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Overrated Books

posted a year ago by ClementinaSpur (888)
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Which books that have received accolades and hype thoroughly disappointed you? If you'd like, also tell why you disliked them.

Mine are:

Wuthering Heights - Heathcliff and Catherine are intensely unlikable and the way the story is presented is weird

The Joy Luck Club - just a big snooze fest outside of a couple of moments that I can't even remember now but remember thinking were okay in the moment

Where the Crawdads Sing - where do I even begin with this one......it was a sign it took me nearly two months to finish such a less-than-complex read

This topic is over on the Books board, but there's zero traffic there.

[–] [deleted] a year ago

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

Granted, I've only read it once a long time ago and I can't believe that it's that terrible considering the praise it gets but I just don't know if I'll go back and give it another shot.

[–] mikethemartian (6287) a year ago

I started reading that book when I entered college in my late teens but stopped because he was criticizing Sir Isaac Newton’s perspective on nature and Newton is the historical figure I have the most interest in.

[–] bobbydallas (8213) a year ago

Fifty Shades of Grey

[–] samoanjoes (53117) a year ago

In the Heat of the Night.

[–] beantown23 (1438) a year ago

The Da Vinci Code

[–] Boromir (9724) a year ago

Agree

[–] Otter (24464) a year ago

I thoroughly enjoyed "The Davinci Code" and its predecessor "Angels and Demons"! I don't think they're great books or anything, but there's a difference between good and fun and I appreciate both. The subsequent books in the series were godawful, though.

And agree with the OP that "Wuthering Heights" is horrible, just painful to read. But "Jane Eyre" is genuinely enjoyable for all its flaws, so the Brontes aren't a complete loss to the modern middlebrow.

[–] beantown23 (1438) a year ago

I think I was expecting more as it came highly recommended by a respected customer. He made it seem it was a book I had to read.

[–] Otter (24464) a year ago

I would actually recommend it, but as a "summer read", not anything to be taken seriously. When I praised it back in the day some of my more serious friends used to give me the side-eye, and I'd defend the book by saying the author "... makes art history fun!".

But yeah, people took it seriously for a while. Go figure.

[–] HarveyManFredSin (4877) a year ago

Wuthering Heights
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> The DaVinci Code

FUCK and I mean FUUUUUUUUUCCKKKKKKKKKKKK philstinism. 😠

[–] ClementinaSpur (888) a year ago

Agree that Jane Eyre makes me turn pages without feeling forced!

[–] Otter (24464) a year ago

"Jane Eyre" is nearly as delightful as Jane Austen and Charles Dickens!

And I swear, those are about the only 19th century English-language books that people still read for fun.

[–] ClementinaSpur (888) a year ago

Fully agree on both points. Have you ever read anything by Elizabeth Gaskell? She was a 19th century author, and Dickens was her editor. Her work is totally worth a read.

[–] Otter (24464) a year ago

No, I haven't. Do her works have a sense of humor?

[–] ClementinaSpur (888) a year ago

Yes, they do, but it's a subtle humor.

[–] HarveyManFredSin (4877) a year ago

Dickens annoys me. He deals with some fascinating themes, but his books are riddled with two-dimensional characters (i.e. perfect virtuous victims and ugly monstrous villains, which make moden Hollywood movies seem 'subtle'), and some quite nasty anti-Semitism and ableism.

[–] nyctc7 (42017) a year ago

I also liked The Da Vinci Code. But the movie was a disappointment.

[–] Otter (24464) a year ago

Agree about the movie. It was passable, no more, and the sequels went from bad to didn't-even-bother.

[–] davodikum (6007) a year ago

Have you read digital fortress or deception point?

[–] Otter (24464) a year ago

Sorry, no.

[–] davodikum (6007) a year ago

Worth a read

[–] Otter (24464) a year ago

Why.

[–] davodikum (6007) a year ago

They aren't my favourite books, but they are entertaining. So in answer to your question, entertainment, I guess. I think they are both better than the davinci code, which I thought was still definitely readable.

[–] DoctorThirteen (11641) a year ago

Those two are sitting on my shelf for a read at some point.

[–] davodikum (6007) a year ago

I read them both in the same day. I'd say deception point is a little bit better, plot is just a tad more fascinating, aliens, NASA, intrigue and the like. But both are fun quick reads. Not saying they aren't pulpy poppy schlock, but sometimes that's what you need.

[–] DoctorThirteen (11641) a year ago

'Not saying they aren't pulpy poppy schlock, but sometimes that's what you need.'

Definitely!

[–] ShogunofYonkers (73751) a year ago

Jaws by Peter Benchley was a fairly good novel that was made into one of my favorite movies ever.

The novel went into the weeds with an adultery subplot and a Mafia chapter that didn’t need to be included.

[–] nyctc7 (42017) a year ago

Master and Commander
I recently tried for the second time to get into this novel, and I just couldn't. I love historical fiction but I just can't get into this book. Dull.

A Game of Thrones
Love the HBO GOT, but couldn't get into the book. Moves at a snail's pace.

Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Multiple attempts but could never get into it. I'm not prepared to say it's overrated, though. Maybe it's just not my taste in books.

[–] HarveyManFredSin (4877) a year ago

Agreed about Lord of the Rings. I'm sure Tolkien is a genius, but I really find little depth and meaning to these stories, and the characters are quite basic. It's all very complex and convoluted in its world-building, to little true profundity.

However, I find the opposite with the Song of Ice and Fire novels, which have the complexity, nuance, intrigue and shades of grey, I find missing from a lot of 'high fantasy' writing.

[–] ClementinaSpur (888) a year ago

It's funny you mention Master and Commander. A work colleague said to me just this week he couldn't put them down. He admits he never reads, but he loved that series.

I trust your assessment.

[–] nyctc7 (42017) a year ago

It is a series that has proved very popular over the years...but not for me 😄(at least the first book)
As they say, YMMV

[–] Otter (24464) a year ago

Re those books:

"Master and Commander" is the first book in a long series, and most of the sequels are rather better. When I'm trying to seduce people into reading those books, I give them a copy of the 5th book, "Desolation Island". That one stands on its own, and is a cracking good read! One people finish it, they usually go out and start on the rest, and there's no harm in starting that way.

The "Game of Thrones" books get worse as they go along, MUCH worse, so be warned! I loved the first book, the second was a bit slow, the 3rd dragged unbearably, and the rest were just excruciating. The writers of the TV show gave the material in the books the ruthless editing it had needed all along, and found that there was a lot of good solid story under all the wandering prose.

I am incapable of critically judging "Lord of the Rings" and don't want to, it was embedded in my brain while I was far below the age of reason. I just enjoy it uncritically, have for decades, and I can't advise an adult to do the same because no adult can.

[–] nyctc7 (42017) a year ago

Thanks...I'll give Desolation Island a try.

[–] Padeen (6459) a year ago

I had trouble with the first book as well, but eventually fell in love with the series. It's even where my username comes from lol.

[–] DoctorThirteen (11641) a year ago

The Sherlock Holmes stories. I love the idea of the character. I love so many of the film/TV adaptations (especially Basil Rathbone and Jeremy Brett), but I've always found the original books pretty underwhelming. The ideas are good but they never really grip me. The Hound of the Baskervilles was probably the one I enjoyed the most, but I'm a sucker for legends.

[–] ClementinaSpur (888) a year ago

I thought of another entry to the list. Foreign Affairs by Allison Lurie.

How this won the Pulitzer for fiction in 1985 I will never understand. I remember getting to the end and saying to myself "That's all?" It does serve the purpose of encouraging the entire world that they too could write something that earns a Pulitzer!