Books that disappointed you

Harry Angstrom · 02-03-2014 3:54am

Nero707 wrote: »

Yeah, I'm 15, yeah I'm from Longford

QED

Nero707 · 02-03-2014 3:56am

So what. I'm from Longford, but tonight you have shown me pricks can come from anywhere in the world.

Harry Angstrom · 02-03-2014 3:58am

Yep, they can even come from Longford.

GerB40 · 02-03-2014 3:58am

Nero707 wrote: »

Oh wow, pulling the Longford card on me. That's low bro, low.

I read the book outside of school by the way, I just didn't enjoy and maybe I will understand it better when I'm older. But when I read it, I just didn't enjoy it. All I did was give my opinion on the book now, maybe in a few years time I'll understand it better, maybe I won't, until then you can go and fcuk yourself.

I have to agree with you about the book. I read it around 13 years ago around junior cert time and I hated it. Caulfield being a whiny bítch and the storyline being just dull made me wonder why people adored it so much. Im 27 now and I still think it's shíte... Maybe I appreciate the writing style a little more but seriously, fúck The Catcher In The Rye.

CobraClan · 02-03-2014 4:03am

I read the book JAWS & found it a big disappointment, I also read the Shawshank Redemption which was absolutely dire! Two movies that are actually better than the book! Tried to read Moby Dick but couldn't get my head around the languish.

Nero707 · 02-03-2014 4:04am

GerB40 wrote: »

I have to agree with you about the book. I read it around 13 years ago around junior cert time and I hated it. Caulfield being a whiny bítch and the storyline being just dull made me wonder why people adored it so much. Im 27 now and I still think it's shíte... Maybe I appreciate the writing style a little more but seriously, fúck The Catcher In The Rye.

About time someone agreed with me.

And Harry, you really don't need to take the piss out of Longford, we can do it ourselves. It's a ****hole, but it's my ****hole.
PS Don't be a dick.

sceptre · 05-03-2014 11:24pm

Mod note:

Folks, if you feel like personalising the thread, the thread isn't for you. It works much better if people don't insult one another; kindly bear that in mind before posting.

marienbad · 05-03-2014 11:30pm

sceptre wrote: »

Mod note:

Folks, if you feel like personalising the thread, the thread isn't for you. It works much better if people don't insult one another; kindly bear that in mind before posting.

What ! A fight about books !!! Bring it on

Harry Angstrom · 14-03-2014 1:48am

implausible wrote: »

I have attempted to read F.Scott Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night on three different occasions as I hate having a book lying there that I haven't read. I loved Gatsby, (once you get past the first few pages) and can't even pin down why I can't finish it. It must be the characters - I cannot seem to retain any information about them or develop any empathy or interest in them.

It's a bit of a mess but I think it works better when read as a semi-autobiographical novel. I have a feeling that Fitzgerald was using this novel as a paean to Zelda, following her stay in a mental institution. In a way, I reckon it was Fitzgerald's way of coping with the guilt of her mental breakdown, and how the character of Nicole Diver emerges stronger than her husband by the end of the novel.

implausible · 14-03-2014 9:01pm

Harry Angstrom wrote: »

It's a bit of a mess but I think it works better when read as a semi-autobiographical novel. I have a feeling that Fitzgerald was using this novel as a paean to Zelda, following her stay in a mental institution. In a way, I reckon it was Fitzgerald's way of coping with the guilt of her mental breakdown, and how the character of Nicole Diver emerges stronger than her husband by the end of the novel.

Thank you! That might send me back to it.

Duffy the Vampire Slayer · 25-04-2014 9:58am

An example of a disappointing sequel was 'Redemption Falls' by Joseph O'Connor. I thoroughly enjoyed 'Star of the Sea' but found the follow-up very dull.

Swiper the fox · 25-04-2014 10:59am

Duffy the Vampire Slayer wrote: »

An example of a disappointing sequel was 'Redemption Falls' by Joseph O'Connor. I thoroughly enjoyed 'Star of the Sea' but found the follow-up very dull.

Is it very cheeky of me to ask if you finished it? I found Redemption Falls very hard work and not the least bit enjoyable for about 100 pages but once it begins to make sense it is a fantastic book IMO, I also enjoyed Ghost light but would consider that easily the worst of the trilogy.

Duffy the Vampire Slayer · 25-04-2014 1:15pm

Swiper the fox wrote: »

Is it very cheeky of me to ask if you finished it? I found Redemption Falls very hard work and not the least bit enjoyable for about 100 pages but once it begins to make sense it is a fantastic book IMO, I also enjoyed Ghost light but would consider that easily the worst of the trilogy.

I did finish it. It had it's moments but overall I was underwhelmed. I haven't read Ghost Light yet.

echo beach · 25-04-2014 9:49pm

Duffy the Vampire Slayer wrote: »

An example of a disappointing sequel was 'Redemption Falls' by Joseph O'Connor. I thoroughly enjoyed 'Star of the Sea' but found the follow-up very dull.

I know I'm in a minority but I far preferred Redemption Falls. It helped that I read it on holiday when I could read it over a few days. If you read it spread out over a longer period it could be hard to keep track of, and I know many who abandoned it or became so frustrated they couldn't enjoy it.

Ciaran_B · 26-04-2014 4:45pm

'Night Film' by Marisha Pessl. I loved her first book but this was an absolute turkey. Can't believe it took 7 years to produce this garbage.

Ecarg · 30-04-2014 1:34pm

A Long way down, Nick Hornby. It started off with such promise and I was trudging through the last chapters, and it's such a little book I should have flown through it.

midnight_train · 25-05-2014 11:47pm

+1 for Room and Moby Dick.

I thought the worst book I'd ever read in my life was 'Twilight.'

But that was before I read 'Fifty Shades of Gray.'

(yes, I know not to expect too much from these types of books, but I like to read lots of different stuff and wanted to know what all the fuss was about. Answer: not a whole lot.)

FunLover18 · 25-05-2014 11:50pm

Wolf Hall completely failed to grasp my attention.

In fairness I didn't know enough about the history going in which annoyed me but reading it was a real chore.

I presume The Da Vinci Code has had a fair few mentions on here, that was so disppointing

prq · 27-05-2014 12:45am

A Feast for Crows by George R R Martin. If the 3rd book was already going down in quality, the 4th made me forget the series.

shootermacg · 27-05-2014 1:11am

I love the books and am looking forward to the next instalment.

Writergirl24 · 29-05-2014 9:42am

Eat, Pray, Love

I loved Italy - the eating bit! but by god it just drove me demented after that. I think I might be too practical for that kind of thing.

Akrasia · 29-05-2014 9:49am

'The Long Earth' by Pratchett and Baxter

Boooooring and pointless. It was the first book in a trilogy and I didn't bother with the second or third. The characters are utterly one dimensional and ridiculously cliched, the story is implausible and unbelievable and at the end of the book I didn't give a flying f1ck what happened to anyone in the proceeding installments.

czechlin · 29-05-2014 11:23am

Writergirl24 wrote: »

Eat, Pray, Love

I loved Italy - the eating bit! but by god it just drove me demented after that. I think I might be too practical for that kind of thing.

Even the movie is waaaay tooo stretcheeeed. I like Javier Bardem and Julia Roberts is ok too but that was just a pain to watch, cannot imagine to read it.

FunLover18 · 29-05-2014 11:26am

czechlin wrote: »

Even the movie is waaaay tooo stretcheeeed. I like Javier Bardem and Julia Roberts is ok too but that was just a pain to watch, cannot imagine to read it.

'Eat, Pray, Love, Vomit' as Kermode calls it

czechlin · 29-05-2014 11:28am

FunLover18 wrote: »

'Eat, Pray, Love, Vomit' as Kermode calls it

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up

jackjustjumped · 30-05-2014 11:12pm

Catcher in the Rye. Read it years ago, wasn't particularly impressed. Thought that might have been due to lack of proper understanding and analysis on my part. Recently picked it up again and it didn't do much for me. I know it was fairly revolutionary at the time, but... eh, oh well.

Harry Angstrom · 31-05-2014 11:48pm

jackjustjumped wrote: »

Catcher in the Rye. Read it years ago, wasn't particularly impressed. Thought that might have been due to lack of proper understanding and analysis on my part. Recently picked it up again and it didn't do much for me. I know it was fairly revolutionary at the time, but... eh, oh well.

The appreciation or otherwise of Catcher in the Rye very much depends on how the reader can identify themselves and sympathise/empathise with Holden Caulfield. People who can't will invariably hate the book. People who can empathise with Holden will love it, though not in a Mark Chapman kind of way (hopefully).
Catcher in the Rye is the marmite of the literary world. Personally, I think it's one of the greatest works of the 20th century.

Fate Amenable To Change · 30-06-2014 11:08pm

Bobby42 wrote: »

For me its the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.

Think there's about 14 books in the series. I made it halfway through book 4.

Awful stuff. Its meant to be this massive fantasy epic with the threat of this dark power wanting to destroy the world but literally nothing happens!!!

There's so many characters and sub plots you have no idea who is who or what is going on. You have a general idea of whats happening to the main characters but you really couldn't care less what happens to them, but what makes it worse is that nothing happens to them.

You're on book two and there's this looming threat of a final showdown between good and evil, but first the characters have to follow pointless subplots for 500 pages and nothing happens!

Awful stuff.

Robert Jordan had a slow pace of writing and developing plots and I liked the books for it tbh. Its definitely not for everyone though.

Im going through the Malazan books of the Fallen at the moment House Of Chains was such a letdown after how good Memories of Ice was.

I was also disappointed by On The Road, The Road the last few Terry Pratchett books, the JK Rowling book after Harry Potter.

Mr Rhode Island Red · 03-07-2014 2:58pm

"The Old Man and the Sea" by Ernest Hemingway definitely deserves a mention

I have tried to read that on 3 previous occasions and failed before even making it half way through the book. Boredom inducing literature in its purest form.

Tigerbaby · 06-07-2014 10:35am

Akrasia wrote: »

'The Long Earth' by Pratchett and Baxter

Boooooring and pointless. It was the first book in a trilogy and I didn't bother with the second or third. The characters are utterly one dimensional and ridiculously cliched, the story is implausible and unbelievable and at the end of the book I didn't give a flying f1ck what happened to anyone in the proceeding installments.

First time poster here. Nice thread. I read "The Long Earth" and found it good based on an interesting theory. However, the next book, "The Long War" is utter tripe.

Books that disappointed you

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