The Curator: you're either reading Onyx Storm or you're reading Middlemarch, and it's all the same
why it's always been about connection, even when quality is at stake
“Sane people did what their neighbors did, so that if any lunatics were at large, one might know and avoid them.”
― George Eliot, Middlemarch
“Her name is Broccoli, not that,” he mutters. She looks at him like he’s sprouted whiskers. “You named a kitten Broccoli?”
― Rebecca Yarros, Onyx Storm
a cultural phenomenon via the tiny portal
You may have heard about this book called Onyx Storm - or if not, maybe its series mates, Fourth Wing or Iron Flame. If you’ve heard of it, you might have thoughts, and those thoughts might be complimentary or not. Regardless, facts are facts, and the Fourth Wing series by Rebecca Yarros has officially outsold the queen of the book charts, Ms Colleen Hoover.
I read Fourth Wing myself after seeing it all over Bookstagram circa summer of 2023. When a book rises from the depths of publishing anonymity, it has to be more than a good marketing campaign1. I have seen many books take their turn in the zeitgeist seat of honor, but never one so rapidly and honestly so randomly.
Whenever something becomes a cultural phenomenon2, I either want to be a part of it or know all about the type of person who would. I want a deep dive into the cultural forces that brought us here. Why do some things catch on while other (perhaps better deserving) books don’t? Why are more people than usual standing in the street looking at their phones?3
There may not be any real reason why Yarros’ books, in particular, are the ones benefitting from extreme fandom behavior. Obviously, looking back, I see the power of BookTok, but at the time, I wasn’t invested in that community. A lot is also attributed to its timing and depiction of a strong character with a disability. And sure, the storyline is a doozy - I have never experienced such a relentless fantasy plotline in my life - but the fan behavior far outweighs the quality.
In a time when American culture is highly fragmented and polarizing, it is clearly not just about the “art” but about experiencing it together. I found it so interesting that the New York Times article focused on the people and their stories about why they participated in fan events, dressing up in costume and hyperventilating upon seeing Yarros4. It is the parasocial relationship taken offline, merging with IRL. There are very few ways to have safe fun these days, and I understand the desire to be physically in the world with like-minded people.
“People were handing out friendship bracelets like it was a Taylor Swift concert,” Metcalf said. “It’s wild.” - The New York Times on an author event in Minnesota
Not being a romantasy/romance reader myself, my expectations reading Fourth Wing were nonexistent. I had no illusions it would end up in the annals of great literature. But after over three years of an isolating pandemic, it felt good to be part of a group again. It was fun to be in the know, to get the memes, and to complain about the writing with others. Reading can be a solitary activity, and I know if you are here, you feel the same desire for community. We were not made to be isolated; that is not how we survived this long as a species.
This is where the haters come in. Haters are also in community - there is nothing more inspiring than a mutual disdain for a popular artifact. I did a deep dive into Reddit, and of course, many of the comments about Onyx Storm were disparaging, and some were couched: this isn’t great literature, but it’s addicting, I see why people like it, can’t we just have fun things, etc., etc. I particularly loved this comment from a Redditor:
Or perhaps is it the lack of openness and tolerance that's problematic? Perhaps it is really you that's miserable in your inability to connect with or enjoy popular culture that results in anger at those who do. Elitism and disdain disguised as high-minded concern, all to cover up your resentment at missing out on the party. Sorry you're no longer one of the cool, fun kids. But if you're really so happy reading Ulysses for the 20th time, why are you here commenting?
A Ulysses burn!!!!! Remarkable. But she’s not entirely wrong. Let the people have their fun, and let us have some too…
let’s make reading great again
On a much smaller scale, I see this happening on Substack. The Book Stackers, in particular, have created a wonderfully supportive community. Everyone wants to chat books! But we are not ego-safe - we see a few trendsetters doing something, and we want in on it, too (sincere). I loved reading
‘s piece “Why is everybody reading Middlemarch right now?” and the Notes going around about it all. is doing a close read of the novel this spring.Middlemarch is a classic of the European canon. It is not difficult to see the quality disparity between it and most romantasy. But I don’t care if you are reading Onyx Storm or Middlemarch or whatever book your club picked this month - reading is reading. Reading continues to be an act of resistance, a way to process history, and a way to be the creators of our own future. It’s also fucking fun bro! Do we despair when everyone is reading the same thing? We don’t if it's Middlemarch! Do we if it’s less literary? Let’s try not to. This is a celebration of anything that doesn’t have to do with our phones (or, like, only afterward, goddamnit those phones).
“It is a narrow mind which cannot look at a subject from various points of view.”
― George Eliot, Middlemarch
“I’ve decided you can all go fuck yourselves.”
― Rebecca Yarros, Onyx Storm
it’s the phones, but also not the phones
The irony is that what potentially isolates us the most (our phones) is also what brings us together. We clutch these tiny portals, intently staring into the ether, looking for a culture to experience and influence. We look for a way to say, I am here. Being a part of a cultural moment is invigorating and just plain fun.
There is a lot of discourse going around about people not reading books, and the distraction is the phone; they rewire our brains to need light-up colors and fast-changing pictures for constant brain occupation. But what if the most addicting part of our phones is feeling like we are in community with others? What if reading the next big thing makes you feel like you are part of a bigger world, a bigger conversation, helping to create and distribute culture, AND gets us off our phones momentarily? Do we have permission to like it then, people of Reddit???
I forget that most of the humans I encounter IRL daily read zero to twelve books per year on average. If a romantasy craze is what gets people back into reading and off drugs or something, I personally am celebrating5! And whether you hate on it in a Reddit thread or create Canva memes, you are part of the conversation.
Have you read any of the Fourth Wing series? What about Middlemarch? Tell me your thoughts on it all!
reading 📖→
Finally finished The Morning Star after three whole weeks. I had to give it a lot of attention, and I didn’t rush, taking lots of notes in my commonplace book as I went (thanks to
once again!), and thinking through themes. I don’t particularly like annotating books, but I did tab quite a bit. It’s very melancholy and reflective while also being brutally realistic on hard topics like alcoholism and mental illness. Knausguaard writes things like this: “The light seemed not to fill the garden, I thought, but rather the other way round: it emptied it - of darkness, but also of meaning.” I will ponder this further and write a full review if I can get my life together.Next up are a few ARCs I want to get to before pub date - Stoneyard Devotional and Deep Cuts, both of which have been floating around already. Stoneyard was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and Deep Cuts is a music-adjacent novel, so I have high hopes!
book news and restacks📰→
Episode #6 of
: Nic Marna on making Queer Book Content (Substack)- : A Glimpse Into Grief (Substack)
More on cool people reading Middlemarch: Sarah McNally’s Book Club (Vulture)
Your Writing Horoscope for the Year of the Snake (Electric Lit)
consuming📽️🎧→
A rewatch of Donnie Darko, a movie that defined my angsty teenage years. Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion!!!
Feminist rage on repeat. I am bringing back into my life the start-to-finish album listen, starting with Paris (and Doechii).
and cats 🐈⬛→
I am the chosen one
let’s chat 👻→
Have any opinions on Onyx Storm outselling every other adult book on the planet?
What else is going on in your life?
What are you reading currently, and is it any good?
in case you missed it 🖤
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See you around the bookshelf!
Or does it?
my brain makes the weirdest connections sometimes
its Pokemon Go, but you already knew that
Rebecca Yarros’s ‘Onyx Storm’ Is the Fastest-Selling Adult Novel in 20 Years, The New York Times
Have books ever gotten anyone off drugs? This is a stat I would like to know
I absolutely love this, and not just because I leapt on a completely accidental trend train by selecting George Eliot's Middlemarch as one of our read-a-longs this year.
You have reminded me of one of my favorite passages on this topic, from the anthology, Best American Poetry 2020. In the introduction to that edition, the poet Paisley Rekdal writes:
"It is true that the enjoyment of any art is finally a subjective pleasure, and it is also true that 'enjoyment' is not a uniform experience. I once wept myself to hiccups while watching *Hachi: A Dog's Tale* on the Hallmark Channel at 3AM in a hotel, an experience that drained me so thoroughly I then spent $200 on Cindy Crawford eye creams hawked on the post-film informercial while recovering. I can watch *Moonlight* or *Taxi Driver* then turn around and binge *The Real Housewives of New York*; I've felt deep joy among the poems of Emily Dickinson and Terrance Hayes, but also childishly thrilled to the limericks of Swinburne and the doggerel of Ogden Nash. My point is that my enjoyment of one type of writing does not limit my more profound appreciation for another, and that "good" and certainly "best" is often determined by moment-to-moment needs. In fact, it is my very appreciation for what some might consider 'low' entertainment that makes my passion for George Eliot and Charlie Parker and Samuel Taylor Coleridge all the more poignant to me."
Enjoyed this—couldn’t agree more. High brow, low brow and everything in between—it’s all good. I am finding much happiness and healthy diversion in substack book-lovers such as yourself. Re: footnote four—can report the opposite: Tom Wolfe’s Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test helped convince me to use LSD. However, like EJ Johnson,I have used books much, much longer.