eNotes Wrapped: 2023 in Review

Here at eNotes, we’re ringing in the new year by recapping last year’s highlights—Spotify doesn’t have a monopoly on Wrapped, right? 

To celebrate another year of literature and learning with eNotes, we’re running through our proudest moments (including the release of our innovative, AI-driven tool, Instant Answers!), trendiest new titles, and revealing the titles that you loved most in 2023. 

Which classic title do you think will take the lead spot? Hint: The story takes place in Maycomb, Alabama.

 

Homework Help in a Heartbeat

 

Admit it or not, we’ve all been here: It’s 11:39 p.m. on a school night, and you have a 500-word discussion post about Ophelia’s agency in Hamlet or the symbolism of Piggy’s glasses in Lord of the Flies due at midnight that you have…no clue how to start. 

eNotes—and the innovative Instant Answers tool we released in 2023—is here to help! AI-powered and drawing from our extensive archive of human-written guides, our new and improved Homework Help is now available ‘round the clock.

For all your last-minute, “I procrastinated too long” needs, Instant Answers provides Hail Mary insight and inspiration into any and all literary quandaries you may have, all in the blink of an eye. 

We’ve answered over 130,497 questions to date—why not make yours the 130,498th?

 

Trending Titles

 

Elizabeth Zott—the breakout star of Supper at Six—spent the early days of her career as a research chemist fighting sexism and retaliation before finding herself in an unexpected new role as host of a daytime television cooking show.

Using her specialized knowledge, she brings scientific principles to the kitchens of women across the nation—much to the chagrin of the TV execs who expected a meek housewife host and not a firecracker ex-scientist dead-set on illustrating the value of women’s labor.

Garmus’ story is one of defiance and resilience, tracing the path of one woman’s simultaneous journey through motherhood and career, illustrating quite clearly that the modern woman actually can have it all. 

 

Child actress and Nickelodeon star Jeannette McCurdy’s 2023 tell-all exposing the world of abuse, anxiety, and disorder that child stars so often face.

In prose as charged as the title itself, McCurdy details the trauma that so defined her life, illuminating the reality of the Hollywood lifestyle and proving once and for all that it isn’t all glamor and gold.

For Gen Z readers who grew up watching McCurdy on the popular series iCarly and its spin-off, Sam and Cat, I’m Glad My Mom Died provides an unsettling glimpse into the real lives behind our most beloved media. McCurdy reminds us that movie magic isn’t always magic and, more often than not, simply obscures the tragedy lurking just behind the camera. 

 

Riffing on Charles Dickens’ classic work David Copperfield, Kingsolver unveils the stark reality of the opioid crisis and the foster care system in a poverty-stricken community tucked deep in the mountains of southern Appalachia. Hers is a tale of American decay, borrowing the trappings of Dickens’ rage at Victorian society’s moral ignorance and ineptitude to decry American life in its most forgotten and overlooked arenas.

Pulitzer-winning for a reason, Demon Copperhead is a painfully honest portrait of niche lives, telling the story of the nation’s forgotten—its foster kids, opiate addicts, rural communities, and desperately impoverished—to illustrate just how many have been abandoned to broken systems, left behind by a modern world that makes no room for their particular brand of Americana. 

 

Written in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Harvard Law graduate and former First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama describes her method for coping with difficult times—whether it be the isolation of the pandemic, the chaos of life in the White House, or the reality of life as a Black woman living in the United States.

Weaving together stories spanning the disparate arenas of her life, from surviving both motherhood and Harvard Law to coping with childhood memories and her husband’s presidency, she creates a framework for perseverance in any scenario. Using her life as a how-to manual, Obama illustrates how to cope with the realities of American life and remember that inside of us all burns a light that cannot be extinguished.

2023’s Most Beloved Title Revealed…

Ever wondered which title tops out our charts? 

This year, the eNotes community unanimously decided on a cult classic, launching it to the #1 most viewed study guide on enotes.com:

 

In a close second, our readers brought it back to basics with eNotes’ Guide to Literary Terms, revisiting our glossary of 141 critical literary terms. Curious about what a term means or how it operates in context? We’ve got you covered with definitions and examples for every term from allegory to voice and every term in between.

2023 was a year of innovative tools, trendy titles, and beloved classics. As we look ahead into 2024, we’re so grateful for our readership, old and new, who have stuck by us through it all—here’s to you!