What puts you off a book immediately?

[EishetChayil]

For me it's opening a book and discovering it's written in the second person. I can't bring myself to read on. It makes me squirm too much. Just about acceptable in a (very) short story, but not a whole novel.

I'm also no fan of epistolary form, if I'm perfectly honest.

When the main character has a massive backstory that is constantly referred too but not explained. Especially if it involves a death of a family member which they carry on referring to as if they are alive.

So fed up with mixed up timelines. It seems impossible these days for an author to write a story that starts at the beginning and finishes at the end, so I'm naturally cautious when I see a date as the chapter heading.

Reading "The Binding" by Bridget Collins at the moment.

There is a grammatical error on the very first page and I found it very off-putting, to the extent I nearly stopped reading. If it hadn't been for the recommendation of my friend I defintely would have stopped. Life is too short to read poor-quality books.

But, as it turns out, it was the only error in the book and now I am getting towards the end I am really enjoying it!

The "You" series is also written in Second person. I find it really annoying

Over use of the present participle "I am walking down the road when Mary joins Mr and we are talking as we enter the cafe and then I see him". The book "You" is also guilty of this

Social politics/virtue signalling. Where you have one character volunteering for a foodbank, another homeless, your stereotypical older white male who is on the parish council, etc etc. Just ruins the whole thing as it becomes so obvious.

@Councilworker

The "You" series is also written in Second person. I find it really annoying

Over use of the present participle "I am walking down the road when Mary joins Mr and we are talking as we enter the cafe and then I see him". The book "You" is also guilty of this

Generally agree with this but I thought N.K.Jemisin did quite a good job with second person narrative in the "Broken Earth" series.

It was only a part of the novel though (one character's perspective), if it had been the whole novel it would have been tiring.

I think second person can add something if done well - but it is very difficult to do well.

When any of the main characters are artists, writers, moving to a new city, village, country etc to get away from a traumatic break-up, death, murder, attack etc.

When the main characters are all old uni friends.

When the main characters are siblings - especially sisters. When the sisters (especially) are each assigned a very different personality and look to one another. The dark haired, outspoken one, the more reserved fair haired freckled one etc.

When the book is set in the near future.

When the book is set on another planet.

When the book has loads of quotes on the back about how the author is a cross between Shakespeare and Margaret Atwood and this book is the best book they’ve read in the last 5 years.

I’m currently going through a not reading phase because I’m irritated by just about everything I pick up.

Writing in the first person.

Word salad on the first page.

Any book that is just the inner monologue of a middle class white man with lots of money and no real problems who feels disconnected from his life…overdone, tedious, hard to care about.

When it’s described as “chick lit”.

Hyperbolic language, long winding descriptions that aren’t at all lyrical

Rape / abuse /death or rape and abuse and death of a woman being used as a plot device for the male main character to mope about how bad he feels.

@rookiemere

So fed up with mixed up timelines. It seems impossible these days for an author to write a story that starts at the beginning and finishes at the end, so I'm naturally cautious when I see a date as the chapter heading.

'Where the Crawdads Sing' does this, it jumps between two dates about 16 years apart, but it's such a great story and a joy to read that I didn't even consider it a problem.

Set in roughly the same era as 'To Kill a Mockingbird', I'd thoroughly recommend.

Agree with many of these. Yes to the age-inappropriate names. People of my age (50s) have names like Kate, Jo, Sarah…. no one at school was called Freya. Likewise men my age are called Mike, Mark, Andy, Jeremy… There are no Jakes or Sams !!!

Of course a “pink” cover is off-putting, but now Jane Austens have been given the pink treatment. They’d sneak a cocktail glass and a cupcake onto Pride and Prejudice given half a chance.

Of course a “pink” cover is off-putting, but now Jane Austens have been given the pink treatment. They’d sneak a cocktail glass and a cupcake onto Pride and Prejudice given half a chance.

They might as well tbh. It may be old and written in beautiful prose, but it's still largely about people going to social engagements, falling in love with people and wanting to find husbands and wives. I've read plenty of 'proper literature' but I can't stand Austen.

@Fernie6491 I was thinking about Crawdads when I wrote my post. I'm afraid I was one of the few at our book club who didn't feel the love, others enjoyed it immensely though so I'm probably out of kilter with popular opinions.

Ah, @lazylinguist , but it's the way they're written.

I recently saw on MN someone dissing Miss Read as "twee" . Clearly they had no idea beyond the book covers and the subject matter of village life. Miss Read can be very dry and most skewering of various personalities, quite like Jane Austen in fact.

[quote rookiemere]@Fernie6491 I was thinking about Crawdads when I wrote my post. I'm afraid I was one of the few at our book club who didn't feel the love, others enjoyed it immensely though so I'm probably out of kilter with popular opinions. [/quote]
Oh, sorry about that! I suppose it's good that we all have different tastes

I love Jane Austen, sorry! Social satire, the skewering of personalities, the subversion of romance... It's brilliant. I mean, yes, there is "romance" and people latch onto that, but for me it's the way the game is all set out, the characters all put in their places. It's wicked and brilliant.

Has anyone read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall? I'm reading that at the minute. Over the past couple of years I've stopped reading contemporary fiction because of all the issues mentioned above, but luckily there are still hundreds of novels from the last couple of centuries to enjoy.

'There is always a faux flaw or two thrown in to make them more accessible and avoid them sounding arrogant. This flaw is never a massive underbite or cystic acne but something like freckles...'

grin grin grin

Anything that has whole chapters written in italics.

Why? Why the italics?

Pisses me off.

Agree re any kind of present tense - makes it unreadable for me.

With detective/thrillers, I'll give an author a pass if they make the woman the baddie/serial killer etc once. But the use of women as evil in order to create a twist infuriates me (I feel the same about tv shows - I have no problem with a woman being the culprit but when the same show explores, in more or less consecutive weeks, domestic violence against men, female killers etc etc I just get annoyed).

Also, gratuitous violence against children. Again, often inserted to create drama without actually adding to the story.

I really hate pages and pages of italics. I skim read them if I bother at all.

I am sick of books where the main character is a woman who is 'ditzy' 'lovably scatty' 'wIld curls' running late, running down the road wearing odd socks, vintage clothing, a crazy mixed up kid with hurt in her past, moves somewhere immediately becomes best friends with everyone, ends up running the village fete/local shop, meets an old person immediately love each other old person dies, leaves them a house, meet a man who is moody and they have some minor run-ins and arguments then you know they will fall in love...so so many books like this!

I had to Google 'epistolary' but now I know I agree!!