Agree with Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell couldn't be bothered to finish it.
Time Travellers Wife two very indulgent smug characters who I cared not a jot about.
Twilight unlike Harry Potter is not really able to appeal to an adult audience as the writing is very poor IMO .........Bella is the most self centered, selfish irritating heroine I have ever come across, the books are full of teenage angst, they remind me of cheesy 1950's ballads....
Just goes to show, you should never take other peoples opinions as gospel. I've just finished The Time Travellers Wife and thought it was wonderful. It was recommended by a friend who said it wasn't her type of book at all but she loved it too.
I do like these books, but agree the translation is appalling.
Hmm. Have those who think the translation is poor read it in the original, or are you just assuming the translation must be to blame? And what flaws in the book do you think are due to the translation?
I agree with much of the criticism of the books, but the problems I have with them aren't ones I think can be due to the translation; but perhaps I'm wrong, and I do wonder.
I so agree, although I've only read the first one. What a load of all shite!! I honestly don't understand the hype, I thought it was badly written, clunky and full of superfluous, uninteresting detail. There's an interesting story in there somewhere but the author gets bogged down in too much detail and the ending is crap.
The superfluous, uninteresting detail, for example. Can that be due to the translation? Or the cliched heroine? Badly written and clunky, perhaps.
100 Years of Solitude - every male graduate has told me this is their favorite book of all time...but it just meanders and meanders and meanders with no point, people comes to life that were previously dead for seemingly no reason - and yes I get that it's supposed to be magic realism but gah! Never have I read anything so boring in my life!
I even made my husband read it and he thought it was gash.
100 Years of Solitude - every male graduate has told me this is their favorite book of all time...but it just meanders and meanders and meanders with no point, people comes to life that were previously dead for seemingly no reason - and yes I get that it's supposed to be magic realism but gah! Never have I read anything so boring in my life!
I even made my husband read it and he thought it was gash.
That book nearly made me cry with boredom
Labrynthe - a book of complete trip, but to make it worse it's dull tripe, why I read to the end I've no idea - badly written, badly plotted and dull
Time Travellers Wife - when you read the book wanting both lead characters to die a painful death it's probably a good indication you're not enjoying it.
Catcher in the Rye - maybe was in the wrong frame of mind, but the appeal of it completely bypassed me.
1984
Brick Lane
We Need to Talk about Kevin (I just didnt think the backwards and forwards stuff really translated very well in the book) however I think it was better suited to the film which is great (btw I know the book came first)
Hmm. Have those who think the translation is poor read it in the original, or are you just assuming the translation must be to blame? And what flaws in the book do you think are due to the translation?
I agree with much of the criticism of the books, but the problems I have with them aren't ones I think can be due to the translation; but perhaps I'm wrong, and I do wonder.
The superfluous, uninteresting detail, for example. Can that be due to the translation? Or the cliched heroine? Badly written and clunky, perhaps.
Old thread, I know, but I recently read Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and hated it.
On the subject of the translator getting the blame, there are plenty of critical reviews on Amazon that are coming from people who have read it in other languages besides English. So unless all the translators have done a bad job, I suspect the problem lies with the original text. Badly written and clunky? Probably.
1984
Brick Lane
We Need to Talk about Kevin (I just didnt think the backwards and forwards stuff really translated very well in the book) however I think it was better suited to the film which is great (btw I know the book came first)
1984 is a funny one. It's no page turner apart from the interrogation sections. But the background alternate world Orwell creates is one of the best and has been often imitated.
The most disappointing book for me was 'The Da Vinci Code' - much-hyped and recommended by numerous friends. I expected something fast-paced and tightly-plotted. Instead I got a turgid tale, whose narrative was crippled by pages of tedious exposition, and characters so cardboard I gave up half-way through it.
Also disappointed with 'A Week in December' by the constantly hyped Sebastian Faulks - characters so dull I couldn't care less what happened to them, and plots that just bored me endlessly.
Olaf Stapledon's Last and First Men: A Story of the Near and Far Future is meant to be a science fiction classic. It charts the future evolution of humanity and in that sense it's imaginative but I found it to be heavy going and dull and I just couldn't finish it.
Comments
Time Travellers Wife two very indulgent smug characters who I cared not a jot about.
Twilight unlike Harry Potter is not really able to appeal to an adult audience as the writing is very poor IMO .........Bella is the most self centered, selfish irritating heroine I have ever come across, the books are full of teenage angst, they remind me of cheesy 1950's ballads....
I remember reading 'The Room'. Very,very nasty.
I agree with much of the criticism of the books, but the problems I have with them aren't ones I think can be due to the translation; but perhaps I'm wrong, and I do wonder.
The superfluous, uninteresting detail, for example. Can that be due to the translation? Or the cliched heroine? Badly written and clunky, perhaps.
I even made my husband read it and he thought it was gash.
That book nearly made me cry with boredom
Labrynthe - a book of complete trip, but to make it worse it's dull tripe, why I read to the end I've no idea - badly written, badly plotted and dull
Time Travellers Wife - when you read the book wanting both lead characters to die a painful death it's probably a good indication you're not enjoying it.
Catcher in the Rye - maybe was in the wrong frame of mind, but the appeal of it completely bypassed me.
Brick Lane
We Need to Talk about Kevin (I just didnt think the backwards and forwards stuff really translated very well in the book) however I think it was better suited to the film which is great (btw I know the book came first)
Old thread, I know, but I recently read Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and hated it.
On the subject of the translator getting the blame, there are plenty of critical reviews on Amazon that are coming from people who have read it in other languages besides English. So unless all the translators have done a bad job, I suspect the problem lies with the original text. Badly written and clunky? Probably.
Also disappointed with 'A Week in December' by the constantly hyped Sebastian Faulks - characters so dull I couldn't care less what happened to them, and plots that just bored me endlessly.
Me too, I got maybe 1/4 of the way through. There was just no life to the story. It was dull dull dull.