Most Overrated Book You've Read? Groups

[Gemma]

What is the most overrated book you have read and why?

For me it has to be Beatlebone by Kevin Barry.

I don't know if it is the worst book I have ever read (it may be) but I say overrated as it has won awards and garnered a lot of praise.

I thought it was a self-indulgent load of nonsense - the kind of "modern literary" book someone might write as a joke to see how many awards it might win. The chapter towards the end about the writing process really took the biscuit too.

 

[Janey]

I have a few that come to mind straight away!

The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger - A tedious read about a whiny teenager.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson - Complete drivel that I abandoned (the film was the same)

The Old Man and the Sa by Ernest Hemingway - Old guy goes fishing in a boat. The End.

 

[hannah]

"The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood: unconvincing, and derivative from science fiction - the whole idea was done much better by John Wyndham.

 

[Emma]

Eat, Pray, Love. Complete rubbish

Jane Eyre, terrible book with a hypocritical ending. Sorry I ever bothered.

 

[Jess]

The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho. Self-indulgent and boring.

 

[Cherub]

American Psycho - a series of violent fantasies and satirical observations in need of a story.

 

[Cherub]

Another vote for Catcher in the Rye. I know it's not overly long but if I hadn't been on a long train journey at the time of reading I'd never have finished it.

 

[Talia]

Fifty Shades of Grey.....no mind the "mummy porn", the biggest waste of paper ever.

 

[Sad Professor]

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson - Complete drivel that I abandoned (the film was the same)

There was always something flaky about Hunter S Thompson.

Fifty Shades of Grey.....no mind the "mummy porn", the biggest waste of paper ever.

Terrible book.

The World According to Garp. Self-indulgent twaddle populated by a cast of annoying characters.

 

[Aimie]

Sally Rooney, I've only read Ordinary People and don't get the hype. Randy teenagers grow into their 20s and have a few issues, yawn!

I know I might be alone on this, but I thought The Book Thief (Markus Zusack) was very overrated.