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Critically acclaimed books you hate?

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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 92 ✭✭zesman



    Catcher In The Rye
    The protagonist is boring, pretentious and just drifts about in a morose angsty teenage fashion. He's a mopey, self pitying little tosser and I'd rather not listen to his moaning. The 1950's dialogue is horribly dated. It feels 10 times longer than the 250 or so pages.

    Likewise I really didn't understand Catcher In The Rye. A spoiled little rich kid. Whats all the fuss about?


  • Registered Users Posts: 251 ✭✭taibhse


    A Passage to India by E.M Forster, how he made such an interesting and colourful country into something dull, grey and repetitive is almost remarkable in itself. I had to force myself to finish it and the slog certainly wasn't worth it.

    On the Road, could have been written in about 20 pages rather than being dragged out, it's like the same episodes over and over again, kind of highlights the pointlessness of the narrative.

    Anything by Jane Austen, she was the fluffy chick lit author of her time.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 20,649 ✭✭✭✭CDfm


    This post has been deleted.
    I read the stuff and while Joyce was gifted -it really was not to my taste. I have always felt that " Mein Kamph" owes a lot to Joyce - not least because IMO its drivel but its a struggle to read. That said - my Dad who reads little loves Joyces works and finds it very humourous and has even a sneaking admiration for Beckett.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,171 ✭✭✭af_thefragile


    Can you mention Harry Potter??


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,258 ✭✭✭✭Eoin


    Hermy wrote: »
    I thought the Da Vinci Code was both great and terrible.
    A great page turner and hard to put down but the plot was so full of holes and it wasn't very well written but the short chapters kept me going.

    Yep, it was a strange one for me. I hated the writing and the plot holes, but was compelled to finish it. It genuinely was hard to put down. But I re-read books a lot, and couldn't stand it the second time around. I only got a few chapters in before I had to give up on it.

    I don't think it would be considered "critically acclaimed" though. Best seller, undoubtedly - but I don't think they are necessarily the same thing.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,171 ✭✭✭af_thefragile


    eoin wrote: »
    Yep, it was a strange one for me. I hated the writing and the plot holes, but was compelled to finish it. It genuinely was hard to put down. But I re-read books a lot, and couldn't stand it the second time around. I only got a few chapters in before I had to give up on it.

    I don't think it would be considered "critically acclaimed" though. Best seller, undoubtedly - but I don't think they are necessarily the same thing.

    It was quite the same story for me to.
    Actually quite similar with almost all of Dan Brown's books. They seem to lack much depth but still manage to get you hooked. Once you start, you've gotta finish it just to find out what happens next. But once you've finished it you can't be bothered to read it again. Also the whole Da Vinci code conspiracy hype after the book got popular put me off it more...


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 911 ✭✭✭994


    boidey wrote: »
    I want to throw the entire works of thomas hardy, george eliot and jane austen into to the pot.
    While I am it I may as well put the boot into milan kundera. the unbearable lightness of being went right over my head, as did laughter and the art of forgetting

    /shudders
    Hardy! Honestly? Have you read "Tess" and "Jude"? I absolutely loved them. But agree about G. Eliot, "Silas Marner" was awful, especially the female characters, which is odd in a woman writer.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 960 ✭✭✭:|


    It was quite the same story for me to.
    Actually quite similar with almost all of Dan Brown's books. They seem to lack much depth but still manage to get you hooked. Once you start, you've gotta finish it just to find out what happens next. But once you've finished it you can't be bothered to read it again. Also the whole Da Vinci code conspiracy hype after the book got popular put me off it more...

    Same here. i think it's the short chapters. When i write my best seller I'll make sure to have short chapters:pac:


  • Registered Users Posts: 251 ✭✭taibhse


    994 wrote: »
    "Silas Marner" was awful, especially the female characters, which is odd in a woman writer.

    Brought Middlemarch away backpacking with me and I had to leave it behind, couldn't finish it, was awful.


  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    Anything by Joyce!


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  • Registered Users Posts: 795 ✭✭✭smegmar


    And before I forget the big one, critically acclaimed book that I thought was shi*e: THE BIBLE

    Seriously, so many plot holes, and suddenly vengful god becomes forgiving god half way through, for no reason. what tripe


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 201 ✭✭ArmCandyBaby


    Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

    It started out well enough but then slowly he strangles you with his self-satisfaction and finishes you off with his theory on Quality - utter nonsense!


  • Registered Users Posts: 112 ✭✭Hyndsy85


    Catch 22 by Joesph Heller. My god did i hate that book. It almost put me off reading any critically acclaimed books because it was the first one i read. About to start Moby Dick, i hope its better


  • Registered Users Posts: 408 ✭✭questioner


    Curious Incident of the Dog.

    It wrecked my head. I didn't like the way it was written and I hated the protagonist.

    I second that, one of the most over-rated novels I've read in years. Autistic child takes the world literally, makes lists. The End. I could conceivably see a short story in that, but a full length novel? please.


  • Registered Users Posts: 877 ✭✭✭Mario007


    Bel Canto, that book has no viewpoint and is totally awful. I mean you know the ending at the start of book and the rest of the book is simply describing the shoes and the grass


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,034 ✭✭✭deadhead13


    Really liked joseph O'Conner's "Star of the sea". Really struggled with the follow up "Redemption falls"


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,453 ✭✭✭showry


    Hyndsy85 wrote: »
    Catch 22 by Joesph Heller. My god did i hate that book. It almost put me off reading any critically acclaimed books because it was the first one i read. About to start Moby Dick, i hope its better

    I thought Moby Dick was dreadful. All you wanted to know (and a hell of a lot more) about 19th century whaling.

    More recently, I thought Then we came to the end by Joshua Ferris possibly the dullest book I've ever read.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 20,649 ✭✭✭✭CDfm


    showry wrote: »
    I thought Moby Dick was dreadful. All you wanted to know (and a hell of a lot more) about 19th century whaling.

    More recently, I thought Then we came to the end by Joshua Ferris possibly the dullest book I've ever read.

    LOL


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 116 ✭✭EmoMatt15


    Strange enough as it sounds, I couldnt get my head into the His Dark Materials books by Philip Pullman!


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,900 ✭✭✭Seres


    ya really didnt get the gathering , although i felt compelled to keep reading it , in the end i was like , what , is that it , ant this got a booker prize , what did ye all think of the gathering ?

    i thought catcher in the rye was hilarious , i think i might read it again


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,600 ✭✭✭00112984


    More popular than critically acclaimed but:

    I hated The Book Thief.

    Wasted a full day reading that tripe.


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,816 ✭✭✭Acacia


    "The Catcher in the Rye", I heard great things about it and was so disappointed. Meandering, self-indulgent tripe. Also ''Catch 22'' was a terrible, un-engaging read, though I have been told it's a ''guy book'' so I wouldn't ''get it''. :rolleyes:


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,564 ✭✭✭quad_red


    The Satanic Verses.

    I wanted to like it. But I couldn't.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,258 ✭✭✭✭Eoin


    I really can't understand how people hate Catch 22 so much. I can sort of understand why they think it's not an all time classic though.


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,601 ✭✭✭Mal-Adjusted


    Dades wrote: »

    The Bridget Jones' Diary of angsty male teens.
    is that even considered a real novel? i thought it was just a re-doing of Pride & Predudice


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  • Registered Users Posts: 3,601 ✭✭✭Mal-Adjusted


    harry potter and the deathly hallows, the ending was alright, but the first two-thirds was pure rubbish. we don't need everything deatailed down to how many bricks in the wall!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 266 ✭✭Damian Duffy


    IronMan wrote: »
    I found the master and the margarita to be a very difficult read. Like many Russian novels, it may have been down to the translation I read.

    That's my favorite book of all time. I think you need to get the proper translation. It's an unbelievably good book, can't put it into words. As far as I can remember the Vintage Classics version is the bad one but I'll check and edit the post.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 20,649 ✭✭✭✭CDfm


    is that even considered a real novel? i thought it was just a re-doing of Pride & Predudice

    The Brontes and Jane Austen were Victorian Chick Lit

    Now Mary Shelleys Frankenstein is in a completely other league.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 598 ✭✭✭IronMan


    That's my favorite book of all time. I think you need to get the proper translation. It's an unbelievably good book, can't put it into words. As far as I can remember the Vintage Classics version is the bad one but I'll check and edit the post.

    Ya, I picked up the Diana Burgin and Katherine O'Connor translation, and it was a fantastic read. Not the first time a different translation of a novel has made an enormous difference to how a story flows.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8 Sinann


    CDfm wrote: »
    The Brontes and Jane Austen were Victorian Chick Lit

    Now Mary Shelleys Frankenstein is in a completely other league.


    I think the reason Austen and her fellows were so admired has been some what lost at this stage.
    The books were at the time revolutionary.
    They were written by women at a time when women had no rights or voice and they put forward the idea that a woman could choose for herself. What a notion!!!
    Today they read as just soppy love stories but put in the context of their time they were a powder keg.

    That said thank goodness people like Mary Shelley arrived to show women could write more that love stories.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 20,649 ✭✭✭✭CDfm


    Sinann wrote: »

    That said thank goodness people like Mary Shelley arrived to show women could write more that love stories.

    Its a matter of opinion I am not a fan of Dickens either. Wuthering Heights is awful and mostly because the narrative style gets in the way of the story. The same could be said about James Joyce. Is unpickupable a word?

    I do agree with you on Mary Shelley - exceptionally gifted and far better then the other women and men writting around her.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 602 ✭✭✭Bugnug


    hatful wrote: »
    +1 The Sea John Banville was very hard going for very little reward.

    Yes the sea, tried three times and got almost half way on the third attempt but I just couldnt do it, terrible.

    Liked the catcher in the rye though.

    Just reading Life of Pi, great stuff.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,282 ✭✭✭Slugs


    The Twilight series. What a load of putrile sh1te. I'm never going near them again. I have a feeling I lost iq points reading it...


  • Registered Users Posts: 307 ✭✭Orlaladuck


    Slugs wrote: »
    The Twilight series. What a load of putrile sh1te. I'm never going near them again. I have a feeling I lost iq points reading it...

    I was just wondering where the hell is Stephanie Meyer's atrocity! I have 13 year old illiterate cousins who can write a better book than her. Her writing style is awful, she abuses the thesaurus and then all her characters are Mary Sues! I saw an article in the Independent two weeks ago 'it's promoting chastity!' as well as waiting for 'The One' that's not human, bestiality, pedophilia And abusive relationships.

    Also Pride and Prejudice :cool: Yeuck.


  • Registered Users Posts: 228 ✭✭jimmymal


    Confab wrote: »
    Oryx & Crake by Margaret Atwood. Very derivative and extremely disturbing... not violent, but the content is nasty. I stopped halfway through and tore it up. Sickening stuff.

    oryx & crake was i thought a weak enough first sci fi book from atwood that didn't explore the actual idea enough but certainly not extremely disturbing and nasty. just a good post apocalyptic idea written in a slightly naive way. granted not like her usual stuff but i wouldn't think the material would offend or put off any avid sci fi readers. and remember its only certain type of person who consciously deforms a book.

    like most of you, i didnt like the da vinci code but couldnt put it down and because of this and this only it reminded me of bridget jones diary.
    catch 22 is an amazing book, hilarious and heart-breaking, the sequel(the name of which escapes me) on the other hand is drawn out and very difficult to digest.
    4 classics which i couldn't finish were but have promised to go back to
    1. the trial
    2. crime & punishment
    3. lolita
    4. don quixote


  • Registered Users Posts: 972 ✭✭✭MultiUmm


    I really, really, strongly disliked To Kill a Mockingbird.

    Perhaps I should have given it more of a chance, but I read as far as about page 85 and I packed it in.

    God awful book imo, entirely overrated.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 20,649 ✭✭✭✭CDfm


    jimmymal wrote: »

    catch 22 is an amazing book, hilarious and heart-breaking,

    try good as gold

    4 classics which i couldn't finish were but have promised to go back to
    1. the trial
    2. crime & punishment
    3. lolita
    4. don quixote

    Solitary confinement in san quentin wouldnt force me to reaquaint myself with crime and punishment.

    Didnt like the Trial but the Plague by Camus is great.Mother courage and her Children -a play by Brecht is another great read if you want to cover the same ground.

    The Old Man and the Sea must be on any list of stonkers and deserves a place alongside the writtings of Checkov or Ibsen.

    brrrr- hey you could burn the books without feeling guilty.


  • Registered Users Posts: 228 ✭✭jimmymal


    CDfm wrote: »
    brrrr- hey you could burn the books without feeling guilty.

    this has some truth to it but make sure there's no-one with a camera around just in case you happen to be waving to a passer by like all these people...

    http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/bookburn.htm

    also just remembered a couple more
    drab andy mcnab.... with 2nd or even 3rd rate action thrillers
    zadie smith..... cant believe i wasted so much time and took away so little

    ive recently read old man and the sea and to kill a mocking bird and lapped both of them up very eagerly. but then a day in the life of ivan denisovich is one of my favorite books...


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 746 ✭✭✭Vim Fuego


    I'm going to put in another vote for 'We need to talk about Kevin'. That was a huge struggle to finish, even if the ending is 'satisfying', it goes nowhere for a long time and the main character is a detestable shrew.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18,150 ✭✭✭✭Malari


    Vim Fuego wrote: »
    I'm going to put in another vote for 'We need to talk about Kevin'. That was a huge struggle to finish, even if the ending is 'satisfying', it goes nowhere for a long time and the main character is a detestable shrew.

    I loved that book :) It's in my top 5. I really identified with the main character (probably because I hate children) and thought it really portrayed the kind of argument that couples have without really saying what's bothering them.

    I recently read Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks and thought it was incredibly disappointing. The main character in that was someone I never really got to know and didn't care at all what happened to him by the end of it.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,598 ✭✭✭Sconsey


    Slaughterhouse 5 - just finished it, muck, that's the second (and last) Vonnengut book I will ever read, didn't like Breakfast of Champions either.
    I read it based on all the recommendations on this board, I just don't get it, loads of other books I've read based on recommendations I loved but Vonnengut just does not do it for me at all.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 6,488 ✭✭✭Denerick


    Although I didn't hate it, I'd have to say that 'Brave New World' gets my goat. Its not written well and the dystopia isn't particularly dystopian. And it was dull. Huxley has written far better books but he will always be remembered as a dystopian writer! Not fair!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,745 ✭✭✭Eliot Rosewater


    I never really did understand the hype about Brave New World. Its strikes me as a poor mans 1984.

    @Sconsey: I'm sorry you didn't like Slaughterhouse 5. I kind of feel responsible :D Even after I read it I said to people "if the someone didn't get the book their liable to hate it." Its also probably down to your personal taste; I liked Breakfast of Champions too. They're not very conventional books in fairness.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 20,649 ✭✭✭✭CDfm


    I never really did understand the hype about Brave New World. Its strikes me as a poor mans 1984.
    .
    #

    I agree but its got a better title


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,154 ✭✭✭Flex


    "Tuesdays with Morrie" by Mitch Albom. Didnt enjoy it at all and
    thought the ending was terrible
    . His other book "The Five People You Meet in Heavan" on the other hand I thought was excellent and far better. Dont get why people thought "Tuesdays with Morrie" was so excellent.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 92 ✭✭zesman


    The Catcher in the Rye, I just couldn't see what all the fuss was about.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 585 ✭✭✭Stella777


    Orhan Pamuk:
    I've tried so many times to finish even one of his books but I never manage. I think I have an above average attention span and I've been to Turkey several times and have always been interested in the culture and history there, but something about his writing style just doesn't click with me. It's like he's trying too hard to show how well read and intellectual he is and forgets he's writing a novel.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 6,488 ✭✭✭Denerick


    Stella777 wrote: »
    Orhan Pamuk:
    I've tried so many times to finish even one of his books but I never manage. I think I have an above average attention span and I've been to Turkey several times and have always been interested in the culture and history there, but something about his writing style just doesn't click with me. It's like he's trying too hard to show how well read and intellectual he is and forgets he's writing a novel.

    I thought Snow and White Castle were fantastic. Unfortunately 'The New Life' was a pile of dung, and I couldn't get past the first 100 pages. I wouldn't agree that he's too intellectual, but his writing style is quirky. Snow is one of his easier read novels, I'd recommend reading that.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,345 ✭✭✭Dunjohn


    I've spent the last year or so starting, quitting, and restarting Romance of the Three Kingdoms. It's so densely-packed with unfamiliar Chinese names and characters whose history is built up - usually with more Chinese names - only for them to be cut in half in the next paragraph, and never mentioned again, that I just can't keep everything straight in my head.

    I don't hate it. I will beat it some day. I just might need help from MSExcel.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 3,601 ✭✭✭Mal-Adjusted


    anything by that &%£*$...person...Celia Ahern...and believe it or not, for no other reason that she just isn't any good!


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