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Im not referring to just bad books, but rather books you expected to be good that turned out to be disappointingly bad.
My list would include
Utopia, by Thomas More.
Suffers from 2 issues. First,extremely boring and dry writing. It is basically a dry third person description of life in an imaginary perfect society. They will do this,they will do that. No real characters or story. Second, some of the ideas are simply horrible. People are punished for traveling outside of their living area without permission, up to and including execution if I remember correctly. And not attending lectures by the authorities on how to improve and be a better citizen is grounds for suspicion and punishment. Yet it is regarded as a very influential book and gets high marks from many reviewers. I dont get it. Admittedly I found the book as so bad both in style and content that I gave up part way through, but unless the part I read was some sort of satire and the book completely changed in the parts I quit on, this book being highly regarded baffles me.
Second , The Deerslayer by James Cooper
Even more disappointing than Utopia. While I really didnt know what to expect from Utopia , I truly expected Coopers books to be great stories of life among frontiersmen and Indians in early America. But I have tried twice to get through this one and then on to the others of the series, but it simply gets so boring its unbelievable. And thats a shame, because the plot and characters should make for a great story . Coopers insistence on having Deerslayer talk in his ridiculous accept gets old, especially when he deliberately misspells words that dont change the pronunciation to try and depict a country accent. Envy becomes "invy", as if that matters any. And the girls just drone on and on. I cant for the life of me grasp why Cooper is regarded as a great writer, and its such a disappointment to me because again, these could be such great stories if written better. And yet there are book societies dedicated wholly to discussing Coopers books. It baffles me.
I've read around a thousand books. None of them comes within a light year of being as bad as "Mission Earth" L. Ron Hubbard...
I think I read seven of the ten books waiting for ANYTHING interesting to happen. I was fairly new to SF at the time and a (supposed) friend kept saying "keep reading, all that is just build up an d it gets great at the end."
After that, I never took another recommendation from that friend. I should have gotten combat pay for getting through the seven thick books I did read.
I don't read a lot of popular novels, but I fell for the hype and read "Eat, Pray, Love" one year and couldn't even get through it.
I found it to be so self-indulgent that it was sickening. Instead of finding it inspiring and empowering, it made me want to find the author and punch her for so much navel-gazing.
I don't read a lot of popular novels, but I fell for the hype and read "Eat, Pray, Love" one year and couldn't even get through it.
I found it to be so self-indulgent that it was sickening. Instead of finding it inspiring and empowering, it made me want to find the author and punch her for so much navel-gazing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CA4Now
Me, either. Had to give that book away.
Ha! I never read this one although it's been on my list for years. I probably won't bother.
My biggest literary letdown in recent memory is A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. It got rave reviews but I thought it was one of the worst books I'd ever read and didn't finish it. I read a review describing it as "tragedy porn" with I thought was very apt.
My biggest literary letdown in recent memory is A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. It got rave reviews but I thought it was one of the worst books I'd ever read and didn't finish it. I read a review describing it as "tragedy porn" with I thought was very apt.
This is the book I wanted to nominate, but I couldn't remember the name, so thank you for mentioning it. Most disappointing, least probable storytelling ever.
Even more disappointing than Utopia. While I really didnt know what to expect from Utopia , I truly expected Coopers books to be great stories of life among frontiersmen and Indians in early America. But I have tried twice to get through this one and then on to the others of the series, but it simply gets so boring its unbelievable. And thats a shame, because the plot and characters should make for a great story . Coopers insistence on having Deerslayer talk in his ridiculous accept gets old, especially when he deliberately misspells words that dont change the pronunciation to try and depict a country accent. Envy becomes "invy", as if that matters any. And the girls just drone on and on. I cant for the life of me grasp why Cooper is regarded as a great writer, and its such a disappointment to me because again, these could be such great stories if written better. And yet there are book societies dedicated wholly to discussing Coopers books. It baffles me.
Agreed.
I can enjoy Cooper when I'm in the proper mood. But every criticism Mark Twain had of him was spot on.
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