Books that weren’t shit, just underwhelming/didn’t get

[KenForPM]

So we’ve had a number of shit books threads... how about a thread for books that we didn’t necessarily hate, but were underwhelmed by/were forgettable, if you get what I mean.

I read Hideous Kinky by Esther Freud a good few years ago. I remember getting to the end and thinking “what even happened in that book?” I remember thinking it just felt like there was no plot. I suppose it’s partly to do with the fact that the narrator is so young (four/five IIRC), but others seem to rave about it when I googled it. It made no sense.

I liked/loved some mentioned up thread.
The Great Gatsby - can seem great when you are in your late teens/twenties but not so great if you come back to it.
Jane Austin - hated when I first read, then I got her humour and loved them. But maybe better read when older, a bit like Trollope, which I believe I may be old enough to try the Barchester ones again.

Old Man and the Sea, I got to the end bored but some evocative writing.

Didn't like Kate Atkinson's early stuff but liked the ones hated here.

The Miniaturist - Read at BookGroup and thought everyone had hated, but someone in the last meeting said how "lovely" it was.

Lolita I thought was brilliant if disturbing. Catch 22 I gave up 1/2 way through, as I'd got the point.
George Elliot great for Social History but boring.

I'm so pleased that Never Let Me Go has been mentioned because I thought it was ok, but not deserving of the hype it gets. I was quite 'meh'. The idea was great, and the book could have been so much more.........just more, impactful, moving, harrowing, and interesting.

Atonement, got to the end and wondered why I'd spent all that time reading it. Anything I've tried to read by Jane Austen. I couldn't get past page 10 of The Finkler Question or whatever it's called.

I quite liked 'We're All Completely Besides Ourselves' but then I randomly picked it up in an airport and had no expectations. I liked 'Brick Lane' but that was a very well done audiobook and I was in the car.

Agree on The Power, glad it’s not just me. It was ok but I thought I’d really love it.

I'm so pleased that Never Let Me Go has been mentioned because I thought it was ok, but not deserving of the hype it gets. I was quite 'meh'. The idea was great, and the book could have been so much more.........just more, impactful, moving, harrowing, and interesting.

Yes, this. It was such an interesting premise that could have become so much more, but was just 'meh'.

And I couldn't stand any of the characters either.

Never Let Me Go is now a GCSE Lit set text. I genuinely can't imagine a 15 year old toiling through it.

Agree with Gone Girl and Girl on the Train, not worth having spent the time, just didn't like the characters so couldn't get involved in the story.
Can I add The Couple Next Door, thought I should enjoy it, but really, got to the end and wondered why I'd bothered!

I liked The Miniaturist, but it wasn't quite what I had expected. I thought it was going to be more of a creepy suspense/mystery story; instead, it's looking at 17th century Amsterdam through a 21st century prism.

Girl on the Train was OK but a bit too much like chicklit for my taste.

Not Working had a lot of great reviews on the cover but although it wasn't badly written nothing really happened in it and it was a bit dull.
The Power was well-written but not really my cup of tea.

Agree with Gatsby, also Moby Dick- tedious.
The Accordion Crimes. Dull, dull dull!
The miniaturist too.
Heart of Darkness. Had to give up.
Do Not Say We Had Nothing

Yesterday.

Haven't read The Miniaturist but watched the TV adaptation over Xmas and it felt like it had so much potential and it just fell completely flat and was really dull. It sounds like the book must be very similar!

The Essex Serpent was my first thought- I spent the whole book waiting for the interesting part.
Wuthering Heights just irritated me. I wanted and epic, sweeping love story but that just wasn't it.
By far the most underwhelming though was War And Peace. Several people have explained to me that it must just be too "difficult" for me, but it really isn't. It's just dull and longwinded.

I finished Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell but I'm buggered if I could tell you anything that happened in it.

I failed to finish Moby Dick, Catch 22, Lolita, Les Miserables - snoooooze to all of them

I kept waiting for something, anything, to happen in Never Let Me Go. It didn't.

I forgot to mention The Power. Read it last year, on the back of all the hype etc. It started well but tailed off and, whilst I did finish it, I didn't think it deserved the accolades it had got. A bit disappointing really.

YYY to The Accordion Crimes. Dull and depressing.

I am nodding at so many of these, though I too love Brideshead, and all of Waugh in fact.

DD2 hated The Goldfinch so much she warned me not to even try it.

Hated Perfume. Really felt scornful about it. Can’t remember why really I think I just found it massively overwritten and irritating.

But I guess that’s not in keeping with the thread title - you want a “meh” response to a classic. I felt that way about The Catcher in the Rye.

The Other Mrs Walker. Great cover, intriguing premise, incredible writing.

And repetitive.
And repetitive.
And repetitive.

If they'd cut the book literally in half then it would get five stars from me. I didn't finish it, it was an endurance test rather than a pleasure.

RustyPaperclips I loved The Luminaries but I did take a chapter or two to get right into it. My copy is quite dog-eared now as it's been borrowed so much. All of the borrowers enjoyed it too.

I am so relieved to find that there are other people out there who just couldn't take to The Great Gatsby.

My other great failure is Tess of the D'Urbervilles: I have tried several times but I cannot get beyond page 4. I like Austen and Trollope but Hardy appears to be beyond me.

I forgot about the Twilight books. Must have read them all about 10 years ago. God, they were dull. Ploughed through about 4 books of emo drivel, waiting for something to happen. Then when it did, it was utterly ridiculous and I wished nothing had happened.

Couldn't bear to watch the films after the ordeal of the books.

I agree about the Other Mrs Walker... some good passages, great opening, fab cover but it did feel a bit Creative Writing degree...

Tess, however, is my favourite book!

Oh God yes the Twilight books. I forced myself to read the first one. Started the second but gave up.

I'll probably get slayed for this as it's on all the top book lists but I found George Orwell's 1984 a complete slog to read. I really didn't enjoy it and wondered why I bothered to finish it.

I agree with others about Gone Girl, but I really liked Girl on a Train so maybe my literature tastes are just all wrong.

Gone Girl, girl on a train and never let me go all left me feeling completely meh. Didn't care enough about any of the characters, so they were all a slog to get through. So much hype I kept thinking something good would happen but they were all predictable and underwhelming and badly written.

Tried the Miniaturist three times but found it sooo boring. Enjoying the TV adaptation though. And I did like her next book the Muse.

We are all completely beside ourselves & the Jane Austen book club are both on my bookshelf but I've not been able to face them or get beyond page 1. Maybe I won't bother. Just don't fancy them.

Sad to see people have added Tess, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights & the Old Man and the Sea in this category

Never got Gatsby either. I've read lots mentioned here and I can speed read so I tend to stick books out once I've started, even if it's a bit of a struggle.

But I know nothing about Captain Correlli or his mandolin as I don't think I even made it to the end of the first chapter. And friends that I wouldn't consider to be that into reading were raving about it. White Teeth was the same.

I found a book in a charity shop years and years ago called The Modern Library - 200 best books of the last 50 years or something like that. The compilers of the list chose the books not just on the writing but also on the 'grippiness' as far as I remember. Can't remember if Correlli was in or not though but I did find some great reads in there that I might have missed otherwise. Though some were still underwhelming.