Why Harry Potter Is the Only Book Millennials Can Agree On

Why Harry Potter Is the Only Book Millennials Can Agree On
Why is Harry Potter the only book millennials can agree on? In this video, I dive into the millennial experience, our fragmented cultural identity, and the strange fact that we never got a defining novel that truly represents our generation. From economic anxiety and burnout to nostalgia and online culture, we explore what it says about us that a children’s book from our past is still the closest thing we have to a shared literary touchstone.

Where’s the great millennial novel? Maybe it doesn’t exist. Maybe it can’t. Let’s talk about it.

Let me know in the comments:
What book does feel like it defines your millennial experience?

Subscribe for more videos on millennial culture, identity, and the stories we tell ourselves.

🔥 Get Money Off Your First Order with Mountaineer Brand!
Or use code: BALDBOOKGEEK701 at checkout!

🛒 Amazon Storefront:

💬 Join this channel to get access to perks:

🔗 All My Links – Socials, Merch, and More:

👍 PLEASE LIKE, SHARE + SUBSCRIBE!!
🔔 Don’t forget to click the bell to turn on post notifications!

📌 Keywords:
millennial novel, defining millennial book, millennial identity, Harry Potter millennials, millennial fiction, millennial literature, generational books, millennial culture, why millennials are nostalgic, burnout generation, stories that define a generation, Harry Potter generation, millennial experience explained, where is the millennial novel

#MillennialCulture
#HarryPotterGeneration
#MillennialLiterature
#BurnoutGeneration
#MillennialIdentity
#WhereIsOurNovel

[Bastion]

Will... I'm going to do my best to sum up a few of the reasons I think Harry Potter is the answer you got, because you have a point but you didn't mention something about those books. The first few novels are exactly as you say, but after a certain point, they begin to noticeably age up with the readers, and by the time of book six and seven, the gleeful fantasy veneer of that world has gone away, and we see wise powerful characters as just as flawed as anyone else. We see the impermanence of life, we see the sudden, and sometimes violently fragile nature of mortality.

Don't know about you man, but some of those issues mentioned in the later books, would be a little heavy for me until I reached high school.

You pointed out quite correctly that a lot of the things that we were told would be reliable standards in life started to go away right around the time we were becoming adults, and we were essentially just told to deal with it and figure it out. Harry Potter also represents something that speaks to this: escapism. The desire to be part of a different world, maybe not a perfect one, but just part of a different society with different rules and different standards (There is a reason that isekai and Isekai power fantasies in particular are so popular right now).

This might just be me projecting, but I think for a lot of people, The world in which we find ourselves feels like something that doesn't fit, like we were sold one thing growing up and given another hence wanting to trade our world in for another model. The rest of what you said is brilliantly, if unfortunately accurate.

Please understand I wasn't trying to pick apart anything that you said, I just thought I would add my two cents in the comments.

Have a great one Will.

[mrsmax]

I know it's scary, but we have to grow up. We owe it to ourselves.

[Kitereviews]

I mainly remember goosebumps, harry potter, percy jackson and the twilight books as the books that were a highlight in the millenial moment. As i look back now, a millenial can't just be defined by these books but more the books that they've read that made them the person they are in the present.

[DigitalNovelist]

This is a challenge I'd like to take on. I've mostly written stories centered around technological existentialism (how does tech shape us).

But a definitive millennial novel is on my list of future works.

[KetwunsGamingPad]

I wouldn’t mind writing a time capsule of this period. Perhaps simply glancing at photos of that time can help inspire. Thankfully other media have captured 90s and early 2000s well to help the idea. An anthology of short stories could always help for a start, but yea, a defining novel, it’s a great wish!

[shenotski]

I never was a potter fanatic, I enjoyed some of the films but when I was reading that first book I only really cared about Snape more than the lead character. Didn’t bother reading the other potter books after the first.

[spookyfirst]

A friend of mine once told me that she saw the Harry Potter generation’s backlash against it’s author as a very telling phenomena. “They grew up thinking they were heroes, healers, an intellectuals, but turned out to be minions of Delores Umbrage and in lockstep with the Ministry of Magic.” She went on to point out that those who hate the author beyond reason have to know this truth on a subconscious level that never reaches their waking minds. (she’s a psychologist)

I think different generations find a story—whether it’s a movie, book, even a game. With social media’s arrival I’d say that’s become the signpost for the current generations. Stories were liberated from books when social media went nuts.

When I was growing up, Star Wars changed everything. It opened up vistas for stories and books that everyone longed for but never thought they’d see.

[BrassGogglesKH]

I may have misheard cause its still early for me but I feel like the way you describe our generation is kinda like survivors after a massive disaster. Like how our generation got put into survival mode and have not gotten out of it, at least as a whole anyway. But that aside I think from this point on thanks to the internet and how easy it is to talk to people now there wont be generational novels anymore, unless like you said we look at online forums, podcasts, etc

[friendlyfrogpress]

Definitely not my favorite book, but you make a good point about how it's a common denominator for a problem-stricken generation. I can't begin to imagine what the Gen Z novel would be, since everything is so atomized now.

[wilburseymore]

Guess I'm the only person who is not a Harry Potter fan.

[sinshenlong]

This is a great question. I can't really find it in Traditional prose media.

Goodnight Pun Pun comes to mind or Chainsaw Man or even Naruto but those are all japanese comics/ animation.

[someinteresting]

The fact that you make this video kind of confirms it is the Millennial book. If we take off from your argument that it isn’t because it shows escape from the Millennial experience - why said experience can’t be precisely escaping from all the countless things that are pulling us in so many directions. The author gave us respite. This is the Millennial experience, seeking and finding a place to rest.

[KetwunsGamingPad]

Eh a bit subjective and questionable calling it a children’s book series in the second half entries honestly