post your unpopular literature opinions?

I find Villette a far superior book to Jane Eyre.

As for Rochester - where do you even start with Rochester? He takes up with one mistress after another and casts them aside as soon as they start to 'disgust' him, which they pretty soon do, as women are not supposed to be 'sexual'. He uses the words 'unchaste' and 'disgusting' about his first wife so this is a safe assumption. Wife 1 is both passionate and tempestuous: her fiery nature and sexuality are the only symptoms which enable him (a doctor?) to diagnose her as mad, one of a family of 'idiots and maniacs', and shove her under lock and key into his attic. He's horrible to his daughter and blames her for her mother's flightiness. In short, he takes up with exactly the sort of women who sexually attract him and then blames them for their sexiness.

Then there's the callous treatment of Blanche Ingram, courting her to make Jane jealous and then telling her he's really poor, so she'll change her mind about marrying him (women of her background didn't really have much option than to survive economically through marriage). Even Jane strongly admonishes him for his treatment of all these women, yet ends up marrying him anyway.

But yeah. Wanker.

Yes. Lord of the Rings being a case in point.

This is a book review I completely agree with 🤣

The Catcher in the Rye is self indulgent pish.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez is sooo tedious he is unreadable. See also JRR Tolkien - yawn…

Totally agree. The whole plot is ludicrous, she is an idiot - she makes herself destitute by not taking the money she earned then finds herself on her cousin’s doorstep (or something similar, I have not subjected myself to this book for years). Would have been an entirely better book if she had caught consumption in the first chapter and died so she didn’t get 300 pages of mimsy moral superiority.

I disagree. By the end of the book the power imbalance in that relationship has done a massive shift - Jane is able bodied, has money and family. Rochester is nearly blind, has lost his lovely home and everyone knows there was a madwoman in the attic - plus he's wholly dependent on her emotionally and physically.

Not sure about the wanker bit. Entitled rich bloke used to getting what he wants around women acts like entitled rich bloke used to getting what he wants around women.

Greygardenz
Charlotte Brontë's Villette is the dullest book ever

Noooo!!! It's my favourite Charlotte Brontë book especially when you discover that it's semi-autobiographical

Oh yes. The bleakness and despair stayed with me, it was so well done. Marvellous book.

The film of Corelli's mandolin was utter shite compared to the book!!!!

Yep. Harry Potter, Jonathan Strange And Mr Norrell, The English Patient, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, A Pale Blue Eye..

Jane Eyre was a doormat and Rochester was a wanker

Some films are actually better than the books they're based on

Noooo!!! It's my favourite Charlotte Brontë book especially when you discover that it's semi-autobiographical

If you read very early McEwan, the short stories (In Between the Sheets collection, I think) then you will understand that comment.

I really dislike Helen Oyeyemi’s White is for Witching. It was disjointed and annoying, and I gave up after a few chapters. No idea if her other books are equally muddled, but I am not tempted to read them. 😝

Both Margaret Atwooc and The Handmaid's Tale are massively overrated.

As is Hilary Mantel, some of her earlier books are just dreadful

Chaucer is very entertaining.

But no, JA definitely wouldn’t have married them! The idea!

Bronte only marries Jane Eyre to Rochester after he’s been blinded and maimed and turned into a recluse, though, while Jane has found herself a family, an home, and an inheritance.

I mean, I don’t disagree that Rochester is an utter bastard (people often forget that he isn’t even going to marry Jane bigamously initially, but is just planning to seduce his powerless teenage employee), but I think CB isn’t blind to the problematics and very obviously weakens the Gothic rake and strengthens the friendless orphan governess.

I adore Jane Austen but think she should have written Mrs Norris with a bit more compassion.

Marian Keyes is very overrated.

Eleanor Oliphant was dreadful old rubbish. Why so many people rave about it is beyond me.

I think the reason it's famous is because it made a good film.

Anyone who thinks Austen is a romantic needs to re-read the books. She is a stone-cold realist - far less of a romantic than her male contemporaries or the Brontes (Austen would never have married Jane Eyre to Rochester - a disaster in the making).

Emma is funny and very perceptive. I prefer Northanger Abbey though.

To people who compare Cold Comfort Farm to I Capture the Castle, maybe on eccentricity but I couldn’t stomach the Starkadders or Brother of the More Famous Jack.

DM used to dislike me reading Enid Blyton as a child (she says the opposite now!) but I loved them all.

I couldn’t get on with Wolf Hall either and find some of Mantel’s books to be readable and others, dross.

I’ve never really got on with Dickens either.

Another classic I’ve tried and failed to read is Hesse’s The Glass Bead Game, must’ve tried 3 times.

Moby Dick is a piece of boring crap and the only reason it's famous is because Americans like to think they can write good books and always have been able to.

It's boring. In the Heart of the Sea, which is about the 'real' story, is much better.