Disappointing or overhyped books

[YaMuvva]

I have just finished reading I Who Have Never Known Men after 2 friends have harangued me into reading it for a while now.

What a total let down. I hate it when books build up a mystery with loads of clues as if you’re gonna have answers at the end, then…nothing! So frustrating. I’m so cross I wasted my energy and time on it.

I also hated Elenor Oliphant and kept wondering when the good part was gonna start. Nothing happened except that she got a makeover.

Tomorrow x 3. I don't get the hype tbh

Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson. I kept going until the end, but I was so disappointed.

Another vote for Tomorrow x 3. I’m still ploughing through but I really don’t care about any of it.
Also Crawdads and Lessons in Chemistry. Excruciatingly reads.
The Marriage Portrait
Still Life. Hated the characters.
Did not finish A Little Life.

Bring me back.

I'm a big fan of B A Paris but this book was disappointing. Far too many uses of the phrase 'Russian doll'!

Wow, I loved loads of those mentioned: Tomorrow x3, Life of Pi, Normal People, One Day, Crawdads, Demon Copperhead, Hamnet.

But I really hated The Power.

The one that stands out for me (in a bad way!) is I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes. Absolutely dire and gave up 100 pages in. It gets so many 5 star reviews!
Wolf Hall - attempted reading twice and then switching to the audiobook but couldn’t keep going!
Crawdads, Thursday Murder Club and House in the Cerulean Sea were very cringey. Lessons in Chemistry was ok but a bit disappointing. I also read Prophet Song by Paul Lynch which was the Booker Prize winner last year and thought it was awful.

@Puddock1 You read a lot! What was the last book you enjoyed? Any recommendations?

I said on the last thread like this that many of these overhyped books are books for people who don't read. Those big sellers that everyone reads on holiday. So Lessons in Chemistry, Eleanor Oliphant, Crawdads etc. I think generally they are light reads that don't stand up to much examination but hit the spot when you want the literary equivalent to a Mars Bar. Just don't go in expecting the tasting menu from The Fat Duck. Or indeed the tasting menu from your local restaurant with pretentions.

Totally agree, and a dissapointing weak ending.

I’m another who didn’t finish Demon Copperhead. It’s an odd one because I was kind of enjoying it - I felt like it was a good book but yes, just went on and on and every part was so miserable - I felt like I was slogging through a whole life (which you are). It stands apart from some of the others though by at least being well written.

Hamnet beyond tedious - I couldn't finish it and have really liked all her other books so was doubly disappointing
There was a dreadful, overly long, badly written 'true story' one about an australian petty criminal in India - i'll have to look it up. I think I've blocked the whole bullshit experience.

Badlands1 are you talking about Shantaram?? I'm reading it at the moment. I'm quite enjoying it, although not sure exactly how 'true story' I think it is.* *

Exactly this.

Who exactly is ‘hyping’ the books people describe as ‘overhyped’? Are you reading reviews in newspapers/LRB etc, or do you mean ‘a friend said she liked it’, or ‘it was on the three for two table at Waterstone’,s’ or have you read previous novels by the same author and loved them? Do you read a sample on Amazon or pick it up and browse in a bookshop before you buy?

Because, while I agree with @JaninaDuszejko that most of the novels mentioned are in the category of ‘fairly banal airport reads’ that don’t stand up to examination, tastes even in those will vary, and anyone who picks up Wolf Hall thinking it’s going to be Philippa Gregory has only their own misunderstanding to blame if they don’t enjoy it.

I thought that one okay

But I work in computer games. It was fairly similar to a games designers biog I had read before. I read another by same author whilst waiting for tomorrow which was okay.

Got lessons in chemistry on my Libby list. Read yellow face through that which was okay. Readable. Interesting premise. Hadn't heard anyone rave about it though.

Like many others I really struggled to read Lessons in Chemistry, I had many false starts, so I switched to it as an audiobook and much preferred it. I can't decide if it's worth watching though.

I think most people don't want to read "worthy" books all the time. I tend to mix reading literary books with "mars bar" books, but describing them as banal does come across as being a little superior.

@Dolallytats Yes Shantaram that was it. It gets more and excruciating as you go through. The combination of his ego and the total drivel of his cod psychology becomes unbearable.
Good luck!

@PaperStarred If I’d thought Wolf Hall was in a similar vein to Phillipa Gregory, I wouldn’t have wasted so much time on it! I was hoping it would be along the lines of the CJ Sansom Shardlake series but found it a chore to read in comparison. Amongst my friends and family who enjoy historical fiction, Wolf Hall seems to divide opinion. If anyone has any recommendations for something similar to Shardlake, I’d be grateful to hear.

@JaninaDuszejko I agree...books for people who don't normally read are often best avoided. Or people who claim that their favourite book was whatever the studied for o level 50 years ago.
I think bad editing is an issue. A lot of books are about 50 pages too long. Also books by authors who have had several good novels and then produce a less good one (agree with Kate Atkinson doing this).

@cassiatwenty I’ve just finished one of the John Marrs books “The Marriage Act” which was a good page turner!

I agree about Demon Copperhead . I gave up about a third of the way through as I thought “why am I putting myself through this?”.

OTH I loved a Little Life and Wolf Hall. But for a classic overhype look no further than the latest Marian Keyes

. I have read all of her books but this one was overwritten and overblown with lots of showy offy dialogue which grates after hundreds of pages.

@Puddock1 Ohhh thanks I have never heard of John Marrs but now I will check his books out 😊

I hated the Luminaries. It was just boring.

The Richard Osman books are my guilty pleasure. I listened to them on Audible and somehow felt immersed in their cosy little murdery world.

I think we might have similar tastes as I adored Life of Pi: the book, the film, the plays (seen several times) and the T-shirt! I also love Gone with the Wind, the book and the epic film.

Found Elizabeth in Lessons in Chemistry extremely annoying

I keep seeing this mentioned as a boring book but I thought it was exquisitely written