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?
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I don’t understand why they force kids to read it. It feels like you are being unendingly beaten over the head with third-rate Christian propaganda. The characters are one-dimensional. The writing is poor. The dialogue is stilted.
If they want to indoctrinate kids, I’d much rather that they either directly assigned the Bible or picked a better allegory like Moby Dick.
Hmm. I am very Christian. I was raised very Christian. I did not pick up on the Christian themes when I first read this book at 8. I simply saw the wonder and magic that existed. I did not pick up on said Christian themes the second, third, fourth, fifth, etc times I read it. It was only after a lovely discussion at the dinner table when I was 17 that I realized it had Christian themes in the book. My younger siblings, I am the oldest, also remarked on their surprise when my parents brought up the Christian themes. I also watched the films several times, not just the movies but the BBC shorter films as well. I think you’re giving kids a bit more credit. And is telling kids to be kind, brave, loyal, just, and merciful really a bad thing? Because that’s what I got out of the books as a child. They thought me the importance of compassion and being kind and charitable towards others. I truly do not see how teaching kids that is a bad idea.
I don’t have a problem with teaching kids to be kind, loyal, just, and merciful. I don’t even have a problem with teaching kids values directly using the Bible or the Quran or the Torah or whatever as long as it isn’t at a public school.
What I do have a problem with is forcing kids to read a poorly written book. That’s the kind of thing that risks turning a potential lifelong reader into someone who hates books.
I’d have been willing to overlook being bashed over the head with the symbolism of the reincarnation of Aslan, the stone table, the Garden-of-Eden-style temptation of the Turkish Delight, the Cain and Abel plotline being rammed down our throats with Edmund, etc all of which I immediately identified when reading the book as a second grader who grew up Catholic.
But at a minimum, there had to be some passably well-written complex characters I could care about and some dialogue that resembled a real conversation. And there wasn’t. Instead, we were left with pitiful caricatures of kids just barely sufficient to construct a web of thinly veiled symbolism on top of.
And parents then foist that pitiful excuse for storytelling on children with the non-logic that if it’s so heavily inspired by Christianity, it must be good.
Hmmm. We’ll have to agree to disagree. I find the books to be delightful and well written. Perhaps better read to a child, but still good.
We’ll definitely have to agree to disagree. It was one of my least favorite books when I read it as a child.