Hyped-up books that you were disappointed with

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  • strawberry66strawberry66 Posts: 1,822
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    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....
  • revolver44revolver44 Posts: 22,766
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    Last Exit To Brooklyn. Supposedly a classic, the writing style made me want to tear my eyes out. So I gave up on it after a few chapters.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 214
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    revolver44 wrote: »
    Last Exit To Brooklyn. Supposedly a classic, the writing style made me want to tear my eyes out. So I gave up on it after a few chapters.

    I remember reading 'The Room'. Very,very nasty.
  • jabegyjabegy Posts: 6,201
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    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.
  • VeriVeri Posts: 96,996
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    Barbella wrote: »
    The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

    TBH, I felt it was badly translated, tedious in the extreme, and the Salander girl was a monumental cliche.

    A few million others would disagree with me, but , IMO, it was just mno where near the hype.
    Yes, the translation is very poor and the main female character cliched in the extreme, I quite agree.
    ...
    babysweet wrote: »
    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.
    PamelaL wrote: »
    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.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 865
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    The Da Vinci Code!!!
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 853
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    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.
  • Agent KrycekAgent Krycek Posts: 39,269
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    meroko wrote: »
    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.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 4,012
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    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)
  • LaVieEnRoseLaVieEnRose Posts: 12,836
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    Veri wrote: »
    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.
  • MandarkMandark Posts: 47,930
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    TOONARMY12 wrote: »
    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.
  • Madonna38Madonna38 Posts: 2,078
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    Looking for Alaska. I'm half way through it but I don't think I'm even going to bother finishing it.
  • Cellar_DoorCellar_Door Posts: 2,275
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    On Beauty and White Teeth - Zadie Smith. Bored to tears with them both.
  • gboygboy Posts: 4,989
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    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.
  • David_QuintonDavid_Quinton Posts: 92
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    Agree with Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell couldn't be bothered to finish it.
    .

    Me too, I got maybe 1/4 of the way through. There was just no life to the story. It was dull dull dull.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 8,145
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    the passage by justin cronin. I gave up about two thirds through.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 297
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    The Book Thief by Markus Zusak - had it recommended by so many people but it bored me to tears. It was a struggle to finish it.
  • TelevisionUserTelevisionUser Posts: 41,404
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    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.
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