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!

Feeling justified in my avoidance of these two titles. Not sure what was putting me off, but this thread has confirmed my instincts are correct.

Interesting. I quite enjoyed Orbital. It wasn’t hugely long mind you so maybe if it had gone on longer I might have tired of it. Someone gifted me The Ministry of Time recently but I haven’t made much progress. She enjoyed it.

@hargru I was thinking of reading that, to replace GOT but maybe not. Did read one about dragons & riders this yr, it was ok. Not as good as Harry Potter & I read that as a teen 😆

Tbh, when I read about people struggling to get their writing published, I wonder what absolute crap they are producing. Or, maybe, it's actually really good but wouldn't have mass appeal. Who knows!

I question this! 😆

FWIW, I loved them. Gentle, amusing read with a decent plot, at least in the first one. I think some of the logistics of the plot are slightly farfetched by the third book, but I still enjoyed it.

The idea that these innocent-looking retirees could have incredible pasts and be harbouring secret skills is really entertaining. They're quite unlike most of the other books in the genre, which is probably part of the reason they've done so well.

The Great Gatsby , I just don't get the hype.

I didn't mind Orbital, or Where the Cawdaws Sing, hated A Court of Thorns and Roses. Loved Wolf Hall and Demon Cooperhead on Audible.

As per so many of you Where the Crawdads Sing, and the Housemaid was just point horror style writing for a slightly older audience!

I feel like Point horror was actually better than these recent attempts or maybe that's my teenage brain misremembering.

I did finish 50 shades and Twilight but the writing was so bad in parts.

Anything by Marian Keyes in the last 15 years.

Oh, I liked that, but I like time-warp stories so perhaps it's just my thing (DD liked it too) and I had no idea it was a best seller. Haven't much cared for his other books. But generally, if its a 'best seller' it's a load of hype and not much else.

Girl on the Train
Alchemist

Going through kids books anything by David Walliams.

Sometimes I wonder why/how such crap books without substance not only make it as bestsellers(good publicity I suppose) but people rave about them do much?

Probably just personal preference I suppose.

It’s sad that so many good books can’t break through.
Good thing- I still can find great books by recommendations of a lovely staff at local Waterstones.

There's Something About Kevin.

I was actually disappointed in The Salt Path before the scandal. I didn't believe the story about how they lost their home and I didn't like the way she stole fudge bars from a shop. I gave up on it and now I feel vindicated.

Some of these mentioned above I liked, some I didn't
I agree with Thursday Murder Club being so bland
Wolf Hall I got about 2 chapters in

The Miniaturist hasn't been mentioned. I tried to read it twice. Not good

50 shades of grey. The only book I bought that I couldn't stand the sight of. "Donated" it to a charity shop.

I've just read Butter on holiday. I found it quite intriguing at the beginning, but then... went nowhere.. and fizzled out.

Oh and Millennium trilogy-loved it. Maybe not so much 1st and 2nd but 3rd one is a masterpiece.

It is getting a bit complicated in places with history of modern Europe/espionage/politics thrown here and there but the comeuppance in 3rd book is awesome.

Another one for yellow face - I finished it thinking this must get better but nope

Lessons in Chemistry- rather unbelievable and repetitive.

The Salt Path - unrealistic and you know the rest!

The Marriage Portrait

I read "Verity" by Colleen Hoover and "laughably awful" sums up my reponse too. At times I could not believe that it had actually been published let alone achieved so much success

Waterstones thriller of the month / book of the month titles do tend to be quite well chosen based on merit.

@Bearlionfalcon thanks for this. I always want recommendations

I wanted so much to enjoy the Thursday Murder Club. I picked up the first couple of books in the series in a charity shop, at a time when a great deal of my life was being spent visiting old people in homes and hospitals. The right age group, though obviously the TMC crew are in much better nick. I started to become fascinated by wondering what the patients/residents used to be like before they became incapacitated and dependent. So I thought, great, an insight. An imaginary one, right enough, but an insight nonetheless.
And it isn't. It's just a story with improbable twists and turns, and no reason to give a fuck what happens to any one of them. Cosy murder isn't really my genre, to be fair. The setting, and the characters: it all felt like a gimmick.

Fourth Wing - Rebecca Yarros - where it's good, eg, the dragons, Violet's terrifying mother - it's brilliant. Where it's not - the, shall we say, romantic stuff, it's yet more OAT.

That was the dragon one, I did enjoy some parts but the relationships and dialogue was so cringe & immature.

This.

I thought Normal People was entertaining although implausible in parts and massively over-rated.

But Conversations with Friends was just cringe - we are told that these 2 teenage friends are immensely clever and talented - but we never see any sign of that - just 2 slightly thick silly shallow naive pretentious teens like any other, one who’s dumb enough to have an affair with a “married” man which ends predictably. I never understood why the 30 year old woman would hang out with them.

The Da Vinci Code and Fifty Shades of Grey. I haven't actually read either of them, because I could tell from a cursory flick through them that they were going to be totally stultifying. The quality of the prose was just awful.
At the other end of the spectrum I am often disappointed by any novel that's won a literary award like the Booker Prize.

That's how I felt about the TV adaptation. One episode was enough. I've not read the book, and don't plan to.

I'm going to echo The Thursday Murder Club, I thought it was awful. Couldn't finish it.
Val McDermid's version of Northanger Abbey, I thought it was terrible..