It’s a question inspired by this post https://www.reddit.com/r/books/s/s2jK2DzFrA by u/oh_sneezeus

Is there any book that is considered a classic or regularly shows up on the “100 books to read before you die” lists and such, you had high expectations before reading and then you ended up absolutey detesting?

For me it’s Blindness by José Saramago, it started off good and then page after page it was becoming more unbearable for me to read, I hated the characters, the things they were doing and the conclusions of the book. I was really disappointed because the plot seemed really good and all I ended up with was frustration.

Is there a book that did the same to you?

  • metagnaisse@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    I wish people who are answering “The Heart of Darkness” could elaborate more. I really like this book.

    • Iamamyrmidon@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      Heart of Darkness is a fantastic book. It’s not even that long. I think people might not like the slow pace, but they’re going down a river slowly, not a god damn speed boat.

    • Attempt-Calm@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      As soon as I read the prompt my first thought was HoD. Now like most people I was given this to read in 12th grade AP Lit and it just was impossible to get through. I would get through a page and be like what is happening. Just gave up on the book and this might be the only one where that’s happened to me for that reason.

    • home-and-away@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      I like Heart of Darkness too but there is valid criticism. You should read Chinua Achebe’s An Image of Africa, a lecture that set off the criticism of this book. It’s not a bad book by any means and it is a product of its time but the criticism too is valid. I would not rate it a zero by any means.

    • CapybarasAreCoolAF@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      I like the story a lot and also think it has a lot of literary and historic significance. Conrad’s prose is just not something that my brain enjoys.

    • NikomiBlue@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      In high school, I found it to be so boring. To me, at the time, I felt like it all amounted to nothing.

      I want to re-read a lot of books I disliked at that age, now that I’m in my thirties. Maybe I’ll like them now.

    • Tamec82@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      It was my most hated book in high school for sure. Threw it against the wall when I finished.

      I just found it very, very dull.

    • shutupwes@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      I love Heart of Darkness so much but I agree that it’s probably a bit beyond many high schoolers. I was (okay, am) a huge lit nerd so I was very into it and appreciated the ways in which the narrator is very much portrayed as vile and horrible by Conrad, but I’m not sure if someone who isn’t passionate about fiction would really read into that much further than just taking the narrator at face value and assuming Conrad believes in the colonial project