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.

    • elveebee22@alien.topB
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      1 year ago

      You did yourself a favor. The answer to the mystery is so nonsenical, and it didn’t even have anything to do with the whole book.

      • willow195@alien.topB
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        1 year ago

        I picked this up in a bookshop today, thought about it, couldn’t justify buying more books this close to Christmas, feel so glad now I put it back, would have been another book tube disaster for me I think!

      • toriyo@alien.topB
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        1 year ago

        Thank you for that. I was listening to the audiobook years ago and gave up on it.

        I was then very confused by the love around The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. I thought they were the same book! They were not …

    • s0upvsworld@alien.topB
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      1 year ago

      I finished it but by the end could just not bothered to paint the whole mystery together. It got to a point where I just found myself like Bobby Hill after each chapter “…ok”

    • amosc33@alien.topB
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      1 year ago

      That’s usually when I skip to the end to see what happens. If I care about how we got there, I keep reading. If not, out it goes!

    • rustblooms@alien.topB
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      1 year ago

      I finished it and it was okay, but the writing almost dropped me in the first few pages. It reminded me of reading the storyline prompts in a video game.

    • Cuptapus@alien.topB
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      1 year ago

      Huh, just to add a differing opinion to the mix. I actually really liked it! I thought it was a fun way to tell the story.

      • IchabodHollow@alien.topB
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        1 year ago

        Same! Very surprised to see this answer as this is one of the few books I’ve read in the last 5 years that I was actually satisfied by the end. Definitely worth a second read to see how it all fits together now that I know everything.

    • AreaLongjumping1120@alien.topB
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      1 year ago

      I started skimming about halfway through and then just gave up. Looked online to see how it ended and it was so convoluted I’m glad I didn’t spend time slogging to the end.

      • Striking_Sky6900@alien.topB
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        1 year ago

        No disrespect to anyone who read and liked the book—I just think life is too short and reading is too pleasurable to read books that aren’t doing it for you.