In *People’s Choice Literature*, Tom Comitta delivers a bold and genre-defying examination of literary value, authorship, and cultural consensus. At once conceptual art, critical theory, and collage-fiction, the book interrogates the boundaries of what we consider “literature” by synthesizing, remixing, and dissecting the most praised and most reviled novels of the modern Anglophone canon.

Comitta—well known for *The Nature Book* and other literary experiments—pushes the envelope further here, proposing a work that is equal parts anthology, social commentary, and theoretical provocation. Drawing from a curated corpus of novels that have consistently topped (or bottomed) public polls, school curricula, and mainstream reading lists, Comitta composes an “aggregate novel” shaped by collective taste, cultural anxiety, and algorithmic popularity.

The result is as disorienting as it is illuminating. Through cut-ups, typographic play, and inventive citation, *People’s Choice Literature* becomes a mirror of our literary desires and denials. The “most wanted” passages, often lush, romantic, or emotionally earnest, stand in stark contrast to the “most unwanted”—grim, convoluted, or ideologically uncomfortable. The text thereby becomes a conversation not only with literature, but with the forces—market, institutional, ideological—that determine its elevation or erasure.

Formally experimental yet grounded in astute literary scholarship, Comitta's prose retains clarity even at its most avant-garde. Interspersed essays provide essential scaffolding, where the author explores questions around authorship, collective curation, and what it means for literature to be “representative” in an age of metrics-driven cultural production.

**Final Verdict:**
*People’s Choice Literature* is a radical and compelling work that challenges the reader to confront their own literary biases and the socio-cultural mechanisms that shape the canon. Tom Comitta has created not simply a book, but a cultural artifact—one that captures the anxieties and aspirations of a literary culture in flux. Ideal for readers of experimental fiction, literary theory, and those drawn to the intersection of text, power, and public opinion.

**Rating**: ★★★★★

*Disclaimer: I read an advance copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*