Popular book that you didn’t enjoy

[Wanttocry]

Not really a TAAT but inspired by the Crawdads thread.

What’s a book that has been raved about, but that you didn’t really enjoy? For me it would have to be The Goldfinch, I just didn’t really get it.

How To Stop Time by Matt Haig. Absolutely mindless dross.

The Time Traveller.

Normal people. Absolutely hated it. Makes my brother laugh because it gave me such rage!

Agree about Normal People. Hated it, felt like there was no point at all.

The girl on the train…so dark and depressing.

The time traveler's wife: grooming.

Crawdaws

The time travellers wife - just creepy or overly soppy, never romantic.
Hilary Mantel Cromwell ones - the first was ok but it felt like the story gave way to listing everyone who ever existed at court at that time.

Crawdads and Midnight Library by Matt Haig. Trite and boring.

The Time Traveller's Wife - not because of grooming though - just because it was total crap.

Captain Corellis Mandolin. I really tried to plough through it but gave up .

@AgentProvocateur

Crawdads and Midnight Library by Matt Haig. Trite and boring.

Snap, and How to Stop Time by Matt Haig too - need to accept his style just isn’t my thing and stop reading his books

Me before you, awful depiction of disability and attitudes towards disability dressed up as romance, it made me so mad

@ithoughtisawapuddycat

Agree about Normal People. Hated it, felt like there was no point at all.

Maybe it’s a literary thing I didn’t get, but I didn’t like the lack of speech marks in it.

Captain Corelli's Mandolin
Behind the Scenes at the Museum
Fifty Shades - this was so hyped up but I managed a few chapters before giving up

Catcher in the rye. Literally nothing happens at all. Just an annoying teenager talking about themself.

OMG YES! The Goldfinch. What a load of shite.

The Midnight Library
Gone Girl
Captain Corelli's Mandolin
Normal People

Loved, loved, loved Where the Crawdads Sing

Agree about Normal People; I was on a waiting list for it for ages at the library and thought it was going to be great. Huh. Also Wolf Hall; I have read loads of fiction and non-fiction around that period, know the principle characters, thought focusing on Cromwell was such a good idea rather than making him the peripheral villain, and I just couldn’t get into it at all

The Lovely Bones. Interesting premise, increasingly poor execution as it went on. Totally WTF?? by the end.

Oh yes, Catcher In The Rye. Even when I first read it as an annoying 17 year old myself I thought he was awful. I quite liked Gone Girl, but Sharp Objects and Dark Places are better, I think.

Life of Pi

Never got on with any Lionel Shriver books, either

The Kite Runner.

My heart sinks when people recommend it.

We are all completely beside ourselves

Total shit.

To kill a mockingbird