I’ll go with the low-hanging fruit: Mein Kampf. I’ve read it, cover to cover. As a piece of propaganda, it’s good. As an example of good writing? Absolutely not (though I will admit I have only read it in translation). Oh, and the whole fascist, racist, and generally shitty worldview of the author that he infuses into the text. And the fact that the author is literally Hitler. You 5-star that book? You’re a Nazi. Period. And as a Jewish person, I don’t look too kindly on them.

  • doegred@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    I don’t think I’ve ever come across someone in the wild who liked Lolita because they identified with Humbert Humbert. I find it pretty bewildering

    Neither have I but I’ve heard of this memoir called Being Lolita about the author (Alisson Wood) being groomed by her English teacher - who gives her a copy of Lolita. So apparently such people exist, even though as you rightly say it must require wilfully skimming over certain passages.