-
01
-
Gen Z isn’t shy about sharing their reading habits, especially on BookTok. This is the side of TikTok where young folks share their TBR (To Be Read) pile, show off new book hauls, discuss which books they do and don’t like, and hop on the hype train for trendy authors. Books they didn’t care for get relegated to the DNF (Did Not Finish) pile, which appears to be getting bigger and bigger.
Lately, however, people have discovered that they prefer reading novels written in the third person, over first-person. Yet, their reasons are baffling.
-
02
-
03
-
04
-
05
-
06
-
07
-
08
-
In the first-person tense, the reader is put in the driver’s seat, acting as the character that’s being described. In third person tense, the reader is often omniscient, or all-knowing, tuned in to how multiple characters are feeling and what they’re doing.
So in some ways, the first-person tense is limiting, because the reader only knows how that one character is experiencing the world. But that’s actually not why the Zoomers dislike that POV: according to them, it’s weird to feel like you are a character.
As one BookToker explains in a video entitled, “Booktok books I DONT recommend,” she likes to “have a part.” She then goes as far to explain that when the main character is described as having “blue eyes and blond hair,” she can’t identify with the character. Why? Because she doesn’t look like that, so the first-person narration doesn’t appeal to her. She states that this means she “doesn’t have a part” in the story, and therefore didn’t finish reading the story at all.
-
09
-
10
-
Apparently, it’s all about the reader’s experience as opposed to the main character’s. Gen Z dislikes being put in the driver’s seat of a character. They don’t want to read sentences about what “I” did. They’d rather be an “all-seeing narrator” (which is ironic, seeing as they’re the generation that popularized POV style TikTok videos and having “main character” energy).
However, there are still some BookTokers that embrace first-person and hate third-person, so it really just comes down to personal preference overall. In a recent BookTok subreddit thread, many of the commenters share that they prefer first-person narration for the same reason others seem to dislike it.
As an avid reader, I tend to agree most with the top-voted comment on the Reddit BookTok thread that says, “I’ll read any POV. If it’s well written, it doesn’t matter.”
However, there is a bit of a bias in the narration debate, since recent studies have shown Gen Z having a hard time with reading and comprehending text. One professor shares that this generation arrives on to first day of college unable to read full sentences or think critically. The kids need passages read aloud to them, and yet they still can’t understand the text that’s being presented to them. And reading assignments outside of class? Forget about it! Many high school and college students are opting for AI or other types of software to read the text aloud to them.
It’s no wonder they’re unenthused about reading… Everybody is on their phones all the time, addicted to the algorithm. Shockingly, roughly half of US citizens didn’t read any books at all in 2025.
If you don’t know any kids in school right now, you also might not know about a teaching method called “three-cueing,” which has replaced learning about phonics and letter sounds. Students used to learn how different letters sound together, like learning how “sh” and “th” make different noises when spoken or read. It was called “phonics.” This is touted as the “best way to teach kids to read,” since it teaches them to spot patterns in letters that can indicate how words may be pronounced.
However, today’s classrooms aren’t all on the same page about teaching children the critical skill of reading. Today, kids are instructed to look at the words that they do know, as well as pictures on the page, and guess at the context of the other words. They’re literally taught to ask themselves, “What word might sound right? What word would look right here?” Instead of actually deciphering the sound the letters on the page make up. It’s difficult to imagine the infinite ways that this method is hampering a child’s actual ability to read. It’s so bad that multiple US states are already banning it. Unfortunately, the method is already impacting an entire generation of American schoolkids.
-
11
-
Lovers of literature don’t actually care about first-person or third, as long as the story is enthralling. It makes you wonder why Zoomers aren’t more critical of first-person films or video games.
Will this narration debate change how books are created going forward? Only time will tell, but it’ll certainly be an interesting evolution for the BookTok community and Gen Z, who just might finally get the storytelling style they want.
-
12
Teen girl relaxes in bed with a book while cuddling a cat.
The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.
Gen Z are Complaining About First-Person Books, Making Longtime Lovers of Literature Afraid for the Future of Storytelling
Is the publishing industry cooked, thanks to Gen Z's very specific preferences for their books? They're refusing to read any novels that don't meet their unique standards, like their distaste for first-person narratives.
There's been a brewing discourse about readers who straight-up refuse to read books that are written from a first-person point of view. Instead, they only read books written in the third person, because they don't want to "self-insert" or feel like a character. This has led to introspection about people's reading habits, as well as a smattering of memes making fun of the whole concept.
Scroll Down For The Next Hot Take