This isn’t your average book club. From street corners to social media, Geronymonstre proves literature belongs everywhere and to everyone.
If you picture a literary club, you probably imagine a cozy living room, a few well-thumbed paperbacks, and maybe someone earnestly quoting Gustave Flaubert over herbal tea. Now swap that for a windswept car park at the foot of tower blocks, a group of friends in tracksuits, and you’ve got Geronymonstre, the French literary club that’s turning expectations completely upside down.
From the Estate to Instagram
The story begins on the outskirts of Avignon, where a group of friends decided to film what they jokingly call a “club de lecture au quartier,” or a neighborhood book club. Their setting? Not a library, not a classroom or community center, but the pavement below their apartment blocks.
Led by a 26-year-old known online as “Geronimo,” the group started posting short videos online in late 2025. The videos contain literary “battles” where iconic writers and thinkers are pitted against each other. Think Emile Zola vs Gustave Flaubert, Karl Marx vs Adam Smith, but with a friendly banter.
The videos are short, funny, and surprisingly sharp. So it’s no surprise that within months, they’d racked up hundreds of thousands of followers across their social media platforms.
“We Wear Tracksuits, But We Have Brains”
At the heart of Geronymonstre is a mission that’s as political as it is playful. One of the group members sums it up perfectly: they want to prove that “despite the tracksuit, we have a brain.”
It’s a direct challenge to the stereotypes often associated with young people from working-class neighborhoods in France, especially those living in housing estates. These stereotypes tend to paint them as disengaged, anti-intellectual, or worse.
Geronymonstre flips that narrative on its head.
The group leans into the visual clichés with the hoodies, trainers, casual slang, but pairs them with elevated language, literary references, and clever improvisation. The contrast is intentional, and it’s what makes their content so compelling.
They’re not just talking about books. They’re making a statement about who gets to talk about books.
It all started when Geronimo started making comedy skits on social media about social issues, including things he had experienced, like discrimination. From there, it just grew, but keeping the same idea at the heart: using comedy to explore social issues and flip stereotypes.
Literature… But Make It Entertaining
Let’s be clear: this is not your typical book club.
No one is delivering a long, solemn analysis of 19th-century prose. Instead, Geronymonstre thrives on energy, humor, and accessibility. Think quick-fire arguments, exaggerated performances, and punchlines that land somewhere between philosophy and stand-up comedy.
And yet, beneath the jokes, there’s substance. The group uses precise vocabulary, references key ideas, and clearly has a real understanding of the authors they’re discussing.
This balance between entertainment and education has drawn in a wide audience. Their followers online include major cultural institutions like Bibliothèque nationale de France, writers, and journalists.
Breaking Down Cultural Barriers
Without a doubt, one of the most interesting things about Geronymonstre is how it bridges a gap that has long existed in France (and elsewhere), the divide between institutional culture and everyday life.
For many young people, especially those who come from less privileged backgrounds, literature can feel distant and intimidating. Libraries, theaters, and museums aren’t always spaces that feel super welcoming, especially if you’re dressed like the Geronymonstre.
But by bringing literature into familiar environments, like the street, communities with limited access to literary spaces, and social media, they make it accessible and inviting. They break down the barriers and remind people that you don’t need a certain background, accent, or outfit to engage with ideas and literature.
Not Your Typical Influencers
In an era often criticized for “empty” influencer culture, Geronymonstre offers something refreshingly different.
They’re still very much part of the social media ecosystem; their success depends on views, likes, and shares, but their content pushes against the idea that online popularity has to come at the expense of substance.
Geronimo himself has said he would rather young viewers watch his videos than content focused purely on appearance or lifestyle. It’s not about rejecting social media. It’s about using it differently.
More Than Virality
What Geronymonstre represents goes beyond a viral trend. It’s part of a broader shift in how culture is created, shared, and experienced.
Traditionally, literature has been seen as something handed down from institutions to individuals, from experts to audiences. But here, it’s being reimagined as something collaborative, performative, and rooted in everyday life.
It’s literature as dialogue. As play. As something you can argue about with your friends on a plastic sofa outside your building.
It stops literature from being this vague, mysterious thing that seems out of reach, and puts it in the hands of people who just want to enjoy it. After all, isn’t that what it was always about?
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Millie Ramm
Millie has been writing since she was a child, and has spent more time with her nose in books than anywhere else. She has been ghostwriting novels and editing for the past few years, and when not working she is curled up with her cats, looking for her next read.
