Finishes book

>finishes book
>googles "[book name] explained"
am I a brainlet?

Yes, categorically

What is there not to understand when you read a book? Especially if it's fiction, unless there are theories about it and was written by a philosopher... Otherwise it's just gibberish most of the time.

you certainly sound silly when you put it like that, but there is literally nothing wrong with seeking commentary/discussion on something you've read as long as you realize no theory is going to be conclusive and you don't just latch on to what critics say as gospel and then go parrot them to other people.

finishing a book period puts you in the top percentile of human intelligence

So finishing Larry the Cable Guy's autobiography or The Giving Tree necessarily means I am muy talentoso? Are you a grade school teacher?

>am I a brainlet
>sacrificing your own education and enjoyment of literature because of e/lit/ism
You're on this site for the wrong reasons.

yes

You are suited to your chosen profession

Not a brainlet, but youre doing a disservice to your brain. Once youre finished reading a book, you need to let it sit down and accomodate inside your head and let time bring whatever natural understandings you get from it, be it actual thoughts, dreams, or indirect influence in your life.

By reading explanations by third party you fuck over that unique time window where your brain is still digesting what it read with some generic opinion by a blogger, shadowing any possibilities for the book to spontaneously flourish in your very life.

Why even read then?