An overhyped classic you really didn't like

[Jessica Harrison 1]

The sun also rises by Hemingway. I trudged halfway through it and couldn't finish it. I usually love classics and can appreciate a slow book, but it was astonishingly boring.

[Archaeoptery]

To Kill A Mockingbird. I keep on hearing about this book while in school and looked forward to reading it when its time came. Once I read it was another story, I find it a boring read compare to other books based on the same theme. I was glad once I finished reading because I for sure would not be rereading it again.

[Barbara Vertein]

I struggle to connect with early sci-fi. 20,000 Leagues under the Sea was enjoyable in concept, but I struggled to read it and switched to the audio book. I think I need to work on ability to focus for slower books in general. I really struggled with David Copperfield as well.

[Eclecticmama]

Mine was Pride and Prejudice. Its not that great I honestly don't get the hype, lol. I find the characters and story to be boring, maybe because I can't relate to any of them. I've loved other classic era books like the Little House on the Prairie series, so I figured I would enjoy this one too, since its been talked up so much. Nah. Not for me.

[Anna Bookowski]

I could not get into Lord of the Rings. I personally did not care for the books or the movies.

I have so many mixed feelings about 'Lord Of The Rings'. I know people or love them or hate them, no middle way! Personally I've read first two books and gave up in the middle of the third one, as I felt exhausted and I had the persistent feeling that this story should have ended many pages before already. It was a tiresome and demanding reading. Too many and too long descriptions of landscapes and elements which I assume were meant to be a sort of literal artistry but after all were just ditraction from actual happenings. The story was too long with no reason. It could have been closed within 2 books max. Also there was but a few female characters.
On the other hand it's hard to deny the high class of the books and their worth in a literature world. It is a very detailed story and it's hard to not appreciate how much work it must have cost to write it. I know plenty of people absolutely loving this title. So there must be something in it.

[Anna Bookowski]

The Great Gatsby did not interest me at all. It wasn't that it was boring, I just think it's too overhyped and a kind of bland story. The characters are all kind of...annoying and immature, I didn't like a single one.

I agree! I just wrote similar opinion on the other forum. I find 'The Great Gatsby' very overrated and characters simply unrealistic and annoying. I could hardly get through all the 'old sport's' which I found terribly irritating. Taking that book was no more than one hour reading, I'm asking myself if it was not written in a one evning or so. It doesn't seem thought through. And as you said, all the characters were unlikable. The story itself brought completely nothing in my life.

[Anna Bookowski]

I have a profound aversion to The Catcher in The Rye - I understand its significance *but* I cannot stand it. Holden is a pretentious, angsty, edgy teenager that's unlikeable and annoying which would be fine if it had a point, but there is nothing of substance there. There is no point, no message, nothing I could take away from the book. Sure it talks about the trouble of adolescence and growing up but it *just* talks, without saying anything.

I'm a bit ashamed to admit that I've never read it, but seeing your opinion I loose my regrets! Thank you for sharing, it seems a valuable point to me.

[MBerretta]

I have a couple that I'm not fond of:
Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne rambles and gets off topic WAYYYY too much for me. I was nearly finished with the dang thing before I realized that the Preacher was the father of the child.

Moby Dick by Herman Melville. Once again, another author that just rambles and gets off topic way too much. I got lost so many times while reading and forgot where we were in the story.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. This was written well and the story is very interesting but I just can't fathom people burning books. There's just something so incredibly off-putting by this action. It's not terrifying like horror, it makes me feel unsettled. I couldn't even watch the movie adaptation with Michael B. Jordan.

Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier. I hated Mary Yellan and Jem's relationship. It just didn't seem like Jem really liked Mary all that much. Even at the end when he was leaving town, he was like "you can come if you want, doesn't matter much to me." WTF DUDE

[Dzejn_Crvena]

I can name a few that immediately came to mind:

1984 by George Orwell
Anthem by Ayn Rand
The Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

I love dystopian novels, but the writing style of these authors is very difficult for me to follow through. There's also a non-classic Young Adult book entitle FEED that sounds like 1984. I won't read a similar book again.

[angelap5467]

I could not get into Lord of the Rings. I personally did not care for the books or the movies.

Same! I tried to have a marathon and watch all the movies but it wasn't interesting enough for me. And boy was it hard to stay focused while reading the books Too much overlapping, not enough character development at least for me...

[Sohana Hasan]

Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. I had to read it for a homework assignment and was in absolute pain the entire time. I'm usually a pretty fast and enthusiastic reader, but this was actually painful for me to read. Weirdly, I loved the movie (which we also had to watch), so I think it has more to do with Austen's writing and less to do with the plot.

[lpedersen1498]

I usually feel like picking up a "classic" is like returning home after a long trip, even if it's a new book to me. However, A Tale of Two Cities was more like trudging through mud for me. Just could not get into it!

[ccarmink25]

Mmm i would say The Lord of the Rings. I have a hard time getting into it, to the dismay of my husband who does love them. Also, just read Wicked and I was not too happy about that one.

[Dunstan Brooks]

Most of James Joyce's books. I heard his works are great classics so I tried reading Ulysses and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and finally, Dubliners, because it's a collection of short stories and I thought would be easier. His style, I guess, just doesn't appeal to me. They're probably not overhyped, just too difficult for me to get into.

[Kiran Kanwar]

I remember that I read the book Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger and just didn't get it.