Disappointing Bestsellers

[LittlleMy]

Hello everyone 🙂

I just wondered if anyone else has bought a ‘bestseller’ that otherwise wouldn’t have appealed without that status only to be hugely disappointed?

So I realise I’m slightly late to the party but I just finished ‘The Housemaid’ by Freida McFadden and it was such a struggle to get through! It felt more like it was written for the Young Adult market. Barely any descriptive text, always telling rather than showing, ridiculous coincidences, underdeveloped characters, juvenile writing especially sentences like ‘’there was something about that room that was very scary” “his expression sent a chill down my spine”. Highly predictable in parts, silly in others and just so very average!

Don’t come after me if you loved it, this is just my opinion of a recent book that really shocked me that it was able to reach the dizzying heights of becoming a bestseller.

I thought it might be fun to hear from any fellow disgruntled readers if they’ve had similar experiences! With Autumn just round the corner, and me needing a new list of books to read, this post may help some of us avoid similar disappointments!

Worst book for me was BA Paris the Dilemma. I cannot believe I finished it. Was appalling and I couldn’t believe how ludicrous it was

I don't generally go for bestsellers, but I will pick things up in bookshops thinking they look interesting, or they are classics I've heard of and think I should read. I'll also buy random things in charity shops/book exchanges. Some are presents from friends: sometimes excellent choices, sometimes not so much.

So did I, but I’m fascinated by the idea of alternate timelines/realities existing as a result of people making different choices.

I tend to go like this:
What's on the library table of new books?
Flip through.
Then I have my list of authors I've read before.
Then I have recommendations from friends.
Then books I've read about elsewhere.
Then award winners.
Then general browsing.

A lot depends on what mood I'm in. This week I've done historical (bit shit. Taylor and Burton did it better) and slightly bonkers thriller. I've got a short stories collection and I think another thriller. I feel like I need something a bit more intellectual now, as I've basically read brain candy for most of the summer.

I will usually only pick up something if I think I'll enjoy it - either because I've liked the authors previous work, or because it sounds like something I'd like, and then I will read a few pages to see if I like how it's written.

Ie, I've never read 50 Shades because I don't like romance, so I just know I won't enjoy it. I don't read 'quirky' stuff either.

One of the few times I picked a book I didn't like the sound of purely because so many people had recommended it was I am Pilgrim - even though I don't normally read the thriller/spy genre, and not being a fan of really plot driven books - and I hated it!

Noooooo, despite starting a stopping a few times, by the end I loved Labyrinth, i enjoyed Sepulchre and Citadel too.

My Mum used to have this annoying habit of buying books not that she thought we'd like but that she thought we ought to read my childhood shelves were full of half read Austens and Brontes and any other celebrated literary work that I couldn't stand, these days my shelfs are filled with crime fiction for me and sci-fi for my husband.

A lot of my uni books I hated to;
Remains of the day - boring
Dubliners - boring
1984 - Deathly boring
Frankenstein - Dying of boredom
Brave New World - Just weird
The Handmaid's Tale - As weird as BNW

Over the last few years I’ve found the bigger the hype from the publishers = a real disappointing read! If it’s a well hyped book I don’t even go there!!

One Day. I couldn't finish it.

Years ago I read a Kay Scarpetta where her genius niece was undercover in Germany as a top-secret CIA operative. She said three words in German, and made four mistakes 😂

this effect is called hypotyposis

Anything written by Amor Towles - I just cannot get on with him at all.

I felt the same about Orbital.

Thankfully I got it for a 99p deal on kindle, so didn't spend much on it. I gave it about 50 pages and just nothing happened. Just lots of pontificating about the view out of the window!
I was annoyed, because a book set in the ISS is a great premise, but there does have to actually be a plot.

😬 😆

I personally wouldn’t describe it in the same words

have often read the book gets lost in translation

Scarpetta was drinking her coffee elegantly, as only Scarpetta could. She cradled the cup in her long, slim fingers, drawing admiring looks from those around the room.

Ah, I tried a Scarpetta years ago and didn't get on with her. These days, I'm reading Vera novels and very much identifying with the bags of chips, donuts, pints, etc.

Couldn’t finish A Gentleman in Moscow, though I enjoyed the Netflix series.

Hard agree on All Fours and Liane Moriarty - Apples Never Fall was TERRIBLE

Thank you! 😀

I enjoyed the Millennium Trilogy but the translator I read over-used a weird idiom which seemed at odds with the very contemporary feel of the books. He ( it was a man) was fond of ‘ever and anon’. Yes, I’ve heard this phrase but it didn’t sit right with Stig Larsson’s no- frills narrative!

"Shuggie" wrote it. It was a semi autobiography.

Similar here. If it says its xxx's bookclub choice or the xxx number one best seller I'm steering clear. A lot of the authors I like do "series" so I stick with them. For new authors - MIL passes loads to us, or I'll buy in charity shops, get free kindle books or use the library. I have also managed to break out of the "I must finish it" mindset - if I'm not enjoying it then I will not force myself!

I’m too snooty to buy a bestseller unless I happen to hear an exceptional recommendation from either a respected acquaintance or a reputable reviewer.

🤣🧐

I managed to finish it but what a bore! And now a film, I'll pass thanks. Wouldn't bother with any of his follow ups because of the first.

Butter went on and on, I managed to finish it but it took me a long while as an effort to pick up.

This made me laugh! So true and formed the basis of a monologue in a swimming pool on holiday. Not only a ME but also a DA who casually makes a killer spaghetti sauce for her erstwhile lover the 6 foot tanned police chief. He loves her but she cant be tied down. She uses vine ripened Costoluto di Parma tomatoes each sliced to a thickness of precisely one eighth of an inch with her Saji Takeshi Gyuto Knife and a John Boos Maple Edged cutting board. She simmers the tomatoes gently in El Poaig olive oil. I could go on and the stories are ALWAYS THE SAME! Oh and her niece who is the best recruit at Quantico is shockingly a lesbian. ( Her niece doesn't get on with her mother because she is ORDINARY and doesn't understand her amazing daughter but Aunty Kay does!).

😂I did like the first couple of Kay Scarpetta books but they got too extreme for me, I gave up when she found her lover's face in a freezer.

I enjoyed reading it and it did grip me but when I got to the end I thought “what a waste of time!”