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Post by cyanea on May 30, 2011 2:40:08 GMT -5
Everyone has to have one piece of literature that they've found incredibly overrated.
For me, that book was Frankenstein. I had to read it for two separate classes. The first time, I enjoyed it. The second time through, I was more exposed to Romantic literature and had grown to dislike it, so I disliked the brooding Frankenstein intensely. Long passages of emotional wankery from an incredibly passive character who won't stop imagining himself as the victim drove me up the wall.
I suppose Shakespeare fits this list too. Every English major, I think, has to admit that he's a little bit overrated at least deep down. Still love him and think he's one of my favorite authors, but I will concede that he's not the second coming of Christ like some professors pretend he is.
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Post by Dodger Thirteen on May 30, 2011 3:05:56 GMT -5
Anything Dickens. Just...just no.
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Garth
Armadillo Pup
Stop that.
Posts: 9
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Post by Garth on May 30, 2011 9:33:03 GMT -5
Heart of Darkness.
What?
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Post by embonpoint on May 30, 2011 10:22:27 GMT -5
Lolita. I thought it was a great pile of shit, if I'm really blunt. I never, ever skip passages in books but I skipped pages of Lolita because I just couldn't take it any more. Oh god, I hate it.
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jasper
Armadillo Pup
On. Say on. Be said on. Somehow on.
Posts: 9
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Post by jasper on May 30, 2011 10:35:11 GMT -5
In all fairness, I think Heart of Darkness is one of the greatest books of all time but I'll still readily admit that Apocalypse Now is better. I think that Shakespeare, while not necessarily overrated, has an unfortunate tendency to overshadow contemporaries like Donne (who was the better poet) and Webster. |
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Post by mrodigga on May 30, 2011 10:51:25 GMT -5
The Great Gatsby. I had to read it during my junior year of high school, and all I got out of it was that it was a soap opera in literary form. All of the characters seemed one-dimensional to me, and I was just completely unable to care about or relate to any of them. When I told my dad about these complaints of mine, he told me that it's really the kind of book you can only get something out of if you have the necessary life experience, and that I didn't have that life experience. This did nothing to alleviate my frustration with the book, for I couldn't help but wonder why they were having us read it in the first place if that was the case. I could count on one hand the assigned readings I didn't finish when I was in high school; Heart of Darkness is one of them. I remember I read part 1, then read the Sparknotes for it that section to see if I had missed anything important. By the time I was done, I realized that even after careful reading of the text, I had missed half of the things that had happened. It was then that I decided my time would be better spent reading the Sparknotes instead of the book, because I would get more out of those. |
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invision
Armadillo Pup
Random Axe of Kindness
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Post by invision on May 30, 2011 11:04:56 GMT -5
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say Lord of the Rings. I couldn't get past 150 pages or so, (of the 50th anniversary hardcover), because it was just so ... Meh.
I mean, Tolkien completely lacked imagery. He had a fuckton of description (to the point where I found it horribly dull and overdone), but there was no real imagery to it. "THERE WAS A FOREST. IT WAS SCARY. LET ME DESCRIBE EVERY FUCKING TREE IN DETAIL."
It took forever to get to the point, and in the end, I just kind of gave up. I'm hoping to read it in a few years, when I have more patience. Hopefully. xD.
James
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Post by Lizzie on May 30, 2011 12:31:03 GMT -5
I actually agree on Lord of The Rings, I haven't been able to get through it, although I love love love The Hobbit, I have it in leather bound  For me, Hemmingway is overrated. I sort of liked Hills Like White Elephants, but I found The Sun Also Rises to be PAINFUL, although I do quite like the last line of the book: "Isn't it pretty to think so?" |
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Post by Dodger Thirteen on May 30, 2011 12:36:15 GMT -5
I actually agree on Lord of The Rings, I haven't been able to get through it, although I love love love The Hobbit, I have it in leather bound I love The Hobbit. The LoTR series...not so much. |
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Zeffy
Young Armadillo
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Post by Zeffy on May 30, 2011 13:03:02 GMT -5
I love The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Whenever I read anything Hemmingway, all I can think of is how I could be using my time reading better things.
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Post by Eternal Lobster on May 30, 2011 13:03:26 GMT -5
I honestly don't think that I would have been able to get through Heart of Darkness without Apocalypse Now. I ended up falling in love with the relationship between the two and wrote my film/lit term paper on it. |
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Post by flute88 on May 30, 2011 14:01:38 GMT -5
I still just don't get the big deal about To Kill a Mockingbird. I had to read it twice and I just never really got why everybody's so in love with it. Seriously, I feel like every time I ask anyone what their favorite books are this is on the list and I just can't figure out why. It wasn't a bad book, I just can't puzzle out why all the extreme love. (It also seems to escape the curse of "I read it in high school so I hate it" mentality that most people have.)
I also agree about The Great Gatsby. I was always done with the reading in school way before everyone else, but with that book I found myself having to SparkNotes the chapters the morning they were supposed to be read because I just couldn't get through them.
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Post by Catherine on May 30, 2011 14:25:23 GMT -5
Ethan Frome- Edith Wharton.
Don't even get me started.
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Post by tastyink on May 30, 2011 14:33:11 GMT -5
Romeo and Juliet. I just can't like it.
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Post by brosephargh on May 30, 2011 14:45:53 GMT -5
House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros.
Don't get me wrong, it's beautiful, really. But it's a series of vignettes and there's a distinct lack of linear plot line (since, you know, Cisneros is a poet, not a novelist) and it drives me mad sometimes. I like the book okay, but I've just read it a hundred times in all my classes, and even in its original Spanish version in my high school Spanish class. And everyone praises it like it's gold and I'm just sitting there like: "....are you serious? again? fml"
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