You wanted to read the book, you were excited to crack it open, you came into it with good faith and anticipation… but you ended up dnf-ing it. Which book and why?
Mine was The Maid by Nita Prose. It was for my book club and looked like a fun murder mystery. Instead I got instant manic-pixie-dream-neurodivergent-girl vibes, and I noped out before the crime scene was even found.
I think it was by Karin Slaughter, not entirely sure which book. I read maybe a chapter or a little more and the writing just made me stop immediately. I got about 50 pages into The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt and couldn’t keep going, something about the writing voice seemed very off to me.
I had this weird disconnect recently with a book as well. On the surface The Undetectables was everything I should love: magical detection, ghosts, queer characters, etc. But I would find myself putting it down and feeling loathe to pick it up again even though the story was fine. I still can’t put my finger on what was so off putting about the writing.
The Goldfinch is my favorite book of all times!!! But it did start off slow.