Books that let you down

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Jonathan Franzen's Freedom.

Agree!

Also, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell - SO boring and tedious. It seemed interesting at first but was just soooo sloooowwww.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
The Casual Vacancy by Rowling. Difficult subject, good moments, ending somehow unsatisfying.

Oh I loved this one. Hard to get into but once I was, I didn't want to out it down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Interestings and Middlesex

The Interestings should have been called The Borings. I hate to not finish books but this one was a trial for me. Finally had to resort to skimming. A shame because I loved her book The Ten Year Nap. Lots of insight into SAHM motherhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"We Are Water" by Wally Lamb. I love (and have re-read) several of his other books, but I really disliked that one. Too much build-up for the plot payoff and really horrible scenes of child molestation that I wasn't expecting.

God yes. That book felt like it was written for the Issue of the Month Club. Hmm, let's throw in molestation. Later-in-life lesbianism. Hey, a murder! It was ridiculous.

On that subject, doesn't it feel like lots of books these days have a checklist? Lesbianism, check. Evil priest, check. It's like the publishers insist writers add these things because they think they'll make the books sell among the few people who still patronize bookstores and read books. Believe me, I have no problem with LGBT issues per se, and in fact I'm wondering if someone in the family is about to come out, and that would be fine with me. But it gets a little wearing to read about it in every.single.novel.

Rant over.

Wally Lamb doesn't have to accept his publisher's suggestions, though. If there was a checklist, it was by his design. I just felt like he was ticking off boxes so Oprah would have lots of good issues to discuss. The characters didn't ring true to me, either. I found it a very disappointing book.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Interestings and Middlesex

The Interestings should have been called The Borings. I hate to not finish books but this one was a trial for me. Finally had to resort to skimming. A shame because I loved her book The Ten Year Nap. Lots of insight into SAHM motherhood.

The Interestings was unsatisfying. I didn't find Jules very likable and frankly didn't see why Ethan was so doggedly devoted to her. There was also little to explain Ash's attraction to Ethan. And Cathy just disappeared from the book.

[Anonymous]

Meg Wolitzer's "The Interestings." I didn't find any of them the least bit interesting,

Most of Curtis Sittenfeld's stuff. She's a good writer, but her female characters are all so passive. It makes me wonder if a lot of women are passive, since I'm not, at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The Casual Vacancy by Rowling. Difficult subject, good moments, ending somehow unsatisfying.

Oh I loved this one. Hard to get into but once I was, I didn't want to out it down.

I thought it was pretty darn good, although "love" might be too strong a word. There were many, too many, characters and families, so I found myself writing down all the families and their members at the back of the book. True, it was a bit depressing with few happy endings. For me, depressing is OK so long as I'm not looking for a book to help me escape at that particular moment.

[Anonymous]

The Interestings made me depressed! The sadsack characters drained the happiness out of me with each page and I ended up feeling like I'd lived a long, regrettable life even though I'm three decades younger than the characters.

Loved Where'd You Go, Bernadette but thought the ending wasn't so great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree on Gone Girl; I hate hate HATED Forrest Gump.

The movie (Gump) was great especially if you could appreciate all the historical references.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree on Gone Girl; I hate hate HATED Forrest Gump.

The movie (Gump) was great especially if you could appreciate all the historical references.

NP here. I love, love history, but I still thought it was cheesy. DH loved it, though.

[Anonymous]

I was disappointed in The Marriage Plot. Thought it was an example of a book that would have been ignored if it had been written by a woman. I also hated Olive Kitteridge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree on Gone Girl; I hate hate HATED Forrest Gump.

The movie (Gump) was great especially if you could appreciate all the historical references.

NP here. I love, love history, but I still thought it was cheesy. DH loved it, though.

PP here; I really liked the movie but the book was truly awful. One of the rare occasions where the movie was MUCH better than the book.

[Anonymous]

Gone Girl was great until the ending. That was one of the worst endings I've ever read.

I didn't even finish Where'd You Go, Bernadette. It's rare that I don't finish a book but I really didn't find it funny at all. It was boring.

Everyone raves about The Book Thief and I didn't like it. The style of writing annoyed me.

The Lovely Bones. I hated it.

[Anonymous]

Drood. Amazing first half and then out with a whimper.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gone Girl was great until the ending. That was one of the worst endings I've ever read.

I didn't even finish Where'd You Go, Bernadette. It's rare that I don't finish a book but I really didn't find it funny at all. It was boring.

Everyone raves about The Book Thief and I didn't like it. The style of writing annoyed me.

The Lovely Bones. I hated it.

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