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I had to read Farewell to Arms in private study and discuss orally with professor. I told him that at the risk of getting a failing grade, it was the worst book I ever read and the dialogue was like a Harlequin romance book and how did this man ever win a Pulitzer. (I did not get failing grade).
I hated that book so much when I had to read it in high school. It was the most dumbed down piece of crap I had ever read. It's why I laughed so hard at that Dennis Miller line when he made a joke that went something like, "These chicks have more periods than a Hemingway novel."
A book that was a major let down for me was Farenheit 451. I had heard so much about it and expected some kind of dystopian masterpiece on par with Brave New World or 1984. Instead, it came across as though it had been written by an amateur trying to duplicate their success but not understanding what made those works and dystopias tick. Dystopias are about taking trends in the present that don't seem to be a big deal now but are showing signs of potentially blowing up and making the world worse. Farenheit 451 is just flight of fancy, not based in anything real.
I stopped reading Stephen King decades ago. I thought he was great in the 70s, then he just started churning out the books left and right.
For some reason I can never get into an Ann Rice book.
The first of the Interview with the Vampire books is a masterpiece in the gothic horror genre and is right up there with Shelley's Frankenstein. But the rest of the books are pure schlock. She should've quit while she was still ahead.
A book that was a major let down for me was Farenheit 451. I had heard so much about it and expected some kind of dystopian masterpiece on par with Brave New World or 1984.
Was that really Bradbury's intention, though? He claimed that his book was not about government censorship but that the story stemmed from his concern about television replacing books. Did you ever read his short story, "The Pedestrian"?
Was that really Bradbury's intention, though? He claimed that his book was not about government censorship but that the story stemmed from his concern about television replacing books. Did you ever read his short story, "The Pedestrian"?
Man, it's like you read the first two sentences of my post and just decided to completely ignore everything that I said afterwards about what makes a dystopia a dystopia and why Bradbury's attempt in F451 missed the mark.
It's neither here nor there anyway because being that this is the second book I've read of his that didn't impress me (the first one was Something Wicked This Way Comes), I don't think I'm into him.
Another writer that I thought was as overrated as Hemingway was F. Scott Fitzgerald. I read the Great Gatsby in high school and thought it was duller than dishwater. If it hadn't been an assignment I would have thrown in the towel after 20 pages.
Man, it's like you read the first two sentences of my post and just decided to completely ignore everything that I said afterwards about what makes a dystopia a dystopia and why Bradbury's attempt in F451 missed the mark.
It was never Bradbury's intention to write a dystopian novel with Farenheit 451.
Clearly it was, because that's what Farenheit 451 is. It's dystopian fiction.
It was put in that category well after it was written, not because he intended to write about it.
"Bradbury too rejected the idea that a good author writes with an intended purpose. Instead, he has an idea, something precious and magical, and he follows it, plays with it, and seeks its essence. In the end, good art will reveal a truth, but not always the truth an author originally desired to convey. Yet, when asked what the truth was that emerged from Fahrenheit 451, he admitted he wrote it in response to “Hitler and Stalin and China, where they burned God knows how many books, killed God knows how many teachers.”3 Add to this, he feared, the disaster of Joseph McCarthy in the early 1950s, and free thought and free expression would collapse.4 As Bradbury explained decades after the book’s publication, he hoped to prevent the future more than to predict it."
The most disappointing book I've read recently (within the last year) had to be Robin Cook's "Nano."
I had just finished reading several interesting historical fiction novels and was looking for a change of pace, and happened upon this book.
I know Cook is a popular and prolific writer, but this was the first book he wrote that I picked up.
Parts of the book were very interesting. It's based on a company that does nanotechnology research and is involved in some shady experiments. The company partners with the Chinese to get test subjects for its enhancement experiments.
The worst part of the book is the end. There is ever increasing build-up and tension as an employee of the company investigates and uncovers the horrific experiments.
It does a good job describing the conflict between the rich CEO and the wayward employee, and the incredible danger she is in.
And then, when the height of danger is reached ... pfttt ... the book just ends. I not sure if Cook was planning a sequel that still hasn't arrived almost five years later, or if he just got tired of writing this book. It's like there was at least one or two chapters ripped out of the book.
After some interesting build up, it just ends with a whimper and a shrug. There is some closure in what happens to the CEO, but the lead character's fate is left up in the air.
Like I said, this was my first Robin Cook novel, and might be my last. There are so many other books to read.
It's very disappointing to have some great elements and set-up in a novel (and such a great concept) that just fizzles out.
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