Can we please stop giving literary prizes to minimalist slop garbage? Absolutely no one on the planet talks like this, and even if they did, they'd usually be biting their lips or kicking their feet in the interim—perhaps even blushing. Literature used to be beautiful, lyrical, and profound. It was meant to sound musical when read out loud, and every sentence told us something profound about the human condition. This writing is not only choppy but fundamentally soulless and unreadable. I want to read about real human interactions—not robots cosplaying as teenagers. You want to know why no one reads anymore? It's because we've elevated one-word sentences to literary prestige in this society, so it's no surprise people have stopped taking literature seriously. Writing used to require talent and a keen understanding of the human condition. Until we bring that sort of writing back, we'll continue to see articles about "the death of reading" and near bankruptcy of the publishing industry. It's almost like we asked for it.