Explanation - invariably I will read a fantastic book, beautifully written with a sweeping or moving story that is profoundly impactful…and some amateur reviewer will have written, “That book is so boring! Blah, blah, blah, nothing exciting ever happens!” 🙄
When I read these, I often pause to try to imagine what sort of book those reviewers WOULD like, lol. No doubt its probably an elitist, pompous exercise…but its fun imagining for a moment a book filled with non-stop, over the top action, gory or imaginative deaths by the dozens, torrid romantic liasons, CIA and KGB and SS agents around every corner, etc. Ive been tempted to write that book, tongue in cheek, just so those reviewers would have something to be happy about.
Then I thought…maybe someone has already done this? Intentionally written a book so egregiously over-the-top that even those action-aholics might be tempted to say, “too fast, and too much excitement…” in their reviews?
I know exactly what you mean. I’m a big fan of historical fiction and some of my favorites have absolutely dismal ratings on Goodreads. I tend to like historical fiction set in the 19th century that is written in a style that emulates 19th century writing. I’ll go to the reviews and it’s just reviewer after reviewer saying how boring they found the book. If that’s the main complaint, I’ll ignore them.
Why do people read historical fiction if they don’t like it? I read fantasy romance/romance and you’d think some people were expecting epic fantasy from it and that’s not how it works.
Sometimes it’s people who usually read historical romance and don’t realize that regular historical fiction is different.
I also like gothic fiction and historical horror, but a lot of the readers expecting gory horror are disappointed.
So yeah…it’s just people not understanding what they’re picking up.
I did a class in gothic lit before and you aren’t wrong though Dracula is still a great read for me even if I found the other books to be a bit dull for my preferences I did learn a lot in that class.
I also remember reading a book about a Pope and it dealt with rape during that time that was terrifying when you consider home old the book was before the sexual harassments of the church came out.