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Classic or renowned novels that you didn't enjoy?

164 replies

AlpacaTheBags · 03/01/2022 13:19

I do generally enjoy the classics and I'm trying to read more of them this year but I finally read Jane Eyre last year and I didn't particularly enjoy it.

It took me 4 attempts to get through Pride and Prejudice, though I liked it in the end but I loved Sense and Sensibility and Mansfield Park and had no trouble getting through them.

I struggle with Hardy and I had to give up on Tess but perhaps I just haven't found the right Hardy for me.

Which classics didn't you enjoy?

OP posts:
SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 03/01/2022 16:04

I can’t stand Dickens - I have never enjoyed reading a Dickens novel - even the BBC serialisations that were the closest thing to fun on Sunday night TV didn’t improve them.

If modern classics are allowed, I’d nominate To Kill A Mockingbird - I studied it for O level English Lit, and that ruined it for me. If I hadn’t had to over-analyse it to death, I’d have thought it was OK, but no more.

Eightiesfan · 03/01/2022 16:06

Wuthering Heights was one of the only books I started and did not finish whilst at school as I absolutely hated it and well life’s too short. However 25 years later I thought I’d give it another go. This time I managed to finish it but god was it tough work. Hated the main characters, not a single endearing quality between them, so couldn’t care less about anything that happened to them. When I finished my only thought was that I just wasted 4 hours of my life! Bit it’s different courses for different horses as I loved Pride and Prejudice, Tess and Jane Eyre!

RebeccaManderley · 03/01/2022 16:29

I have read most of Hardy but they are all heavy going and depressing. I don't like Dostoevsky or Kafka, though I like Tolstoy. I enjoy most English 19th century authors especially Trollope, Austen and the Brontes. Persuasion is my favourite Austen.
I found Ulysses unreadable, though I liked The Dubliners by Joyce.
I've never wanted to read the Catcher in the Rye.
I love the Handmaids Tale, it's one of my favourite books but some of Atwood's books are harder to get into.
Joseph Conrad was tedious.

LightDrizzle · 03/01/2022 16:32

I’ve never got through the first few pages of Moby Dick. I’ve tried about three times but I just hate it.

PersonaNonGarter · 03/01/2022 16:38

Madame Bovary - a book so dull that I immediately judge anyone who likes it.

The Magus - fortunately, this seems to have fallen out of fashion but it just isn’t worth it.

Haus1234 · 03/01/2022 16:40

@Rogue1001

100 years of fucking solitude
Definitely this.
Puffykins · 03/01/2022 17:08

Loved War and Peace once I realised you could skip the war chapters and just read the love story. Also love Middlemarch, Wuthering Heights, and all Hardy (except Jude - he is SO irritating.) I love Dickens less....

I loathe Dostoevsky, all magical realism, Moby Dick is literally the dullest book I have EVER read, not keen on Kafka, think Jack Kerouac is pretentious twaddle.

Basically, I like gossipy books with love stories, so also Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene, Nancy Mitford, Edith Wharton etc,

Dozer · 03/01/2022 17:09

Agree, the peace bits were much easier to read! Apart from the weird freemason stuff.

Puffykins · 03/01/2022 17:11

@Dozer I think the War bits are also often just Tolstoy expanding on military theory. My father, who was in the army, thinks they're fascinating....

LightSpeeds · 03/01/2022 17:28

Moby Dick - apart from one excellent chapter near the beginning, the rest is very tedious (but interesting; you will learn a lot about ships and whaling). I forced my way through to the end!

Needless to say, I was on the whale's side!

LittleDiaries · 03/01/2022 17:47

Wuthering Heights. I hated it so much.

Melassa · 03/01/2022 17:48

I struggled so much with Wolf Hall, I was just so confused - I just couldn’t figure out most of the time who was saying/doing what and everyone seemed to be called Thomas

Yep, too many Thomases for me too Grin. The figuring out who was saying what I found quite tiring, which is why it took me twice as long to finish. That’s what I meant about it being rambly, no clear distinctions between between Cromwell narrating something or others speaking. I also found a lot of the descriptions quite flat, the setting the scene was lacking. That’s why Bringing up the bodies is still sitting there and will probably continue to gather dust into my old age

SimonedeBeauvoirscat · 03/01/2022 17:51

I absolutely love the way that Mantel writes the Wolf Hall trilogy (third person limited present tense according to Professor Google!). But I accept it’s very Marmite.

Ohyesiam · 03/01/2022 18:25

@SimonedeBeauvoirscat

Ooh here’s a controversial one: I absolutely hated I Capture The Castle which I think judging by previous threads is one of MN’s most widely loved novels. Anyone else or just me?!
You’re Not wrong. Couldn’t bear it.
Ohyesiam · 03/01/2022 18:27

Love in a time of Cholera.
Give me strength. I only persevered because I was on a train in India and had read everything else.

Chemenger · 03/01/2022 18:36

I cannot stand Jane Eyre, both the character and the overlong ridiculous book. War and Peace, as PPs have said was fine if the war bits were skipped.
I tried Wolf Hall but hated it, just not engaging and couldn’t keep track of the characters.
Have never got past the first few chapters of any Dickens, just soooooo dull and drawn out.
I read a lot of Hardy and Russian novelists as a teenager, but now I can’t be bothered with depressing stuff. Also read Tolkien and a lot of science fiction, none of which I can tolerate now. I’ve read all of Jane Austen multiple times, they are my go to comfort read.

StrongerOrWeaker · 03/01/2022 18:46

Is wolf hall a classic? Will it stand the test of time? For what it's worth I didn't enjoy the trilogy.

I agree with other posters about Dostoyevsky and Conrad. I can't say I loved the master and margarita either.

Not keen on:
Thomas Mann
Kafka
Hermann Hess
James Joyce

Didn't enjoy catcher in the rye but wonder if I was too old when I read it?

Didn't like Fear and loathing in las Vegas

Luredbyapomegranate · 03/01/2022 18:50

@SimonedeBeauvoirscat

Ooh here’s a controversial one: I absolutely hated I Capture The Castle which I think judging by previous threads is one of MN’s most widely loved novels. Anyone else or just me?!
Me! I always just thought I read it too late, but found it utterly dull. Cazelet chronicles much better.

I think G Gatsby is massively overrated, but Tender is the Night very underrated.

Wuthering Heights annoying as hell.

I like most Austin though, am gobsmacked at people saying they struggled to get through P&P, it’s such an easy read and Eliz B such a fantastic character.

I liked Dubliners which no one else seems to..

SimonedeBeauvoirscat · 03/01/2022 18:59

@JaneJeffer @Ohyesiam @Luredbyapomegranate I’ve found my people! Let’s form a fight club to battle the 99% (it seems like) of MN who love that bloody book.

JaneJeffer · 03/01/2022 19:45

I think we're vastly outnumbered @SimonedeBeauvoirscat Grin

SimonedeBeauvoirscat · 03/01/2022 19:47

I’m afraid so! 😂

WeeFae · 03/01/2022 19:47

Did not enjoy The Secret History by Donn Tartt, think I missed the "wow" about it.

JaneJeffer · 03/01/2022 19:48

My heart sinks any time someone asks for a funny book recommendation and they get that!

JaneJeffer · 03/01/2022 19:49

That was for @SimonedeBeauvoirscat!

Glowtastic · 03/01/2022 19:51

@PersonaNonGarter

Madame Bovary - a book so dull that I immediately judge anyone who likes it.

The Magus - fortunately, this seems to have fallen out of fashion but it just isn’t worth it.

I not only had to read Madame bloody Bovary I had to watch the film version of it and write numerous essays on it, in French, for French a level!!