Entry 06 | Fast-Food Fiction: Where Has the Art Gone?

(TAP PLAY TO LISTEN)

There was a time when fiction demanded patience—from both the writer and the reader. Stories were carefully woven, each sentence deliberate, each word chosen with precision. Books weren’t just about getting from point A to point B; they were journeys in themselves, full of language that painted pictures, evoked emotions, and left a lingering impression long after the final page was turned. But today, I find myself wondering: Where has the artistry gone?

I call it Fast-Food Fiction—books rushed to print, lacking the refinement and substance of truly great literature. It’s not just self-published authors trying to push content quickly; even major bestsellers feel incomplete, as though they’ve skipped the final layers of editing and revision. The result? Books that read more like second drafts than polished works of art. Consider The Power by Naomi Alderman, where a climactic moment is reduced to: "She throws her hands up, and she screams and screams." The repetition feels like a placeholder, a missed opportunity for something richer. Or The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, where a scene is dulled by lines like: "The house was cold. She was cold. Everything was cold." There’s nothing wrong with simplicity, but when it comes at the cost of depth, I can’t help but feel we’ve lost something essential.

I miss the kind of fiction that lingers in the mind, that challenges, that demands more of both the writer and the reader. Have we grown so accustomed to Fast-Food Fiction that we no longer expect—or even recognize—a full literary meal? Have we allowed speed to replace substance, efficiency to outweigh elegance? It’s time we ask more of the books we read and the authors we support. Literature isn’t just about telling a story; it’s about how that story is told. And when we settle for less, we risk losing the magic of storytelling itself.

---

Discussion: What’s the last book that truly left an impact on you—not just for its story, but for the beauty of its writing? Share your thought below in the comments!