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Most overrated book

1235789

Comments

  • #122
    Ardent
    Registered Users Posts: 5,275 ✭✭✭Ardent


    The Da Vinci Code. My 6 year old could write something with more substance.


  • #123
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 48,234 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    hardly overrated, though? you don't pick up the da vinci code expecting much.


  • #124
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭[Deleted User]


    The catcher in the rye was brutal..
    The tattooist of Auschwitz.. just so badly written..
    A man called Ove.. same..


  • #125
    pajosjunkbox
    Registered Users Posts: 371 ✭✭pajosjunkbox


    I just finished A man called Ove this morning. Sweet Jesus ... It was rubbish. Started Say Nothing straight after. The first chapter was more interesting than the whole Ove book !


  • #126
    KrustyBurger
    Registered Users Posts: 221 ✭✭KrustyBurger


    The first book I put down halfway through....Lord of the rings. Absolutely hated it. Still do. A masterpiece by all accounts but not my cup of tea at all. I thought that it was far too padded with needlessly long-winded descriptions.


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  • #127
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 48,234 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    the fellowship of the ring is not for non-fans, he started it without knowing where the book was going. unsurprisingly, probably the book with the most left out when peter jackson made the movie.


  • #128
    tritriagain
    Registered Users Posts: 1,156 ✭✭✭tritriagain


    KrustyBurger wrote: »
    The first book I put down halfway through....Lord of the rings. Absolutely hated it. Still do. A masterpiece by all accounts but not my cup of tea at all. I thought that it was far too padded with needlessly long-winded descriptions.

    Tried it three times. Gave up in more or less the same place each time. Just found it so boring.


  • #129
    Still waters
    Registered Users Posts: 1,166 ✭✭✭Still waters


    The alchemist and the book thief


  • #130
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭[Deleted User]


    Star of the Sea by Joseph O’Connor. Rambling, disjointed and not very interesting.


  • #131
    TheAnalyst_
    Registered Users Posts: 1,371 ✭✭✭TheAnalyst_


    The Alchemist.

    Complete bollocks that is lapped up by certain types.


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  • #132
    Hello 2D Person Below
    Registered Users Posts: 13,755 ✭✭✭✭Hello 2D Person Below


    The Alchemist is a good shout. Unadulterated drivel.


  • #133
    minnow
    Registered Users Posts: 201 ✭✭minnow


    One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel García Márquez.

    Ridiculously long drivel about multiple generations of a family.....oh and most of them have the same name.


  • #134
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 48,234 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    minnow wrote: »
    Ridiculously long drivel about multiple generations of a family.....oh and most of them have the same name.
    sounds like the perfect irish novel.


  • #135
    thefasteriwalk
    Registered Users Posts: 565 ✭✭✭thefasteriwalk


    Despite liking all his other works, I did not enjoy Steinbeck’s The Pearl. But then parables are my least favourite types of stories.

    I like most of the books mentioned here already. Haven’t read Normal People. I know myself too well.


  • #136
    Ardent
    Registered Users Posts: 5,275 ✭✭✭Ardent


    magicbastarder wrote: »
    hardly overrated, though? you don't pick up the da vinci code expecting much.

    Correct, but it sold in absolute droves.


  • #137
    Muscles Schultz
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 302 ✭✭Muscles Schultz


    minnow wrote: »
    One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel García Márquez.

    Ridiculously long drivel about multiple generations of a family.....oh and most of them have the same name.

    Ah stop.


  • #138
    New Home
    Moderators, Arts Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 76,325 Mod ✭✭✭✭New Home


    Anything I've ever read (not by choice, they were gifts) by Cecelia Ahern was waaaaaaay overrated. On the other hand, I did like A man called Ove a lot, it's a lovely little story, but I wouldn't consider it literature in any way, shape or form.


  • #139
    pajosjunkbox
    Registered Users Posts: 371 ✭✭pajosjunkbox


    I felt the premise of the book A man called Ove was good but it was written like it's audience was 14 year olds. The characters were very black and white and cliched when in reality characters are much more complex . I would have liked if the characters were developed more and it had a bit more substance.


  • #140
    Mick McGraw
    Closed Accounts Posts: 73 ✭✭Mick McGraw


    Moby Dick is absolutely dreadful.If I wanted to read a textbook about whaling in New England in the 19th century I'd have bought one.I really hated it.


  • #141
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭[Deleted User]


    Peig.


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  • #142
    JustAThought
    Registered Users Posts: 5,323 ✭✭✭JustAThought


    [Deleted User] wrote: »
    Peig.

    i din’t think many outside the Department of Education were raving about Peig.

    The Book Thief was cery underwhelming.

    Ditto the Wonder by Emma O Donaghue and The Essex Serpent.


    Also nowadays anything by Darina Allen - the convicted pawdophile lover. It’s hard to enjoy a book knowing the profits are funding a family whose hobbies involve supporting the mutilation and rape of babies and children.


  • #143
    r93kaey5p2izun
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,962 ✭✭✭r93kaey5p2izun


    JustAThought wrote: »
    i din’t think many outside the Department of Education were raving about Peig.

    The Book Thief was cery underwhelming.

    Ditto the Wonder by Emma O Donaghue and The Essex Serpent.


    Also nowadays anything by Darina Allen - the convicted pawdophile lover. It’s hard to enjoy a book knowing the profits are funding a family whose hobbies involve supporting the mutilation and rape of babies and children.

    Do you mean wonder by RJ Palacio, or Room by Emma O'Donoghue?

    I think Room is good. Wonder is definitely overrated.


  • #144
    Joe_ Public
    Registered Users Posts: 13,023 ✭✭✭✭Joe_ Public


    The Wonder by Emma O'Donohue. Haven't read anything else of hers, but i thought that one was very ordinary.


  • #145
    r93kaey5p2izun
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,962 ✭✭✭r93kaey5p2izun


    Joe_ Public wrote: »
    The Wonder by Emma O'Donohue. Haven't read anything else of hers, but i thought that one was very ordinary.

    Not familiar with it. Will put it on my list.


  • #146
    All that fandango
    Registered Users Posts: 329 ✭✭All that fandango


    How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. Wow, what a disappointing book, same mumbo jumbo repeated on every page. Very boring and not very engaging.


  • #147
    CrankyHaus
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,281 ✭✭✭CrankyHaus


    I think people are confusing overrated books with books that they just didn't like.

    The example given by the OP was one from an acclaimed author, with major PR backing from the publisher and the glowing reviews, blurbs and awards that that "purchases". As a result if it's actually a poor book (I have no idea if Beatlebone is but from the premise I wouldn't be surprised) nobody admits it, for fear of looking out of step with the Zeitgeist. But the readers know, and after initially strong sales based on marketing the book doesn't have the high sustained sales based on word of mouth that a genuinely good book does.

    You can't really put Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale in that category as it's been consistently popular for decades.


  • #148
    bodyguard1
    Registered Users Posts: 127 ✭✭bodyguard1


    The Bible........he dies in the end ! Oh sorry if I ruined it for anyone who hasn't read it yet, but then there is another surprise in the Sequel !


  • #149
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 48,234 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    CrankyHaus wrote: »
    I think people are confusing overrated books with books that they just didn't like.
    are you saying that the handmaid's tale is an example of a genuinely overrated book, or just one that some people don't like?


  • #150
    PowerToWait
    Registered Users Posts: 1,773 ✭✭✭PowerToWait


    There's a general policy of over rating Irish authors in Ireland. Kevin Barry, Joseph O'Connor, Colum McCann, John Boyne, that lad from Wexford, have all written some terribly self indulgent muck, but not one critic will ever, ever criticise these sacred cows. Which is unfortunate.

    The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas was simply massively overrated.
    Everything by Joseph O'Connor is terrible. Kevin Barry similarly way overrated.


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  • #151
    CrankyHaus
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,281 ✭✭✭CrankyHaus


    magicbastarder wrote: »
    are you saying that the handmaid's tale is an example of a genuinely overrated book, or just one that some people don't like?


    The latter.


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