Name a book critic favorite that you didn’t like

[Anonymous]

The other thread (which I am enjoying) is about popular books, but I wanted to start one focused on books that got generally positive reviews from the literary critics that you didn’t like. What books did you read and feel like literary critics are on an entirely different planet than you are?

I’ll start. I just finished Bewilderment by Richard Powers. I’m mystified by the positive reviews it got. It was heavy-handed, maudlin in the worst way, logically inconsistent, tedious and entirely derivative. I honestly do not understand why it got positive reviews from critics. How did the critics read that and not find it ham-handed and predictable? I’m confused.

[Anonymous]

Klara and the Sun. So extraordinarily dull.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Klara and the Sun. So extraordinarily dull.

yeah that was a tough read I didn't get past the middle. I was here to say - anything recommended by Oprah I'll just automatically avoid, won't even look at, as her tastes are so completely polar opposite to mine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Klara and the Sun. So extraordinarily dull.

yeah that was a tough read I didn't get past the middle. I was here to say - anything recommended by Oprah I'll just automatically avoid, won't even look at, as her tastes are so completely polar opposite to mine.

OP here. Are Oprah’s choices typically also liked by book critics? I thought she did more pop books. But I haven’t looked very closely.

[Anonymous]

Olive Kitteridge - could NOT get into it. Just bored.

[Anonymous]

Ugh Bewilderment! I agree. I asked for it for Christmas last year, and feel bad…it was so tedious I didn’t even read past the few chapters.

Critics are full of it. They have pressure to give positive reviews to books that don’t warrant it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Klara and the Sun. So extraordinarily dull.

yeah that was a tough read I didn't get past the middle. I was here to say - anything recommended by Oprah I'll just automatically avoid, won't even look at, as her tastes are so completely polar opposite to mine.

I’m opposite. I generally like her selections. Well, I used to. Some of my favorite reads from the ‘90s were from her book club. But, back then, they tended to be straight forward stories, family sagas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Olive Kitteridge - could NOT get into it. Just bored.

Loathed Olive Kitteridge, but I loved Strout's later book Oh, William and have Lucy by the Sea (same characters as Oh, William) in my queue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Klara and the Sun. So extraordinarily dull.

yeah that was a tough read I didn't get past the middle. I was here to say - anything recommended by Oprah I'll just automatically avoid, won't even look at, as her tastes are so completely polar opposite to mine.

OP here. Are Oprah’s choices typically also liked by book critics? I thought she did more pop books. But I haven’t looked very closely.

1. Yes they often are
and
2. Oprah can be included in the category of "book critic" - it doesn't have to be limited to a journalist writing for a broadsheet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Klara and the Sun. So extraordinarily dull.

yeah that was a tough read I didn't get past the middle. I was here to say - anything recommended by Oprah I'll just automatically avoid, won't even look at, as her tastes are so completely polar opposite to mine.

OP here. Are Oprah’s choices typically also liked by book critics? I thought she did more pop books. But I haven’t looked very closely.

1. Yes they often are
and
2. Oprah can be included in the category of "book critic" - it doesn't have to be limited to a journalist writing for a broadsheet.

True. I was thinking of critics as the people who write for things like the NYT or New York Review of books.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh Bewilderment! I agree. I asked for it for Christmas last year, and feel bad…it was so tedious I didn’t even read past the few chapters.

Critics are full of it. They have pressure to give positive reviews to books that don’t warrant it.

Glad I am not the only one!

- OP

[Anonymous]

Does Man Booker winner count?

I hated Amsterdam by Ian McEwan. I also hated "The Sellout" by Paul Beatty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does Man Booker winner count?

I hated Amsterdam by Ian McEwan. I also hated "The Sellout" by Paul Beatty.

Man Booker counts!

Though I actually liked “The Sellout.” But I’m here for your hate anyhow!

- OP.

[Anonymous]

The Goldfinch

I bought it and couldn't get into it. I was the. On vacation a few years later and bought it again. Forgetting completely that I hated it. Started it and was so irritated. The reviews and back cover are so good. When it came out as a movie I was floored. Movie is terrible too!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Olive Kitteridge - could NOT get into it. Just bored.

Loathed Olive Kitteridge, but I loved Strout's later book Oh, William and have Lucy by the Sea (same characters as Oh, William) in my queue.

I loved Olive Kitteridge- such a refreshingly flawed female character with depth.