The genie def cant go back into the bottle but I like to think all art is an on going conversation. The author cannot be excluded from the conversation just cuz their audience thinks their post creation contributions are dumb. The artist can certainly choose to abstain from the conversation, refuse to participate. Which, is really funny to me because the authors who choose that route are equally shat upon by fanbases for “avoiding accountability” to their dated creations. Thats the entitlement at work tho isnt it–damned if they do, just as damned if they dont.

its absurd and also insanely entitled

I never got the impression they were like friends or Mentor/Mentee; their books are published by two different publishers. It was part of why it felt so “cringe” to me. It very much felt like how influencers will give each other shout outs and act like besties or brand accounts will “fight” each other on twitter. In reality, its just marketing so they can generate hype and discourse; discourse makes hashtags trend.

Roths book was written in her Senior year at college and was published shortly after she graduated. I always assumed John Green basically super-hyping her book was an attempt to speedrun the marketing for this short order book that NEEDED to get out because lets face it, the dystopian YA bubble was already over-inflated by the time Divergent hit shelves.

I’ll just never forget how hard John Green plugged the books on his vlogs. Man really fooled me into thinking they were totally that good.