Loved this and reminded me of how I cannot help but disagree with some many rave reviews. I could not finish Absurdistan but absolutely loved his latest piece about botched circumcision in the new yorker. Maybe him sad and in pain is funnier because he has to tone done the joke-every-second writing that I cannot stand. Also, I found Nickel Boys a much more engaging story that underground railroad. For my own list, I'd add Deacon King Kong, On Earth we were briefly gorgeous, and the list goes on...
I remember sitting down to read Everything Is Illuminated because it was THE book to read and not being able to get through more than ten pages. There are many books I end up putting down just because they're not my thing, but I found this one to be completely, utterly unreadable. My brain refused to engage with it. My current most overrated is Normal People. I might have liked it more without the hype, but by the time I made my way to it it was too late. Just . . . what a couple of drips. It wasn't badly written in any way and my experience wasn't overly unpleasant reading it. But I kept sitting there thinking, "really? this?" It also suffered from my comparison to a much more obscure Irish novel called Tender by Belinda McKeon, which sort of starts the same way but then takes off in a much different and much more emotional and dramatic direction.
What's interesting here is that two of the books listed here (Absurdistan and Fates & Furies) are by authors that had other, excellent books. I absolutely LOVED Super Sad True Love Story and Arcadia, but both of these novels (one a predecessor and the other a successor, I believe) left me relatively cold. For my submission of most overrated novels, I'd like to submit the following: A la recherche du temps perdu (coming out swinging with the big guns here I know), Infinite Jest (I've still got 150 pages to go, but I think I'm gonna call it), A Brief History of Seven Killings (I couldn't even finish it. One of the very few books I've quit on, after like 500 pages no less. Technically, the variety of writing styles was impressive. But it just seemed like empty linguistic fireworks to me).
Loved this and reminded me of how I cannot help but disagree with some many rave reviews. I could not finish Absurdistan but absolutely loved his latest piece about botched circumcision in the new yorker. Maybe him sad and in pain is funnier because he has to tone done the joke-every-second writing that I cannot stand. Also, I found Nickel Boys a much more engaging story that underground railroad. For my own list, I'd add Deacon King Kong, On Earth we were briefly gorgeous, and the list goes on...
I remember sitting down to read Everything Is Illuminated because it was THE book to read and not being able to get through more than ten pages. There are many books I end up putting down just because they're not my thing, but I found this one to be completely, utterly unreadable. My brain refused to engage with it. My current most overrated is Normal People. I might have liked it more without the hype, but by the time I made my way to it it was too late. Just . . . what a couple of drips. It wasn't badly written in any way and my experience wasn't overly unpleasant reading it. But I kept sitting there thinking, "really? this?" It also suffered from my comparison to a much more obscure Irish novel called Tender by Belinda McKeon, which sort of starts the same way but then takes off in a much different and much more emotional and dramatic direction.
Oh another one: was unable to get into possession by a.s. Byatt, felt so dumb but why is it good ???
Love this so much!
What's interesting here is that two of the books listed here (Absurdistan and Fates & Furies) are by authors that had other, excellent books. I absolutely LOVED Super Sad True Love Story and Arcadia, but both of these novels (one a predecessor and the other a successor, I believe) left me relatively cold. For my submission of most overrated novels, I'd like to submit the following: A la recherche du temps perdu (coming out swinging with the big guns here I know), Infinite Jest (I've still got 150 pages to go, but I think I'm gonna call it), A Brief History of Seven Killings (I couldn't even finish it. One of the very few books I've quit on, after like 500 pages no less. Technically, the variety of writing styles was impressive. But it just seemed like empty linguistic fireworks to me).