The Most Overrated Classics

[BelindaC]

I definitely agree with Catch 22, Catcher in the Rye and Hamlet. I've tried Catch 22 many times and just cannot get into it, and Hamlet I've had to study so many times throughout high school and university that it is possibly my least favourite Shakespeare play. I personally think Macbeth and Othello are far more enjoyable. Although my dislike of Hamlet makes Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead extremely enjoyable to me for its take on it.
In terms of overrated classics, I would personally add Jane Eyre to the list, as despite loving some of the other classic romances, namely Pride and Prejudice and Wuthering Heights, I cannot for the life of me get into Jane Eyre. I've never even been able to make it through a film version of it.

In regards to your underrated list, I wholeheartedly agree with your opinion of Marlowe. I too actually prefer him to Shakespeare, to be honest. I was lucky enough to take a Renaissance Drama class where we studied all of his plays and was shocked to discover that such an amazingly entertaining playwright is so often disregarded in favour of Shakespeare. My personal favourite, despite its controversial nature for obvious reasons, is The Jew of Malta, for its wacky violence and over the top nature.

[Reuben 92]

Hi luckyclover07, thanks for your comments! I agree with you on Macbeth for sure, it's my favourite! And glad to hear of another Marlowe fan - he is definitely neglected Have you tried the BBC adaptation of Jane Eyre with Michael Fassbender and Mia Wasikowska? It's excellent.

[Kat Berg]

I could not even make it through Wuthering Heights or The Great Gatsby. Ugh. So dull! I think Persuasion is highly underrated! I love Pride and Prejudice, but it does not hold a candle to what I believe was Austen's greatest work.

[Reuben 92]

Thanks for the reply Kat Berg. That is an interesting Austen favourite - I don't know if I could pick just one Austen book as the best!

[Caleb001]

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[Kat Berg]

Persuasion is fairly widely thought of as her most mature work. It doesn’t have the light airiness of Pride and Prejudice, which I believe is why it is not as widely beloved. And it is quite short, but the depth of the characters, just isn’t matched by her other stuff. I will go to P &J if I want a fun read, but Persuasion if I want to think, or am in a melancholy mood.

[Cinderella53]

I definitely have to say, in my opinion that Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger is stupidly overrated by the general public. I have felt this way for many years and I don't see myself going back on that.

[radioactivelyradiant]

Catcher in the Rye, absolutely. I was bored the whole way through, looking forward to the ending, and then very disappointed when the so-called "finale that made the rest of the book worth it" didn't deliver.

[Reuben 92]

Glad to hear more people were disappointed in Catcher than just me - I used to wonder what I was missing!

[Arushi Singh]

I just associate the classics with the canon, the legends of "Dead White Men". So I try not to celebrate it unless its brilliant. Most classics are overrated books.

[Reuben 92]

Thanks for the comment Arushi Singh! I'd be interested to hear which ones you do not find overrated.

[Lincolnshirelass]

I have to admit that though I generally love 19th century fiction, I think some of Dickens is over-rated. I like 'David Copperfield' and 'Great Expectations' and especially at this time of year the Christmas books, but have struggled with some of the others and find they contain caricatures rather than characters. I have tried - genuinely - with 'Barnaby Rudge' and 'Martin Chuzzlewit' many times and just can't get on with them. About under-rated - I sometimes think there is a certain snobbishness about books that are classified as 'crime stories' - in my opinion Patricia Highsmith should have won literary awards outside her own genre, as well.

[Insightsintobooks729]

I think that The Scarlett Letter is overrated as well as Moby Dick.

[TobiOrNotTobi]

Ugh... the classics... I am not a big fan of "the classics"... I think, if I had been a "school" reader, (only reading books that were assigned in school) and not a "for pleasure" reader, like I was, then I would hate reading! I am a voracious reader but could barely stomach any of "the classics." I don't know. They were just not my thing. They all seemed so very very boring to me. Good thing I knew the difference before I was turned off to reading anything all! LOL

I agree with you. Even though I love reading, I have to say that schools pick the least exciting stories for students to read/study! Although there were a few gems (such as the Odyssey and The Great Gatsby), there weren't enough of them! There are so many books that are a lot better than most of the classics we have to read in school. I understand that classics are important, but they aren't all that compared to most other books I've read (that I have also learned from).

[Phantom24601]

I thought Frankenstein was quite overrated when I read it in high school. I just didn't think it was that great. I thought it was a weird concept for a novel. It should be noted that I am not a fan of the horror genre so perhaps that colors my opinion of the book. Also, I thought the Phantom of the Opera was a little overrated. It was good enough but not anything special. That said, I liked the stage adaptation- the Ramin Karimloo one. I think Les Miserables, as a book is underrated. It seems so much in the shadow of the musical that I think sometimes people forget it was based on a book. So much of Victor Hugo's story was lost or changed in the translation to the stage. I also think Rilla of Ingalside, the last book of the Anne of Green Gables series, is underrated. It's such a great portrait of Canadian homelife during WWI.