains why a lot of the popular books on booktok are terrible to me

"I only read dialogues, I only want action, I skip descriptions...", bro, sounds like you skip all the plot in a porn movie... wait.

If anyone of u ever wondered how people read +300 books a year when you barely manage 20... This is how guys.