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.

Another vote for Midnight Library by Matt Haig. I gave up, life's too short to read drivel.

The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold.

The Lying Room, Nicci French (their worst book so far)

Yes to Goldfinch, Eleanor Oliphant (kept waiting for something to happen) and I managed eventually to finish The Life of Pi but it was my Everest without the satisfaction of an incredible view.

There are lots on this thread I loved: The Goldfinch, Time Traveller’s Wife (although read it 20 years ago - I wonder if I’d read it differently now I’m older?), Jane Eyre ❤️

I tried so hard with Wolf Hall, I really did, but it just didn’t grip me. I also tried really hard with My Brilliant Friend but found the characters too irritating.

One nobody has mentioned yet is Hamnet. I got two-thirds of the way through and gave up. Considering the subject matter (death of a child) I should have found it extremely moving but it left me cold 😳

@MintyCedric

Shuggie Bain...relentlessly grim.

You’ve helpfully justified my decision to give up after a few chapters. Thank you!

Agree with the @frankiesaysrelaxx re Shantaram although not even keen on the first half. It was all total bollocks and he just seemed like a creepy con man trying to big himself up.

Badly written and went on forever

Agree with the lovely bones and goldfinch.
I also didn't enjoy the handmaids tale - the testaments. I found it too predictable.

@JuneFromBethesda I am about 40 pages into Hamnet and normally really like Maggie O'Farrell but am struggling to maintain any interest

Crawdads too. I put it down one day and never felt the need to pick it up again. Also the Kite Runner, it played out like a very poor Bollywood movie.

@olidora63

The girl on the train…so dark and depressing.

I gave up. It was terrible, jumping about all over the place.

I agree with A Life of Pi - tried it, couldn't finish it.
A Little Life - ploughed through it but found it so depressing and just increasingly improbable.
I loved Crawdads, Secret History, Kite Runner and whilst I don't think Matt Haig is a literary genius I did enjoy both How to Stop Time and The Midnight Library as easy but quite thought provoking reads.

Girl, woman, other - I realised i need punctuation 😄. Tried a few times but never got further that a few pages.
I wasn’t taken so much by The Bell Jar either.

Did enjoy Eleanor Oliphant and Thursday murder club as easy quick reads.

Cloud Atlas. Really wanted to enjoy it but just didn’t

Oh my god, I'd forgotten I am Pilgrim. Possibly one of the worst books I have ever read. So bad, it was like a parody. Thoroughly enjoyed writing an amazon review of it though

Hang on, though, where are you all getting the ‘hype’ from? Are you confusing ‘hype’ with ‘being any good’? Because literally no reviewer ever suggested for a moment that Fifty Shades of Grey was anything other than humungously silly, not-very-dirty fan fic.

I really wanted to like The Goldfinch. It started off interesting and just lost it. I also didn't like Gone girl. I thought all the characters were horrible and though I did finished it, it just went from bad to worse. I loved Jane Eyre. I read Lovely bones many years ago and I enjoyed it but not the end.

Shantaram is so bad it is almost comical. There is a very funny one-star review/parody of it on Amazon including:
'I walked back to the slum alone, up to my waist in filth, but I didn't care, for I was hard. A rampaging lion threatened to kill two small Indian children, until I flicked it off them with my little finger. After all, it isn't the lion that kills us, it's the lying. God, that's clever. "You're incredible isn't it," waggled the Indians'.

The Mirror and the Light
Transcendent Kingdom
Bleak House

Just could not get into them. I read all the other books in the Hilary Mantel series as well...

I loved Normal People, The Goldfinch, Eleanor Oliphant, My Brilliant Friend.

Oh god, The Alchemist. I had to read it for book club as well and it was the first book I'd read there that I was genuinely amazed that anyone actually liked, let alone raved about (and there were people who did).

I didn't mind The Goldfinch, but it suffered from needing a damn good edit.

A Man Called Ove. I didn't finish it, he got right on my nerves.

And the Life of Pi, boring.

@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.

The Goldfinch was my first answer when I saw the title @Wanttocry! So boring. I got about a third of the way through. I can’t remember anything about it, not even what it was supposed to be about.

I just struggled with the grotesque beginning of I am Pilgrim - so gory.

The 100 Year Old Man who jumped out of a Window and ran away

The Beekeeper of Aleppo for the literary device which drove me mad

I adored Secret History for its gorgeous lyrical writing, and agree about Goldfinch needing a good edit! I loved Bell Jar, and I plan to reread Crawdads every year! I also loved Eleanor Oliphant

Girl, Woman, Other I thought was so clunky and the characters rang so untrue. I didn't finish it. Does it get better?