Biggest disappointments - Which book you thought would be great but did not live up to your expectation?

[CoteDAzur]

I will gladly volunteer "The Quiet Girl", by Peter Hoeg, his 1996 book after a 10 year silence since "Miss Smilla's Sense of Snow".

I read the synopsis and I was so hopeful that I would love it:

• children with special abilities (great!)
• main character who loves Bach and talks about Bach's music throughout the book (brilliant!)

It turned out to be one of the stupidest books I have ever read, and that is against some competition. The plot is dumb and assumes the reader is an idiot. The translation is downright pathetic.

I want back the time I spent reading this rag

I agree on 'A Short History Of Tractors In Ukrainian'. Old man marries illegal resident Ukrainian bimbo and we are supposed to be interested in the resulting feud between her & guy's daughters. Booooring.

Message withdrawn

cotedazur, my book group got LOADS more out of the Tractors thing than me - nuances re: the war/incarceration, sibling rivalry etc.

Karren Brady's United. Couldn't get past the first chapter.

Agree you either "get" Pratchett or you don't. I find his sense of humour spot-on. But I've read chunks out to people to a stony silence.

Can I also mention Birdsong - dull dull dull, despite everyone raving about it, and I also didn't really enjoy Austerlitz, but feel slightly guilty typing that.

Yep,sunshinemummy I agree with you about Birdsong.
I knew I was meant to be moved by it but I just wasn't.
Also Charlotte Gray.

Another vote for Captain Corelli

Oh ArticRoll thank you for agreeing with me. I thought I was a lone voice. And the sex scenes were rubbish.

I haven't even attempted any more Sebastian Faulks.

I coulddn't stop laughing when I read terri pratchet..

Jack Kerouac 'On The Road'

Counting...I LOVE Captain Corelli. Have read it almost as many times as Wuthering Heights. Still, it wouldn't do if we were all the same.

Definitely The Da Vinci Code - big pile of grey pants, written for people with the attention span of a hairbrush.
Agree that Kate Mosse's Labyrinth was hugely over-rated.
Expected lots from Lawrence Durrell's Alexandria Quartet, but found it a bit over-written, and not especially interesting.

Yes Corelli seems to be in the "love it or hate it" category.

Couldn't agree more about Alexandria Quartet ...

I did think for a while with Durrell that it was me, and I just didn't get it, so I tried Justine again and was equally unenamoured second time around.

Corelli is a marmite book - I fell in love with the story and the characters, but despite my blind loyalty to the captain, have always thought that Birds Without Wings is a better book.

Agree with Short History of Tractors in Ukranian. Couldn't finish that.

I also couldn't get into We Need to Talk About Kevin

The Memory Keepers Daughter. I was really looking forward to reading it and the first half was ok, was building up to the big showdown.... and there wasn't one! just sort of fizzled out. pants.

loved time travellers wife though

Captain Corellis Mandolin. It was ok I suppose but certainly did not live up to the hype, for me anyway. Also Brick Lane. I did enjoy what I read but it went on a bit and I sort of lost my way but I will go back to it.

Life of Pi

"Vineland" by Thomas Pynchon.

Sentences that cover half a page, description of anything and everything and nothing at the same time, characters who don't seem to be doing anything. Worst of all, Nothing Ever Happens in this book.

I swear on all that is dear, I don't remember anything about the plot nor who or what the characters are. In fact, the only reason I didn't mention this book along with "The Quiet Girl" in the OP is because I had forgotten both the name of the book and the name of its author until about five minutes ago.

Verbal diarrhea. That's all this book is.

I couldn't get through Anna Karenina, got very bored of Russian farming methods. Then I couldn't get into To the Lighthouse. But I'm currently reading Crime and Punishment and absolutely loving it - really surprised.

Has anyone read The Killig Jar (Nicola Monaghan) - it was my fave book last year.

Sorry, I meant the Killing Jar, not killig...

And Timoleon Vitea Come Home - I laughed and laughed, but lots of people think its sick

my book club raved about little women patronising drivel although if you a young girl you'd probaly love it and some book with angels in the title by Jill Paton Walsh - zzzzzzzzz

Max Barry's Jennifer Government, great ideas but so so badly written

Anything by DAn Brown & Patrica Cornwell

Kathy Reichs writing style is deeply irritating, she ends each chapter with "the relvelation was to take my breath away" or something equally intended to put you on the edge of your seat. Now and again good, every bleeding time irritating!

girl with a pearl earring, Nylon Angel, catch 22, tolkein