Classic books that you HATED

wewon

I find it interesting that so many of the books people disliked are more somber, even depressing books. I know that many of those mentioned left a bad taste in my mouth (Animal Farm, Brave New World, Lord of the Flies, The Awakening, etc.), but I chalk that up to the fact that we've all been seasoned to expect and even demand happy endings. When we read books that lack that ending we desire, we tend to write them off as unappealing. Reading through this thread has actually made me interested in revisiting a lot of the books mentioned, since it's been years since I've read most of them. Hope it gives a few other people ideas too! :flowerforyou:

Thank you. This thread is a superb list of great books I've very much enjoyed. Faulkner's short stories are perfection, Canterbury Tales are funny, so many of the titles here just bring to mind scenes and images and complex feelings - such richness!

Perhaps an education in the classics is wasted on many; the absence of leverage to understand context, style, poetics or historical relevance just isn't enough and one must find a "happy" or "punchy" story. For me, my failure is James Joyce - I do not have the cultural references to read Ulysses from cover to cover despite having lived in the house of the first publication (and translation into French) in Paris. Or these books are thrown at students at the wrong age.
Enjoy your readings!

Wow, that's judgmental. Just because someone doesn't like a book you like doesn't mean the person was the wrong age or that the person doesn't understand what he read.

I agree.

A case could also be made that most classics (both books and movies) tend to suffer from the Emperor's New Clothes syndrome; most people are afraid to voice an unfavorable opinion on them for fear of being seen as a fool.

EvgeniZyntx

Wow, that's judgmental. Just because someone doesn't like a book you like doesn't mean the person was the wrong age or that the person doesn't understand what he read.

If an education of a book is seen as being forced and the end result is that the reader hates the book then how is this not a waste of time? I would suggest you read the thread and see that often people mention the age or being forced to read such and such book. Again, it's an observation of the waste.
It does not mean that a person was necessarily at the wrong age or that they didn't necessarily understand, or place culturally or historically, or yada yada yada other reasons that I mentioned. It would have been judgmental if my intent was to either single out and criticize a specific person about this or that book or even to consider that this can only be the single reason for disliking a classic book. It is pretty obvious that personal taste has a lot to do with it and taste, in literature like in food, is partially acquired. There are a thousand reasons for taste and no accounting for it.
Yet what I wrote holds "for many" from their own admission - too early and forced reading. What you like or do not, as an individual, in a thread full of anonymous comments is not being judged; mine is an observation of a sum of comments for some of the "many".

Huskeryogi

I find it interesting that so many of the books people disliked are more somber, even depressing books. I know that many of those mentioned left a bad taste in my mouth (Animal Farm, Brave New World, Lord of the Flies, The Awakening, etc.), but I chalk that up to the fact that we've all been seasoned to expect and even demand happy endings. When we read books that lack that ending we desire, we tend to write them off as unappealing. Reading through this thread has actually made me interested in revisiting a lot of the books mentioned, since it's been years since I've read most of them. Hope it gives a few other people ideas too! :flowerforyou:

Thank you. This thread is a superb list of great books I've very much enjoyed. Faulkner's short stories are perfection, Canterbury Tales are funny, so many of the titles here just bring to mind scenes and images and complex feelings - such richness!

Perhaps an education in the classics is wasted on many; the absence of leverage to understand context, style, poetics or historical relevance just isn't enough and one must find a "happy" or "punchy" story. For me, my failure is James Joyce - I do not have the cultural references to read Ulysses from cover to cover despite having lived in the house of the first publication (and translation into French) in Paris. Or these books are thrown at students at the wrong age.
Enjoy your readings!

Wow, that's judgmental. Just because someone doesn't like a book you like doesn't mean the person was the wrong age or that the person doesn't understand what he read.

I think there's some truth to not appreciating things you are forced to read, but most of the books I listed as hated had nothing to do with them being somber or depressing. Anna Karenina just dragged. If you cut out the pages and pages about mowing and other such topics and just focused on the plot driven story I probably would have liked it. And many people have said they don't like Jane Austen. I don't associate her with somber or depressing. I just find her writing style overbearing.

In recent reads I loved "We Need to Talk about Kevin" and that was definitely a somber, depressing book.

projectxreborn

The Hobbit...how did that book ever last longer than the year it was published in?

ninjakitty81

Wow, that's judgmental. Just because someone doesn't like a book you like doesn't mean the person was the wrong age or that the person doesn't understand what he read.

If an education of a book is seen as being forced and the end result is that the reader hates the book then how is this not a waste of time? I would suggest you read the thread and see that often people mention the age or being forced to read such and such book. Again, it's an observation of the waste.
It does not mean that a person was necessarily at the wrong age or that they didn't necessarily understand, or place culturally or historically, or yada yada yada other reasons that I mentioned. It would have been judgmental if my intent was to either single out and criticize a specific person about this or that book or even to consider that this can only be the single reason for disliking a classic book. It is pretty obvious that personal taste has a lot to do with it and taste, in literature like in food, is partially acquired. There are a thousand reasons for taste and no accounting for it.
Yet what I wrote holds "for many" from their own admission - too early and forced reading. What you like or do not, as an individual, in a thread full of anonymous comments is not being judged; mine is an observation of a sum of comments for some of the "many".

I agree to an extent (obviously other factors do come into play) with the dislike of some of the classics being about force reading and age, I started rereading all the classics I read in school again when I hit my 20's, and rather enjoyed most of the ones I originally disliked, and even the ones I didn't enjoy (James Joyce) I still was able to finish and have a better understanding and appreciation for the novel.

The Importance of Being Earnest is one of my faves now, yet when I read it in high school, I thought it was ridicules and a waste of time.

reese66

The Scarlet Letter, I stopped on page 60 something and bought the cliff notes before I offed myself.

Silverkittycat

Lolita. I could not relate to the protagonist.

I felt the same. Forgave him once I read The Gift.

twinmom14ek

I think there's some truth to not appreciating things you are forced to read, but most of the books I listed as hated had nothing to do with them being somber or depressing. Anna Karenina just dragged. If you cut out the pages and pages about mowing and other such topics and just focused on the plot driven story I probably would have liked it. And many people have said they don't like Jane Austen. I don't associate her with somber or depressing. I just find her writing style overbearing.

I agree that writing style and overly descriptive language can turn people off an otherwise wonderful book. I have to admit, the first time I picked up Pride and Prejudice (8th grade), I barely got through the first chapter. A couple years later, I picked it up again, and Austen is now one of my favorite authors. I try to give any book a second chance before completely writing it off. Sometimes I'm just too distracted to immerse myself in a book that requires more attention than just cursory attention to plot development. I have a whole stack of books that I hope to revisit and finish--Anna Karenina is one of them. Maybe when I get to the pages about mowing I'll skip ahead. :laugh:

RilantheFirebug

To Kill a Mockingbird and Grapes of Wrath. Had to read A Separate Peace for school and didn't like until I had some distance. Seriously though I probably had To Kill a Mockingbird on my summer reading list (or in class reading list) three or four times.

Luckily for me, I had already read several that were required reading that were already favorites of mine like Dante's Inferno and The Great Gatsby.

EvgeniZyntx

The Importance of being Ernest is such a fun play. Such great characters. There are many factors, I would certainly not assume to reduce the interactions of so many strangers into a few peg holes.

ShreddedTweet

Oscar Wilde can do no wrong.... I'm shaking my head in disbelief at some of the books people 'hate'.

LuckyLeprechaun

Faulkner. Sound and the Fury.

I seriously thought I'd had a stroke and lost the ability to read in English. It's utterly nonsensical.


Hated it.

wewon

Faulkner. Sound and the Fury.

I seriously thought I'd had a stroke and lost the ability to read in English. It's utterly nonsensical.

LOL!

Rae6503

Anything I read by John Steinbeck, which I think was just Grapes of Wrath and Winter of Our Discontent.

EvgeniZyntx

Oscar Wilde can do no wrong.... I'm shaking my head in disbelief at some of the books people 'hate'.

:flowerforyou: Indeed.

beckajw

Wow, that's judgmental. Just because someone doesn't like a book you like doesn't mean the person was the wrong age or that the person doesn't understand what he read.

If an education of a book is seen as being forced and the end result is that the reader hates the book then how is this not a waste of time? I would suggest you read the thread and see that often people mention the age or being forced to read such and such book. Again, it's an observation of the waste.
It does not mean that a person was necessarily at the wrong age or that they didn't necessarily understand, or place culturally or historically, or yada yada yada other reasons that I mentioned. It would have been judgmental if my intent was to either single out and criticize a specific person about this or that book or even to consider that this can only be the single reason for disliking a classic book. It is pretty obvious that personal taste has a lot to do with it and taste, in literature like in food, is partially acquired. There are a thousand reasons for taste and no accounting for it.
Yet what I wrote holds "for many" from their own admission - too early and forced reading. What you like or do not, as an individual, in a thread full of anonymous comments is not being judged; mine is an observation of a sum of comments for some of the "many".

That is not exactly what you said in your original post. However, just because someone is "forced" to read something doesn't mean they will hate it. I read Anna Karenina on my own--couldn't stand it. I read Animal Farm in school--loved it.

raven3lise

The discussion is just too long for my little girl attention span, so here's my two cents:
Just because they're all defined as 'classics' by the media doesn't mean that automatically, we should like them. Should we read them? Personally, yes, its good to at least try and sample stuff that came before the wave of generic vampire romance authors (excluding Anne Rice), but there's nothing wrong with not liking them. Everyone has different tastes. Personally, I loved Of Mice and Men, the Old Man and the Sea, Othello, An Ideal Husband and others. Things like The Great Gatsby, Animal Farm and Jane Eyre just can't hold my interest, though. I think people should explore other classics, though, some not so mainstream, so they can realize the better side of older books. Even though the 1950s isn't that old literature wise, I think my favorite old author would be Paul Gallico.
What am I even writing I'm 19 I don't know anything about books

JeninBelgium

Beowulf.

You said it sister!

allisona28

Anything William Faulkner, and I'm a MS and OLE MISS girl.

KG220

crime and punishment...i actually only got past the first few chapters and gave up because i couldn't read it without wanting to fall asleep haha