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Original poster

Most overrated books

539 replies

Snowfalling · 11/06/2019 22:34

I'll probably get flamed for some of these choices but here's my list:

  1. Brick lane by Monica Ali. So badly written and researched, i was embarrassed for the author, as I'm from a similar background to her.
  1. The God of small things. There was one sentence that was repeated over and over again to the point of toe curling cringe. Something about the twin's hair bobbing. Also generally didn't enjoy the writing or plot. Just absolute crap. I don't get the adulation for this at all.
  1. Anything by Maggie o'Farrell or Kate Atkinson. I know people love them both, i just don't get it.
  1. Sophie Hannah's more recent books are just dire. The earlier ones were great.
  1. Catch 22. Just gibberish. You probably have to be drugged up to enjoy it.

I'm sure I'll think of more.

So which books do you think are overrated?

OP posts:
Bignicetree · 14/06/2019 00:06

What a mean spirited thread

RiversDisguise · 14/06/2019 00:09

I had zero expectations of Her Fearful Symmetry and enjoyed it.

A follow up novel I was genuinely disappointed by though was Nicole Krauss's "The Great House." I adored her first novel "A History of Love" so much. TGH lacked convincing characters and there was no payoff for the reader at all.

EnthusiasmIsDisturbed · 14/06/2019 00:10

Not heard of that book Bignicetree

But should I come across it I shall remember to not bother reading it thanks

MLMhun · 14/06/2019 00:16

Anything by Sophie Kinsella is pure utter shit.

Bl3ss3dm0m · 14/06/2019 00:17

Almost anything by Shakespeare! I need a teacher AND a contemporary 'help' book to understand what the heck he is going on about, so school Shakespeare was enough for me Blush

moofolk · 14/06/2019 00:20

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath.

Just wound me up the main character is so annoying. I just wanted to shake her and put her in the bath.

echt · 14/06/2019 00:39

Couldn't agree more about The Bell Jar. As an aside, quite a number of of students I've taught this to felt impatience with it too, especially the second half. I'm scrupulous about not saying what a pile of shite a text is when teaching, because students get no choice.

AzraiL · 14/06/2019 01:33

Loved a Secret History and The Little Friend. I echo the others in that The Goldfinch was hard to finish. I will try The Pageant Christmas next.

Oh and Anna Karenina. Hated it.

Praguemum · 14/06/2019 02:03

Ulysses by James Joyce. Utter shite.

PregnantSea · 14/06/2019 05:50

The Hardy Potter books. Can't stand them. The films are ok as a generic family film fall back choice for Christmas or something.

sashh · 14/06/2019 06:15

White Teeth - totally implausible set of stories intertwined like uncooked spaghetti.

We've got to talk about Kevin - loads of tosh, and the 'surprise' of the author's husband being dead, well did anyone think otherwise after chapter 1?

Anything by Dan Brown, I wasn't expecting much but even that disappointed me. I'm possibly on the ASD spectrum and one of my 'things' is inaccuracy. I KNOW you cannot glance out of a window in the Louvre and see both the Eiffel tower and Montmartre.

The stand I sort of enjoyed but one thing that annoyed me, every male character could ride a motorbike, no female can. Not until she has been shown how to by a man.

echt · 14/06/2019 06:32

What a mean spirited thread

It's about books, how trash your fat friends.

XXcstatic · 14/06/2019 07:32

What a mean spirited thread

Is that you, Ian McEwan?

ginghamtablecloths · 14/06/2019 07:40

Birdsong - DH thought it the best book he'd ever read but not for me.

All Quiet on the Western Front.
Don Quixote.

ginghamtablecloths · 14/06/2019 07:41

The Miniaturist.

BettyUnderswoob · 14/06/2019 07:46

Haha, no Ian McEwan wouldn’t give a damn about what we plebs think. He just knows he’s a literary genius.

I used to like him, a few decades ago, but he’s gone so much more wanky in recent years. The last one I tried to read of his - Saturday - the main character had done nothing in the first 6 pages or so but walk from his bed to the window. It was described like some sort of aesthetic experience or something.
Navel gazing wank.

Bumper1969 · 14/06/2019 08:29

Love the idea of Hardy Potter , Wizards of Wessex

Mmmmdanone · 14/06/2019 08:39

The hundred year old man who etc etc. So boring!

Wingingit247 · 14/06/2019 09:05

50 Shades of Grey - repetitive and unimaginative drivel, I made it to the end by doing A LOT of skipping and speed reading. Pretty sure I didn't miss anything.

CassianAndor · 14/06/2019 09:12

why do people keep mentioning 50 Shades? Surely it was never actually 'rated'?

RiversDisguise · 14/06/2019 09:14

Same with Dan Brown

Nobody likes it but the public

Wingingit247 · 14/06/2019 09:19

I guess it depends on your interpretation of 'rated' which I took to mean hype basically. Media approval, much positive publicity, friends saying how good it was, film (also bollocks) made of it....

CassianAndor · 14/06/2019 09:23

ah right. Rated to me means critically acclaimed. Hence all the Booker winners and classics.

Wingingit247 · 14/06/2019 09:27

I stand corrected. Silly me!

Deadringer · 14/06/2019 09:56

[puts head above parapet]
Whispers
i enjoyed the da Vinci code