Critically acclaimed books you hate?

metrovelvet

Giselle wrote: »

If only Death had Stopped a little sooner.;)

I love Emily Dickenson but I LOVE YOUR "tribute" to her!

blue_steel

Aglomerado wrote: »

Kate Mosse's Labyrinth was a load of arse. (not sure if it comes under the heading Critically Acclaimed or not though)

Critically acclaimed books you hate folks, not chic-lit crap like that :pac:

Evan93

I look upon Wuthering Heights with utter disdain and contempt. I just can't get my head around how it's professed to be a book loved by many. The story is dreadful, but it doesn't need to be repeated twice. The contrast of love is intersting but everything else is so irksome that I couldn't fathom how Bronte brought herself to overcome such a daunting task.

The book is wonderflly written. This, however, doesn't suffice for the perpetual annoyance of a dull,bleak,boring, and tedious storyline that the novel follows.

H. Flashman

The most overrated book that I've ever read was most definately Catcher in the Rye ........ I read the whole thing and at the end was just sort of "meh"

Damian Duffy

H. Flashman wrote: »

The most overrated book that I've ever read was most definately Catcher in the Rye ........ I read the whole thing and at the end was just sort of "meh"

You make it sound it like it was some 800 page behemoth. Fair enough if you didn't like it but it's relatively short, hardly a huge investment of your time.

H. Flashman

sometimes two hundred or two and fifty boring pages can seem like 800 and 800 class pages can seem like two hundred ... dunno if that makes sense but there u go

Damian Duffy

I hear you. If you found it that boring I see where you are coming from.I read 'Invisible Cities' a while back and although only 160 fairly easy to read pages, it felt like a chore. Surprised you found 'Catcher in the Rye' so boring, each to his own though.

Elliemental

I agree with Catcher In The Rhye. I didn't hate it, and easily finished it (it wasn't a chore, I mean). But I did find it dull.
Also, Prozac Nation by Elizabeth Wurtzel was really overrated (IMO), along with On The Road, by Jack Kerouac. Bloody awful books.

hacked

Elliemental wrote: »

I agree with Catcher In The Rhye. I didn't hate it, and easily finished it (it wasn't a chore, I mean). But I did find it dull.
Also, Prozac Nation by Elizabeth Wurtzel was really overrated (IMO), along with On The Road, by Jack Kerouac. Bloody awful books.

I Don't know...I found Prozac Nation interesting. I got to the end of it and thought it was a bit annoying, but on reflection it was actually pretty good. It was an incredibly accurate portrayal of severe depression, and although Elizabeth annoyed me with how self centred she was, I realised that it was very well written. Depression is quite a selfish illness, and the depressed person usually thinks of themselves and how everything affects them and only them.
Sorry, im very sleep deprived! Bottom line: I found the book incredibly self indulgent and whiney, but then again...I think that is how Wurtzel meant to write it.

Skinback

DapperGent wrote: »

East of Eden is awful. Hated Great Expectations as well.

It may be awful in the dramatic sense but East of Eden is a modern masterpiece.I read it 30yrs ago and it still gives me the shivers thinking about that lad and his relationship with his father.

Skinback

Col!n wrote: »

I must say i really enjoyed The Road and Life Of Pi.

I found The Great Gatsby underwhelming,

Me too, and it's said to be the perfect novel.
Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates could be the perfect novel IMO.

Skinback

Monkeybonkers wrote: »

I don't know how critically acclaimed it is but I hated At Swim Two Birds by Flann O Brien.

Yep...dreadful nonesense...what do people see in this muck.
It's one of the few books I gave up on out of tedium.

OxfordComma

Evan93 wrote: »

I look upon Wuthering Heights with utter disdain and contempt. I just can't get my head around how it's professed to be a book loved by many. The story is dreadful, but it doesn't need to be repeated twice. The contrast of love is intersting but everything else is so irksome that I couldn't fathom how Bronte brought herself to overcome such a daunting task.

The book is wonderflly written. This, however, doesn't suffice for the perpetual annoyance of a dull,bleak,boring, and tedious storyline that the novel follows.

I loved Wuthering Heights, I must say. It's one of my favourite novels. Normally I have very little interest in love stories of any kind but something about Wuthering Heights really got to me and moved me. It still gives me the chills whenever I think about it. Well... each to his own I suppose

H. Flashman wrote: »

The most overrated book that I've ever read was most definately Catcher in the Rye ........ I read the whole thing and at the end was just sort of "meh"

Yeah, I found Catcher in the Rye quite "meh" as well. I didn't see any reason to hate it as some people do - it's not a bad novel or anything - but I'm not sure it deserves all the hype either. Maybe I'd have gotten more out of it if I'd read it in my "angsty teenager" phase. :pac:

doriansmith

Just finished Jack Kerouac's On The Road after taking what seemed like an age to get through it. Seriously struggled to finish it. One of the most tedious books I've read in a long time

sponsoredwalk

"That's not writing, that's typing."

- Truman Capote commenting on On the Road.

George83

Books I really couldn't get into (hate is too strong):
Lord of the Rings
Jane Austen
With exception of Oliver Twist, all of Dicken's.
The Great Gatsby.
Wuthering Heights.

squeakyduck

Couldn't get into:
Bleak House - Dickens
The Di Vince Code - Dan Brown
Autobiographies - WB Yeats (It was acclaimed by my lecturers in college, and was the biggest piece of shiite I've ever set eyes on...not a Yeats fan obviously!)

whywonder

I really despised Wuthering Heights (Bronte)- I don't care if he's meant to be the world's more adored male lead, IMO Heathcliffe was a [insert disparaging word here].

I also HATED A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth. If you thought LOTR was long-winded, try picking that one up. Makes for a great door-stop, though.

Bobby42

the wheel of time series - robert jordan.

got half way through book four but i just had to stop, couldn't take it anymore. parts of it were so boring it was painful to read.

it just feels like the plot is going absolutely nowhere. then there's the countless number of subplots that have nothing to do with the main plot and add an extra 300 - 400 hundred pages to the book.

i was so disappointed, thought i would love the series since i loved the lord of the rings. how every book is a "international number 1. bestseller" is beyond me.

Rabble Rabble

squeakyduck wrote: »

The Di Vince Code - Dan Brown
)

Critically acclaimed?

squeakyduck

Well when it came out it was a bit like Marmite....Love it of hate it....personally from my post.... I HATED IT!

indough

moby dick
the magic mountain
fahrenheit 451

Grievous

OxfordComma wrote: »

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. I just absolutely loathed James's writing style... It's really awful, so awkward and convoluted, and makes what could have been a good read into something horrendously boring that I struggled to finish. And I have a sneaking suspicion that most of the curiosity surrounding the plot is a result of James being deliberately vague. The characters really annoyed me too!

"Ostentation, too much of it, is the enemy."

Yoda.

Okay, Yoda didn't really say that, but this is the problem with Henry James, right?
I think Nathaniel Hawthorne is another flowery writer.

Enkidu

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

Talking about Tolkien, I wouldn't put a whole lot of stock in the "critical acclaim" he receives. His work is of a totally different nature to what is usually considered good by critics. However I think there can be little doubt that Tolkien was very successful in what he set out to achieve. I find that most of the criticisms of his work, though valid, are founded on a misunderstanding of what he was trying to do.

This is something I tend to dislike about literary critics. Serious literary novels are wonderful (and intellectually necessary), but sometimes I get the impression that critics don't seem to comprehend that there can be other forms of fiction besides the modern novel. It is possible to "just" write an engaging story or (in Tolkien's case) craft a mythology, not everything needs to be an exploration of the human condition through allegory.

On topic:
Moby Dick. The first half of the book is spent very slowly developing characters that just disappear in the latter half and it is an extremely dull read.

Feckfox

Bag of Bones. I dunno if it is critically acclaimed but on Amazon it has lots and lots of 5 star reviews. I thought it was boring. I have Under the Dome at home but I can't bring myself to read it.

LOTR. I read The Hobbit first which I found way, way better and more interesting. Struggled to finish LOTR.

The Wheel of Time. Like another poster, I got to book 4 and couldn't hack it anymore. Had so much potential. The parts that were good were great but the rest was bad.

pavb2

I found 100 Years of Solitude very disappointing

Started off really well with the ship and the ice but descended into a list of names

Maybe I just missed something as I'm sure many people enjoyed it

Busi_Girl08

pavb2 wrote: »

I found 100 Years of Solitude very disappointing

Started off really well with the ship and the ice but descended into a list of names

Maybe I just missed something as I'm sure many people enjoyed it

It started off well, but it draaaaaaaaaagged on for about 100 years pages. It picked up a little bit at the end, but overall..meh.

jellybee

To my shame there have been more than a few.
Wuthering heights
The fountainhead
All of Jane Austen
A suitable boy
White Teeth
On the Road
Cloud Atlas

Da Shins Kelly

It seems like every woman is supposed to like Pride and Prejudice. I didn't like it one bit. The storyline is rubbish, in my opinion. But, then I don't really like love stories, so it was never gonna be my thing.

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

The Sea by John Banville. And I loved The Book of Evidence.