This isn’t about gatekeeping. However, when MrBeast, YouTube’s king of cash giveaways, announces a book deal with… Let’s begin with a simple disclaimer: everyone is entitled to write a novel.

There are inklings of greatness in Kate Riley’s first novel, “Ruth.” It claims a place on that high modern shelf next to the offbeat books of Ottessa Moshfegh, Sheila Heti, Elif Batuman and Nell Zink ...