Overated book

[lissyl78]

Just wondered if any of you have been disappointed with a well-known classic or been recommended a book that you really didn't like.

Mine would be Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier - it's written well but couldn't help but see it as a murder mystery version of Jane Eyre!

What books have you discovered to be really overated? Just curious! x

[mimififi]

DaVinci Code:  IMHO An overated romance novel.  Kept reading thinking it was going to get better, and it ended as it started.  boringly.

As a child, had the Katy Did's bought for me and was so keen to read them.  Had an old aunt tell me "you must read them dear, they are such wonders".  Read them and all she did was fall off a swing, and then go to the States.  I remember being really dissappointed.

BUT, a book I really enjoyed recently: Shadow of the Wind, by a relatively shy Spanish writer.  only a few of his novels have been translated.  My 11 yr olf DD bought it for me as she liked the cover and I read it out of obligation to her but thougth I'd hate it.  COUldn't put it down.  Kids had to have doughnuts for lunch because i had read so long, hadn't made the dinner!  woops.

(Sorry for dissing the books others probably loved!)

[mimififi]

SOrry they are not really classics, well I spose D.Code is a classic of our time, but the Katy did's are, but shadow probably isn't.  SOrry about that.

[lissyl78]

I felt bad dissing Rebecca too. Heard quite a few people not so keen on Da Vinci Code though.

What was the name of the Spanish author you like? x

[lissyl78]

Don't have to be classics - just an example. (Posts crossed!) x

[shaneystar]

Personally I loved Rebecca and Jane Eyre.Lorna Doone was in a similar vein. As a child I liked the Katy books.But then again it is many moons ago that I read them....!
As for the Da Vinci Code..a friend of mine said I must read it ..fantastic book and so on...load old rubbish. I got half way through it and gave up.

[lissyl78]

I loved Jane Eyre too but Rebecca just didn't do it for me.

Was going to read Da Vinci code but hear more bad reports than good! x

[shaneystar]

If the film is on (Rebecca) I always watch it if I can.I must have seen it loads of times. I read a book by Susan Hill which is a modern follow up to Rebecca called Mrs.De Winter and it was an absolutely dreadful book.
If anything, it serves the purpose of being a good example of how not to write a novel, never mind a sequel to one of the classics of 20th century literature. So don't bother with that one. !!! I think the reason I liked it so much was because as a girl in the sixties it seemed the epitome of romance and gothic horror. I shall have to read it again and see if I still think the same.!!

[phoenixxx]

I agree - the sequel to Rebecca is dire. Only good take on someone else's writing that I have read is Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rees - good take on teh first Mrs Rochester.

Book I could not read (and have tried every few years since I bought it in 1974 ) : Catch 22. Many friends say it's their favourite/classic etc but I could never get past the first couple of chapters.

[AliFlump]

I enjoyed the Da Vinci Code i think it was quite fast paced with one mystery after another yes he bent some truths but it was entertaining. I would recommend it. I always say ill like what i like not what other people tell me

[shaneystar]

I used to love the Lord Peter Wimsey books by Dorothy L Sayers and funnily enough came across a book in the library this week called Presumption of Death by Jill Paton Walsh & Dorothy L Sayers (attributed). Absolutely spot on. DLS could have written it herself.I did read Scarlett the sequel to Gone with the Wind ,another dreadful book !!

[LeMarchand]

The Da Vinci Code was a thrilling read, but lacked any literary merit beyond that. I find it hard to believe that people take some of its crackpot theories seriously. I know that the painting is in "The Little Mermaid", but I somewhat doubt that the animators sneaked it in as a hint about goddess worship. As for the thing about the "Mona Lisa" anagram - LdV didn't name the painting "Mona Lisa".

Perhaps the most relevant book to this thread that leaves me cold is The Lord of the Rings. Loved the films, never made it past the first book due to JRRT's constant stopping of the book for yet another poem/song/story. I was quite surprised to find out that when in the Fellowship movie Legolas doesn't tell the rest what the elves are singing about Gandalf there wasn't 3 pages of song in the book. (Though one of the hobbits makes up his own elegy a few pages later!)

Didn't get very far into The Lovely Bones either. I intend to go back to it, but suspect that it's probably something that appeals primarily to women.

[hannahjo]

Sophies world� absolutely diabolical! It has loads of stuff about ancient philosophers which was kinda interesting, but not really right for a bedtime read. The storyline itself got so stupid towards the end, I was reading is disbelief!

[mimififi]

yes Lord of the rings:  No way could I get into that.  Loved the movies, even tried to re-read the book after seeing the movie, but it just makes me feel tired.

can't remember the author's name Lissy, i can't remember, but i leant the book to my MIL, so Ill ask her.  I think Juaz someone or something.

Another dissappointment:  The five people you meet when you get to heaven.  never understoof the child beating bit, and seemed a bit weird at the end.  What had the girl done for him??? Dunno.

But Wuthering Heights.  Oooooh.  My best book.  How much do I fancy Heathcliff?  I read it about ever quarter.  That book is solely responsible for my goth phase at A'level.  Oooh, that cathy.  She was mental to stick with Edgar.  heathcliff is the man for me, i could tame him!!!!!! (Sorry, a bit carried away there)

[lissyl78]

I started reading Brave New World a few years back and stopped after the first page. Picked it up again last year, made myself read it and now it's one of my favourite books ever.

Never attempted Lord of the Rings but have always been disappointed with the ending of Lord of the Flies - dunno why. Maybe I didn't get it!

Am reading Anna Karenina at moment - amazing.

Mimififi - love Wuthering Heights too. Saw great production of it a couple of weeks ago and it was brilliant. Know what you mean about Heathcliff too! 'Haunt me, stay with me always, only do not leave me in this abyss where I cannot find you...' - I was blahing my eyes out! x

[mimififi]

oh I know: and that same scene where H picks her up off the bed to hold her, nelly writes "and upon releasing her, I distinctly saw two pale blue marks where his hands had been."  I wish I had had someone hold me that close, that tight.....Wow.

I might have to go and read it now.  I also like the ghost scene with Lockwood and the child at the window.  Just Chilling.

[quizzywig]

Someone called I think Emma Tenant wrote 2 follow-ups to Pride & Prejudice - absolutely dreadful!!! Just like Barbara Cartland type books. I agree with shaneystar the Wimsey follow up was great.

[Aschenbach]

|It depends on whether you define overrated in terms of public opinion awards & polls or books sold.

I think a lot of critically acclaimed books are usually deserving eg 1984, Crime and Punishment, Ulysses.

I've read the first four HARRY POTTER books and found them to be average and derivative children's books.

I wondered where the plot in Rebecca was going but the cabin revelations brought led to an exciting read in my opinion.

Pride and Prejudice and Great Expectations were disappointing as I expected them to somehow inspire and transcend other fiction. Often catchy titles raise expectation levels and success snowballs. Obviously, if The Da Vinci Code was called Robert and Sophie's Historical Mystery Adventure it wouldn't have attracted the hype  (even if the latter title is more explanatory)

[Bobble17]

lissy/mimi - the shadow of the wind is by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.  It's sitting in my pile of 'to read' beside my computer!  I'll get round to it one day...

overrated: the corrections by johnathan franzen.  Boring  pretentious self conscious... not a classic but was well hyped a couple of years ago.  But others I know disagree...

Anyone read A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry?  The best novel ever - compelling, emotional, visual and beautiful. And very sad.

[Piper-AK]

Sorry, but I hate Jane Eyre.  I just find it really pathetic and unplausable (I know, I know) and obviously written by a hormonal over-romantic teenager who had never been anywhere or done anything and had all her ideas of life from naff books.

Hitchhiker's Guide is one of my fave books - it lifts me out of bored / bad moods, and cheers me up even more when I'm already happy.  Anyone ever read 'Long Dark Teatime of the Soul' (also by Adams)?   

[tubeway]

Worst classic is mill on the floss by George Elliot - did she run out of time at the end - what a way to end the story - then there was a flood and they all drowned