the.com/page turner
A book that bribes your bladder into waiting one more chapter.
means A book so gripping that you keep reading compulsively, chapter after chapter, unable to stop.
from A straightforward compound from 'page' and 'turner' (one who turns), first used to describe books so compelling the reader's hand keeps flipping pages almost on its own; the phrase gained currency in 20th-century publishing and reviewing as shorthand for compulsively readable fiction.
- origin
- term predates thrillers, used since 1800s
- mechanism
- cliffhangers trigger dopamine, not just curiosity
- irony
- literary critics often use it as faint praise
- opposite
- a doorstop you respect but never finish