Disappointment with over-hyped books

[Bezalelle]

I have a feeling that this post is going to come across as bitchy and churlish, but here goes.

Is anyone else frequently disappointed with over-hyped novels, especially debuts? I can think of three recent ones off the top of my head.

"The Girls" by Emma Cline. Million-dollar advance, huge hype. I bought it eagerly and read it, and felt massively let down. Poor characterisation, overwrought writing, unconvincing plotting (even though it was based on the true story of the Manson cult).

"Tangerine" by Christine Mangan. I started a whole thread on this, such was my irritation. Again, a brilliant premise, blighted by flimsy characters, turgid prose, and almost grotesquely-cliched (and racist/orientalist) depictions of Morocco and Moroccan people. A nice "psycho lesbian" element thrown in too...

"The Confessions of Frannie Langton" by Sara Collins. I followed the progress of this writer and book from its nomination for the Lucy Cavendish prize, and have to say that Sara was sold a pup by her agent/publisher/editor. Her original opening chapter and plot were brilliant, but the resulting novel smacks of over-editing in terms of plot, and under-editing for cogency/readability. There's a simile every other line, at least.

Really disappointing. For all we're told about how competitive and cut-throat the writing world is (I'm a writer myself), why are we constantly sold these over-hyped debuts that never meet up to expectations?

I did an internship with a very small publisher once and at all our lunch breaks we sat around bitching about how shit contemporary bestsellers were. I mean we were obv biased but also, just cos it’s books doesn’t mean publishers aren’t using the same cynical, explotative marketing tactics on you as everything else. ‘Overhyped’ seemed to be the entirety of publishing to me - I was very put off by it by this. I’m now a dickhead who gives ‘contemporary literary fiction’ a wide swerve and reads genre stuff, translated fiction and stuff that’s about 10 years old. I figure if its still around after a few years it might be OK.

The Silent Companions left me thinking "what? Where is the scary bit everyone is banging on about?"

I just thought it was the product of someone who crossed far too much LSD with a load of occult fanfiction.

One Day is a book I have reread, for easy chick lit comfort food. I graduated on the same day as them and can state categorically that nobody working class and northern would have been called Emma. She'd have been Karen or Alison. And he wouldn't have been called Dexter, no way. Lazy research. She was a drip, he was abusive and his mother was a bitch.

Spot on! And for real his ex-wife is there comforting his narc, abusive arse. She'd have been on MN then telling others to ditch the EA twat and do the Freedom Programme.

I seem to dislike books people generally like (Eleanor Oliphant, life after life) but enjoy books people hate ( we need to talk about Kevin, the luminaries).

I agree with pp that it's best to read books that have stood the test of time.

I'm another one who found Life after Life underwhelming.

I read all the Ferrante books but I agree there was something 'off' about the style - strangely flat and detached. I kept reading to try and figure out the point of the books or at least see where it was all going but I'm not sure I was any the wiser by the end!

The Goldfinch is still in my TBR pile - I have a feeling I'm going to be another one who finds it hard going but I'm intrigued enough by the mixed reviews to give it a go.

I don't look at blurbs anymore or listen to hype when it comes to new fiction as it is almost always a let down. I find I have a pretty good idea of the kind of thing I like now, or at least what I don't like, so I go with my instinct, or read a few pages in the bookshop or the kindle sample to decide.

Hated The Luminaries. But loved We Need To Talk about Kevin and The goldfinch.

So glad someone else said Vox. I barely made it to 100 pages before putting it back on the bookshelf. Good premise but total nonsense. I could not buy them putting the bracelet on children without any build up, wouldn’t happen, move on.

The Sunday times recently published their best books of this century and I’m working my way though them, only one duff one so far.

Louise Penny's Three Pines books. I read several of them, and then suddenly stopped and thought. They had become increasingly whimsical and twee: stomach-turningly (I know, no such word) so. It's like eating a kilo of over sweet, nasty chocolate.The mere thought of them now makes my flesh creep and I would happily start a book burning that consists solely of her books.

She's always popping up on books' covers and front pages, giving capsule reviews of others' works. There's no escape. I know she's incredibly popular, and a lot of people regard her books as the equivalent of having afternoon tea with a group of old, dear friends.

The mere thought of her makes me want to stick my finger down my throat, but that's obviously just me.

Dune. For those of you who don't know; it's regarded as a science fiction classic, one of the books that really built up the genre.

I read it a couple of months ago. All of it, because it really did have to get better and anyway it gets reference so often that I feel I'm missing things. Bloody hell it wa tedious. I will skipping the sequels and revel in my ignorance!

Loved The Goldfinch so much I didn't want it to end, also Life after Life. A little Life was a bit much. Eleanor Oliphant was ok, One Day & Girl on a train were just disposable dross.

Liked The Goldfinch and Life after Life was excellent but just read Everything I Know About Love and was really disappointed. Not sure what I expecting, something as seminal as Bridget Jones but maybe I'm too old for it to "speak" to me.

The Heart's Invisible Furies, was so so long, and convoluted. I was bored reading it, but felt I had to read till the end.

@Binglebong I read "Dune" as a teenager, several years after it was first released - I'm dating myself there. At the time, I read and enjoyed anything Science Fiction that I could lay my hands on, which was a lot, as we had a really excellent local public library. I had no problem reading long or odd books - I read the Foundation trilogy in a couple of days, and even liked "Stranger in a Strange Land."

I found Dune so tedious. I don't know if I understood the word pretentious at the time, but that as well.If I remember correctly, it had a Glossary nearly as long as the book, and wasn't there some involved family tree? Even a the height of my Patrick Stewart craze, I couldn't bring myself to watch the movie, which was probably just as well because I think he was cut out of it.

Goodness, it was many decades ago and I still remember how much I disliked it.

@Cakemonger: I read all the Ferrante books but I agree there was something 'off' about the style - strangely flat and detached.

Weren't they translated from Italian? I sometimes find that translated books can have that feeling.

Interesting SummerPlace, I must have only read very good translations before as I've never noticed this

I liked a lot of the books mentioned - obviously not very picky - but I was disappointed by One Day.

However, I come from Leeds and disagree that no working class woman from the north would be called Emma. I've met Emmas from a variety of class backgrounds including working class ones. It might be an age thing - I think the characters in One Day were a couple of years older than me and I think Emma must have been quite popular around the time I was born. it's certainly not a name that only middle class southern women would have.

The Girl on the Train (awful, all characters unsympathetic, cannot understand how it has done so well) & The Woman in the Window (ridiculously contrived twists and quite frankly offensive that the writer didn't think that "the thing about the husband" was obvious from page 1. Awful)

Glad it's not just me SummerPlace. I think you've got it bang on with pretentious. I read a lot of sci fi and really couldn't get into it. And all the different "schools"! Argh!