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Books that lived up to the hype

71 replies

petronella23 · 20/04/2024 19:36

Inspired by another thread about books that didn't live up to the hype, what about ones that did?

Any books that were really hyped or popular that you thought totally deserved it?

Mine are Gone Girl and Secret History.

OP posts:
thismummydrinksgin · 21/04/2024 22:29

Following

FancyBiscuitsLevel · 21/04/2024 22:28

Low brow - the Thursday Murder Club. Good plotted cosy murder mystery with likeable and “real” feeling characters. I was sure it would be crap as normally celeb book’s disappoint.

Dollenganger333 · 21/04/2024 22:28

The Secret History
Memoirs of a Geisha

yoozer16427942 · 21/04/2024 22:21

Older one but always heard people rave about But Beautiful by Geoff Dyer, finally read it and it was perfection

bigdecisionstomake · 21/04/2024 21:38

Small Island
A Little Life
Wolf Hall - if you could keep up with all the Thomases

Also, read The Island while in Crete last year, including a trip to Spinalonga - loved this book (my mum hyped it up to me before I went) except the ending which I thought was a bit of an anti-climax.

Greeneyegirl · 21/04/2024 21:17

Normal People
This is going to hurt

Teacherprebaby · 21/04/2024 21:07

Don't bother with Yellowface 😴

Teacherprebaby · 21/04/2024 21:07

A Little Life
The Beesting
How to kill your family
Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine
The Rosie Project

LostittoBostik · 21/04/2024 21:00

AchillesHeelys · 21/04/2024 20:20

Yellowface
American Dirt
Girl Woman Other
The Light Between Oceans
Song of Achilles
Circe
The Nightingale
The Thursday Murder Club
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Shuggie Bain
Educated

I have a few of these to get to on my shelves. Exciting.

LostittoBostik · 21/04/2024 20:50

Allthatwegotisthispalebluedot · 21/04/2024 12:03

Gone girl - yes! It is absolutely great. Easy to read and absolutely compelling. Really enjoyable.

I know it received a pasting on the ‘overhyped’ thread but I thought Demon Copperhead lived up to the hype too. I loved it.

Am reading Demon Copperhead now. It's astonishingly good. Very glad I went for it.

Chickenwing2 · 21/04/2024 20:48

Verity. It's famous because of TikTok but was absolutely fantastic.

SevenSeasOfRhye · 21/04/2024 20:25

An old one and not fiction: Wild Swans by Jung Chang. Everyone was reading it and talking about it when it came out, I didn't think it would be my thing, but I was given a copy as a present and loved it, I still re-read it regularly.

Cathbrownlow · 21/04/2024 20:23

Small Island - Andrea Levy. Absolutely beautifully written.

AchillesHeelys · 21/04/2024 20:20

Yellowface
American Dirt
Girl Woman Other
The Light Between Oceans
Song of Achilles
Circe
The Nightingale
The Thursday Murder Club
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Shuggie Bain
Educated

ABirdsEyeView · 21/04/2024 20:07

Taste is subjective so I guess there's rarely going to be consensus as to what constitutes a 'good' or 'bad' book

Allthatwegotisthispalebluedot · 21/04/2024 19:52

SilverBranchGoldenPears · 21/04/2024 12:34

Hahahaha funnily enough I thought Gone Girl was utter tosh, unsuitable for anything other than a really bad train ride where nothing else is available.

I agree on a Gentleman in Moscow.
The latest Cormac McCarthys. Wonderful.

Noooooo gone girl was great.

Have not read the latest CMC but I did really like The Road when I read it many years ago so maybe I’ll give it a go.

Allthatwegotisthispalebluedot · 21/04/2024 19:50

EggChair · 21/04/2024 14:01

But exactly the same titles just appeared on the current thread about ‘disappointing or overhyped’ books, and they’re largely the exact same types of novels aimed at people who don’t read a lot or with much discrimination. Can I ask again, who is ‘hyping’ them? Where is it you are seeing all this hype? Who or what is exciting expectations that then weren’t fulfilled?

Why do people post this shit on these threads? Who do you think is hyping these books up? Obviously it’s best seller lists and recommended reads on socials and in stores and people in book clubs or at work or you see a lot of people reading them on the tube or they are reviewed in newspapers.

why are these comments always prefaced with the implication that those who read these books ‘don’t read a lot’? Do YOU not read a lot (of newspapers or best seller lists or book recommendations). Do you not go outside or talk to people at work or receive reccomendations from friends or read reviews on good reads or booktok or Instagram. Like comeeeeee on.

(I read LOADS btw). 😂

EatCrow · 21/04/2024 19:29

I don’t remember it being hyped and it’s an old book but Green Darkness by Anya Seton, my favourite all time book,

walnutcoffeecake · 21/04/2024 19:27

A book of silence by sara maitland.

JasmineTea11 · 21/04/2024 19:18

We Need to talk about Kevin was quite hyped and rightly so IMO, whatever people think about Shriver these days. Very moving.

40somethingme · 21/04/2024 18:56

Anna Karenina. Wonderful book

WhiteLeopard · 21/04/2024 18:29

@EggChair Well, for example in the case of Demon Copperhead, it won the Women's Prize for Fiction and the Pulitzer Prize, so I guess that's where a lot of the hype came from. I think Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow won various awards too.

LenaLamont · 21/04/2024 18:23

Right, got you.

Personally, I see the hype in the weekly Waterstones newsletter, in Facebook and other adverts, and on Good Reads.

There’s also reviews in the paper or on podcasts and recommendations from many friends in book groups that buy books marketed to that demographic. (I maxed out on book groups some years back but I’m still in touch with my friends from those days).

And of course from seeing new books from writers I value - I’ve already got Pat Barker and Lissa Evans’s new books on my wish list.

Then there are adverts on bus stops and train stations broadening awareness of The Latest Thing, or talk of a Netflix/Apple TV series sparking more interest… the usual sort of stuff.

EggChair · 21/04/2024 16:52

LenaLamont · 21/04/2024 16:44

Yep, it's going to be the same books, inevitably.

For example, I think Hamnet, The Poisonwood Bible, Wolf Hall, Demon Copperhead and Tomorrowx3 were all worthy of their hype, while Gone Girl and everything by Donna Tart are bloody awful. Crawdads had beautiful nature writing and a collossally stupid ending plus awful poetry.

As to who's hyping them - mostly the publishers and their marketing departments, while a hefty degree those who run media "book clubs" as well.

Show quote history

No, my question is exactly how people encounter ‘hype’. Obviously a publisher’s job is to sell as many copies as possible, just as if were cars, or ready meals, or detergents, but surely people grasp that doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with the merit of the detergent, car, or book? It’s just advertising.

And the same for Richard and Judy/Oprah /Reese Witherspoon/ whoever. I mean, they’re not people whose opinion of a book I’d take seriously…? I certainly wouldn’t assume that something featured in their book clubs was likely to be any better than a book that wasn’t.

LenaLamont · 21/04/2024 16:44

EggChair · 21/04/2024 14:01

But exactly the same titles just appeared on the current thread about ‘disappointing or overhyped’ books, and they’re largely the exact same types of novels aimed at people who don’t read a lot or with much discrimination. Can I ask again, who is ‘hyping’ them? Where is it you are seeing all this hype? Who or what is exciting expectations that then weren’t fulfilled?

Yep, it's going to be the same books, inevitably.

For example, I think Hamnet, The Poisonwood Bible, Wolf Hall, Demon Copperhead and Tomorrowx3 were all worthy of their hype, while Gone Girl and everything by Donna Tart are bloody awful. Crawdads had beautiful nature writing and a collossally stupid ending plus awful poetry.

As to who's hyping them - mostly the publishers and their marketing departments, while a hefty degree those who run media "book clubs" as well.