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Original poster

One hit wonders

44 replies

MoodEnhancer · 19/10/2024 11:49

I’m going through my books today. I have 2 terrible novels by Lionel Shriver, which I bought on the back of We Need to Talk About Kevin - which was brilliant.

It got me thinking - are there other authors where others really loved one book they wrote, but found their other novels dreadful? And what was that author’s one really good book?

Worth adding that I think Lionel Shriver’s other novels are really bad in their own right, not simply because I was expecting better having read something really great. If I had read one or both of them first, I’d never have believed anyone telling me that WNTTAK was good!

OP posts:
Northoftheterritory · 22/10/2024 09:51

I loved the Miniaturist but Jessie Burtons others..... They just awful imo

Bullaun · 22/10/2024 09:49

TitusMoan · 21/10/2024 20:57

Not even Beyond Black?

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I think that remains my slight favourite of her novels, despite it being so horrible in many ways. But I do think the Cromwell trilogy is where she harnessed her own capacity for cruelty as a writer in the service of a humanity. A lot of her earlier work is unrelievedly vicious.

Bullaun · 22/10/2024 09:46

MoodEnhancer · 20/10/2024 15:58

That’s interesting. I’ve never read any of her essays or journalistic output. Is it good?

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No, that’s not really what I mean — though I’m sure her Guardian columns are available online. I mean, the issues are more important than the characters and the setting for her. She thinks ‘I want to write a novel about a school shooter’ or ‘I want to write a novel about being on the tennis tour as a husband and wife pair’ or ‘I want to write a novel about the US healthcare system’. I think she’s a polemicist, really. (And a bit of an oddball. She was a friend of a friend for a while and I met her a few times and didn’t take to her.)

Original poster
MoodEnhancer · 22/10/2024 09:13

DisplayPurposesOnly · 20/10/2024 18:11

Hilary Mantel - technically a three book wonder as the Wolf Hall trilogy is utterly wonderful and sheer genius. Have tried a few of her others and - nope.

I like everything she has written - though I agree Wolf Hall was some of her best writing.

OP posts:
DisplayPurposesOnly · 22/10/2024 07:50

@TitusMoan, @EineReiseDurchDieZeit Yes, have tried both of those.

EineReiseDurchDieZeit · 21/10/2024 21:06

@PeggyMitchellsCameo

We Solve Murders doesn't improve

EineReiseDurchDieZeit · 21/10/2024 21:05

DisplayPurposesOnly · 20/10/2024 18:11

Hilary Mantel - technically a three book wonder as the Wolf Hall trilogy is utterly wonderful and sheer genius. Have tried a few of her others and - nope.

Try A Place Of Greater Safety

TitusMoan · 21/10/2024 20:57

DisplayPurposesOnly · 20/10/2024 18:11

Hilary Mantel - technically a three book wonder as the Wolf Hall trilogy is utterly wonderful and sheer genius. Have tried a few of her others and - nope.

Not even Beyond Black?

GogAndMagog · 20/10/2024 19:41

Sally Rooney - Normal People . The others were dire. Awful characters, dreadful writing.

DisplayPurposesOnly · 20/10/2024 18:11

Hilary Mantel - technically a three book wonder as the Wolf Hall trilogy is utterly wonderful and sheer genius. Have tried a few of her others and - nope.

LetThereBeLove · 20/10/2024 18:07

Eleanor Oliphant Is Absolutely Fine

Sweetpea333 · 20/10/2024 17:49

Donna Tartt. 'The Secret History' was wonderful but the others were meh.

ChessieFL · 20/10/2024 17:46

Kazuo Ishiguro. Loved Never Let Me Go. His others have all been just OK or frankly bizarre.

LunaNorth · 20/10/2024 16:09

I loved The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon. Can’t get past the first three pages of anything else.

PeggyMitchellsCameo · 20/10/2024 16:01

I absolutely adored each book in the Thursday Murder Club series by Richard Osman.
I have tried ‘We Solve Murders’ a few times and I get so far and give up.
I have read lots of wonderful reviews.
Finding it a bit too whacky, I don’t like any of the characters or care about them.
If anybody has really enjoyed it maybe I am missing something?

Original poster
MoodEnhancer · 20/10/2024 15:58

Bullaun · 20/10/2024 11:18

Oh, I misread. I thought from your title you were talking about authors who’d only written a single novel (like Harper Lee or Emily Bronte) or whose other output was entirely in the shadow of that one famous work. But I think what you’re asking is far more subjective, though. Personally, I think Charlotte Bronte’s Villette is a far better novel than her wildly popular Jane Eyre, but I’m probably in a tiny minority.

I agree about Lionel Shriver — but I always think she’s really an essayist/journalist who’s interested in issues, rather than a novelist. WNTTAK was the one work where she was able to marry the two in a way that worked.

That’s interesting. I’ve never read any of her essays or journalistic output. Is it good?

OP posts:
Sethera · 20/10/2024 11:24

The Beach (Alex Garland). 'The Tesseract' was awful. He has had successful films since then but a one hit wonder as far as novels go.

Bullaun · 20/10/2024 11:18

Oh, I misread. I thought from your title you were talking about authors who’d only written a single novel (like Harper Lee or Emily Bronte) or whose other output was entirely in the shadow of that one famous work. But I think what you’re asking is far more subjective, though. Personally, I think Charlotte Bronte’s Villette is a far better novel than her wildly popular Jane Eyre, but I’m probably in a tiny minority.

I agree about Lionel Shriver — but I always think she’s really an essayist/journalist who’s interested in issues, rather than a novelist. WNTTAK was the one work where she was able to marry the two in a way that worked.

TitusMoan · 19/10/2024 14:37

Well.. the classic example is To Kill A Mockingbird.