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Original poster

What puts you off a book immediately?

230 replies

EishetChayil · 23/11/2021 22:04

For me it's opening a book and discovering it's written in the second person. I can't bring myself to read on. It makes me squirm too much. Just about acceptable in a (very) short story, but not a whole novel.

I'm also no fan of epistolary form, if I'm perfectly honest.

OP posts:
MimiDaisy11 · 24/11/2021 00:25

I don’t think I’ve ever come across a book in second person apart from those chose your own adventure children books.

For me over use of similes. I think even clever ones take me out of a story as they’re more clever than actually enhancing my understanding. I also notice cliches like starting a story with the character waking up.

highlandcoo · 24/11/2021 00:24

Oh, and also the refusal to name whatever character is speaking, so that you can be a few pages into a chapter and still not be sure whose voice is being used.
Far too tricksy and try-hard. Just tiring and pointless.

highlandcoo · 24/11/2021 00:21

I am detesting the - increasingly prevalent - use of the continuous present tense. Or any present tense in fact. It is never satisfactorily conveying tension, immediacy or whatever else the author is presumably aiming for. It is usually just jarring terribly and is preventing me from enjoying the book.

Ladyrattles · 23/11/2021 22:54

When you get too much of a background info dump in the first few paragraphs

Thehistorygirls · 23/11/2021 22:51

Any kind of punctuation tricks, with a particular hatred of missing inverted commas. I tolerated it in Normal People but I think it never improves a book, often makes it worse and is almost always literary showing off.