Dissapointment

BossArky

The Atheist wrote:

Likewise. What is all the hype about?

I think a lot depends on what stage of your life you read a book. Books you hated later in life you may have loved as a teen. And vice versa.

I liked Catcher in the Rye. The main character reminded me of a fellow I knew and the way he seemed to think. I was about 20 when I read it.

Moonbeam

The great Gatsby was definately the worst.

Macker

Not the worst book by any means but hitch-hikers guide was a big let down ,started very well but lost me half way through ,the Salmon of doubt was a better book IMO

Shaybo

The Atheist wrote:

Likewise. What is all the hype about?

I think a lot depends on what stage of your life you read a book. Books you hated later in life you may have loved as a teen. And vice versa.

Classic books are like classic films in some sense. Their reputations are partly based on the context of the time in which they were published/released.

I watch Orson Welles' Citizen Kane and wonder what all the fuss was about but the techniques used by Welles at the time were absolutely revolutionary which is one of the reasons it's considered a classic. It also dealt with the life of William Randolph Hearst, a very powerful media baron at the time.

Likewise Catcher in the Rye was published in the early 50s when the behaviour of Holden Caulfield would have been seen as shocking and even outlandish. Remembe this was pre-Elvis America when children were younger versions of their parents by and large. Was 'teenager' even a word then?

So whether people enjoy them nowadays does little to diminish their reputation as classics nor should it.

tHE vAGGABOND

agreed 100% about Gatsby..

Read it, and all I thought was what's the fuss was about - its was nothing special at all..

Earthhorse

Where were all you Gatsby haters in 2004, when I needed you most?

BossArky

If you hated Gatsby then your going to love reading Day of the Locust, for the added hate factory . Of the two I preferred Gatsby - didn't think it was that bad.

JackKelly

I read the Great Gatsby, and for the first half, i really disliked it. Didn't really get what was going on to be honest. Sometimes I'd read a section, continue on about 2 or 3 pages and realise I had completely misunderstood what happened a few pages back. But by the time I came to the end, and did a bit of research, I loved it! Need to read It again though.

treefingers

Dancing duck wrote:

100 Years of Solitude.

It almost felt like we were going through stacks of characters because we didn't have the talent to let those we had grow.
Was it a memory game or was it a book? :eek:

with you all the way here buddy! got about half way through it a couple of years ago and constantly found myself having to look back at that family tree at the start. i gave up.

after some persistent badgering from a friend, i recently began it again, and i am still finding it painful reading.

i have a few different books that i read at night, but i can usually only manage a chapter of 100 years of solitude before i turn to something more enjoyable...