Books that lived up to the hype

[petronella23]

Inspired by another thread about books that didn't live up to the hype, what about ones that did?

Any books that were really hyped or popular that you thought totally deserved it?

Mine are Gone Girl and Secret History.

I hardly ever read contemporary fiction. I'm working my way through the classics instead, with Harold Bloom as my guide.

Many of them have disappointed, but Pride and Prejudice, Sons and Lovers, David Copperfield, and Wuthering Heights were all I hoped they'd be.

What didn't live up to all the hype on here was Fingersmith.

I read Regeneration by Pat Barker recently, which I'd put off for years, well decades, because we'd read some harrowing ww1 stuff at school and I didn't think I would enjoy it. Actually, it was very good. Sombre in places, but very thoughtful.

A Gentleman in Moscow

Unsure if this is 'hype' per se, but I heard a lot of good things about Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle but I didn't think it was going to be good. When I finally started to read it, it was better than I expected.

I totally agree with this. It dragged on too much.

I agree with you on The Secret History and Gone Girl.

I’d add The Goldfinch and The Paying Guests.

The running grave.

Did

American Dirt

Dreadful

The much hyped Where The Crawdads sing

Gone girl - yes! It is absolutely great. Easy to read and absolutely compelling. Really enjoyable.

I know it received a pasting on the ‘overhyped’ thread but I thought Demon Copperhead lived up to the hype too. I loved it.

I was going to say The Goldfinch! All Chimamanda Ngozi's books too.

The Time Traveler's Wife
Where the Crawdads sing
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow
Lessons in Chemistry

I am not sure if they were hyped but I was recommended two on here that I just loved
Strange sally diamond
And
Evelyn Hugo

A Place of Greater Safety. Hilaru Mantel

I had never read anything of hers.before but this book was on display everywhere and I liked the cover so I bought it. I was reading until 4 am, couldn't put it down.
I still think it's her best.

Hahahaha funnily enough I thought Gone Girl was utter tosh, unsuitable for anything other than a really bad train ride where nothing else is available.

I agree on a Gentleman in Moscow.
The latest Cormac McCarthys. Wonderful.

Demon Copperhead. I know it also appeared on the other thread, but I absolutely loved it.

Similarly Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow.

I agree about Gone Girl and Secret History.

also off the top of my head

Demon Copperhead
a Little Life
American dirt

Oh yes

tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow

Really original and interesting! Just bought that for. Friend!

But exactly the same titles just appeared on the current thread about ‘disappointing or overhyped’ books, and they’re largely the exact same types of novels aimed at people who don’t read a lot or with much discrimination. Can I ask again, who is ‘hyping’ them? Where is it you are seeing all this hype? Who or what is exciting expectations that then weren’t fulfilled?

The Justin Cronin Passage trilogy - the most depressing g things I've ever read but so good!

A man called Ove by Fredrik Backman

A truly wonderful book. Charming and funny. I was really sad when I finished it and often think about the story. Would 100% recommend.

Yep, it's going to be the same books, inevitably.

For example, I think Hamnet, The Poisonwood Bible, Wolf Hall, Demon Copperhead and Tomorrowx3 were all worthy of their hype, while Gone Girl and everything by Donna Tart are bloody awful. Crawdads had beautiful nature writing and a collossally stupid ending plus awful poetry.

As to who's hyping them - mostly the publishers and their marketing departments, while a hefty degree those who run media "book clubs" as well.

No, my question is exactly how people encounter ‘hype’. Obviously a publisher’s job is to sell as many copies as possible, just as if were cars, or ready meals, or detergents, but surely people grasp that doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with the merit of the detergent, car, or book? It’s just advertising.

And the same for Richard and Judy/Oprah /Reese Witherspoon/ whoever. I mean, they’re not people whose opinion of a book I’d take seriously…? I certainly wouldn’t assume that something featured in their book clubs was likely to be any better than a book that wasn’t.

Right, got you.

Personally, I see the hype in the weekly Waterstones newsletter, in Facebook and other adverts, and on Good Reads.

There’s also reviews in the paper or on podcasts and recommendations from many friends in book groups that buy books marketed to that demographic. (I maxed out on book groups some years back but I’m still in touch with my friends from those days).

And of course from seeing new books from writers I value - I’ve already got Pat Barker and Lissa Evans’s new books on my wish list.

Then there are adverts on bus stops and train stations broadening awareness of The Latest Thing, or talk of a Netflix/Apple TV series sparking more interest… the usual sort of stuff.

@EggChair Well, for example in the case of Demon Copperhead, it won the Women's Prize for Fiction and the Pulitzer Prize, so I guess that's where a lot of the hype came from. I think Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow won various awards too.