Are Books Political? When Turning Off Your Brain Isn’t Always Possible

“Just turn your brain off and enjoy the story.”

People often say that about books, especially fantasy ones. But what exactly does that mean? How does someone actually shut their brain off while reading? It’s not like flipping a light switch. Your mind is always working, even if you don’t notice it. Every scene, character choice, and plot twist filters through your own beliefs and experiences, just as every story has already been shaped by the author’s worldview.

The truth is, you can’t. Books are always political because life itself is political, and writing inevitably reflects that.

Photo: Rebecca Weston

“Books are a form of political action. Books are knowledge. Books are reflection. Books change your mind.” – Toni Morrison.

From the moment a story begins, it is already influenced by the author’s thoughts, beliefs, and their sense of what is “normal.” Even if they don’t set out to take a side, their opinions still come through. An author’s worldview eventually emerges on the page, whether they intend it or not. What feels “neutral” is often just a familiar ideology presented as fact. And if books weren’t political, people wouldn’t be so determined to ban them.

Stories have power. That’s why censorship exists. Throughout history, those in power have worked to control which stories the public can access, not just to silence disagreement, but to shape what people believe is possible, true, or even real. Banning a book isn’t only about removing words from shelves; it’s about removing perspectives from the conversation altogether.

When a government, institution, or community decides that a story is “too dangerous,” it’s usually because the story challenges the dominant narrative or threatens existing power structures. Censorship doesn’t just shield people from ideas; it shields the status quo from change. And in a world where stories shape empathy, influence policy, and mold cultural values, restricting which ones we can read directly narrows the range of thought and imagination available to us.

That’s why certain stories are silenced while others are celebrated. Even choosing to “leave politics out” of a story is a political act. It determines which voices get amplified and which are left out. In turn, reading itself becomes political. When you pick up a book, you are stepping into someone else’s version of the world, being asked to think, question, and imagine differently than you might otherwise.

This is especially true in fantasy. At first glance, it’s easy to believe fantasy is pure escape, disconnected from real life. But fantasy is always built on systems. Who rules? Who resists? Who gets power? These are inherently political questions, no matter how magical the setting may be.

Take These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong. Thanks to TikTok, it became a favorite among readers a few years ago. The novel is set in a fictionalized 1920s Shanghai, weaving together magic and real historical tensions. Beneath the surface, though, the story reveals political instability, the influence of outside powers, and the cultural consequences of that interference. The fantasy elements don’t hide these realities; they illuminate them.

Another recent BookTok favorite is One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig. On the surface, it reads like a dark fairytale, but beneath that lies a story about control, fear, and superstition. In its world, magic is restricted, people are denied the full truth, and strict rules must be followed for “safety.” That isn’t just fantasy. It’s a critique of real-world systems, dressed in Gothic atmosphere and haunting prose.

Fantasy gives authors the freedom to reshape the world, but that freedom is never neutral. It comes with intention. Fantasy isn’t about escaping reality; it’s about revealing it in new and unexpected ways. Every fantasy story is, and always will be, part of a larger conversation.

In the end, stories are never just stories. They shape how we see the world and how we imagine what could change within it. To “turn your brain off” while reading isn’t possible, and honestly, it shouldn’t be. The power of books, especially fantasy, is that they challenge us to think, to question, and to see reality through a different lens. Every page carries a perspective, and every act of reading is a choice to engage with that perspective. That’s not a weakness of literature; it’s its greatest strength.