Big Named Authors That Disappointed You?

blacbird

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If he can convince me to enjoy Prachett, I'd say bring him on. I really want to like him.

I think you need to understand that Pratchett is a satirist, more than a fantasy writer. Like Douglas Adams, who employed SF tropes to write satire, Pratchett does so with Fantasy tropes. But he's not interested in portraying great sagas of heroic deeds; he's interested in making fun of such stories. And, for his fans, this works in no small part because many Fantasy writers (start with Tolkien) are in love with their grandeur and utterly devoid of a sense of humor.

In order to fully understand this, you need to read The Truth.

caw
 

phantasy

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I think you need to understand that Pratchett is a satirist, more than a fantasy writer. Like Douglas Adams, who employed SF tropes to write satire, Pratchett does so with Fantasy tropes. But he's not interested in portraying great sagas of heroic deeds; he's interested in making fun of such stories. And, for his fans, this works in no small part because many Fantasy writers (start with Tolkien) are in love with their grandeur and utterly devoid of a sense of humor.

In order to fully understand this, you need to read The Truth.

caw

You're right, it is satire and sometimes I forget that. Adams makes me laugh and I love his python-esque cleverness. But Prachett...I'll check out the book you mentioned. Hopefully it will keep my attention.
 
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spoonflipper

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Hope it's okay to mention one specific book- I tried Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus and I gave up out of frustration. I was about 100 (maybe 200? I don't remember) pages in and NOTHING had happened. It felt like endless foreplay and no action- it drove me crazy. I don't understand why it's so popular.
 

nastyjman

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Christopher Moore. I thought I would enjoy his humor. I believe it was my expectation that he was at par with Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams. Granted, Christopher Moore has his style, but his style is never subtle. I like subtlety.
 

August_R

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No doubt that Theodore Dreiser is a great author, but I hardly managed to finish "The Financier", seemed a little bit boring to me.
 

Koschei

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Irvine Welsh. Given that I'm Scottish, that's practically blasphemy but I can remember I was so pumped to read Trainspotting after all the hype about it. I didn't even get halfway through it. The book really did nothing for me and I just haven't touched any of his novels since.
 

Sedjet

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Lee Child...I know so many people who love all his books and are waiting to buy the next one as soon as it comes out. I read three of them (the first three) and they were so bad. The plots made no sense, it seemed like he should have done a bit more research on some points and the Jack Reacher character just seemed way too impressed with himself.
 

Nancyleeny

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As already mentioned, Nicholas Sparks. Terrible, terrible, terrible. I read The Notebook because I so love the movie. I only finished it to the end to see how it compared to the movie. It took a lot of willpower.

When I see someone who writes as poorly as he does getting constant movie deals, it upsets me to know that much more talented writers aren't.

Thank you! I can't for the life of me understand how this man, Nicholas Sparks, is successful.

I read the book where the wife died, and talk about telling rather than showing. On and in with "My beloved wife, I will love you forever and ever and ever, and miss you forever and ever and ever." I hated it!!!

I love Gatsby and adore The Scarlett Letter, mostly for the beauty of its construction. The three scaffold scenes have such meaning and organize the work so beautifully! But the writing is quite convoluted, that's for sure!

Now Tolstoy, when Anna jumped (I think she jumped or fell, can't remember, didn't care) under the train, I was cheering, because it was over. And while I love some Dickens, I despised David Copperfield.

Also, Kathy Reichs - I, too, love the show Bones, but just can't read her works. And Cornwell got horrible, as did the writer who took over the McNally series for Lawrence Sanders when he died. And Patterson? So many of these works now are fill-in-the-blanks series. Ugh.
 

Lythande

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Orson Scott Card - the ends of the Ender saga devolved into this weird preachy too-convenient shallowness that make me disinclined to read through them ever again. (Actually, I gather there are actually another book in each series that I haven't read, but I'm not eager to, either.)

I generally like David Eddings, but the ending of the Mallorean... I don't think I literally threw it, but the spirit was there.

Jean M. Auel. I love the setting and the research that went into it, but when the research takes over the books to the point where you stop for pages to just describe things, and especially when you stop halfway through the book to parrot back the same setting infodump you gave at the beginning, you have a problem. Worse than that is the character Ayla: everything that's wrong with female characters in one gorgeous blonde world-shaping package.
 

njmagas

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GRR Martin - It's been over five years and I still can't find any compelling reason to finish Game of Thrones.

Mercedes Lackey - I don't know why I keep trying with her books. I've been bitterly disappointed by every single one I've read.
 

blacbird

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Lee Child...I know so many people who love all his books and are waiting to buy the next one as soon as it comes out. I read three of them (the first three) and they were so bad. The plots made no sense, it seemed like he should have done a bit more research on some points and the Jack Reacher character just seemed way too impressed with himself.

A big ditto on this. I just found Lee Child dreadfully pedestrian and dull. Mystifies me how he has got to be such a BIG NAME.

caw
 

gothicangel

Toughen up.
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Simon Scarrow, I really don't see the appeal, it reminds me too much of M*A*S*H. I just found out he was a history teacher, so I wonder whether the books are supposed to be aimed at YA. Same for Philippa Gregory.
 

Alpha Echo

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Ian McEwan. I tried so many times to read Atonement. But I just couldn't get through it. Like...through the first couple pages.
 

Caramello Koala

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No. You. Didn't. :e2cry:

:e2bummed:

I suppose someone will be coming along presently to tell me 1984 is rubbish, yes? :box: Don't even try it. lol

I was rather disappointed by Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. :e2yawn:

^though I'm wondering now if Huxley counts as a "big" name.

I was also disappointed by Brave New World. I couldn't help but compare it to 1984, which was a better book in every regard. It actually had tension and relatable characters. Brave New World felt too much like a futurist essay that was turned into a novel in some half-assed attempt. The characters were poorly developed and the protagonist didn't show up till the very end. Huxley is definitely a 'big' name. To say you don't like Brave New World is considered blasphemy by a lot of writers.

By the way, I'm guessing by your avatar you're an INFP? Me too :)
 
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ishtar'sgate

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Like Nancyleeny, I was disappointed in Kathy Reichs. Just not at all the same character as Bones and I guess she's what I was expecting. There's something about her writing tempo that doesn't make her book a comfortable read for me either. Too bad. I'll finish the book but I probably won't read any more of her novels.

Edited to add: It got much better after I'd read a few chapters. Puzzling really. It's almost as if the first few chapters were written by someone else. The style changed and the voice seemed to change. Odd.
 
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lrose20

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George R.R. Martin. I found Games of Thrones (from what little I could get through) to be tedious, drawn out, and boring.I wasn't hooked.
 

lianna williamson

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Outlander. I got about halfway through the first book before I threw in the towel. It wasn't poorly written, which is why I stuck it out as long as I did. I kept thinking suddenly I'd get hooked in and understand why so many people are obsessed with the series. But there was this long bit in the middle where they're scampering around the Scottish countryside and boinking every other page, and I realized I couldn't remember what their ostensible goal was and that I didn't care at all what happened to them next.
 

kdaniel171

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F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby. I've read it two times, I know it's the American classic but... no excitement, no empathy, no interest. I felt totally nothing after finished the reading both times. Maybe, I should give it one more chance.
 

blacbird

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F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby. I've read it two times, I know it's the American classic but... no excitement, no empathy, no interest. I felt totally nothing after finished the reading both times. Maybe, I should give it one more chance.

You're not alone. I've tried Gatsby about three times, because people keep telling me I should, and I have exactly your reaction, for exactly the same reasons. As reader, I'm supposed to empathize with the adulation for the wealthy that oozes from Fitzgerald's writing? Just can't do it.

The guy could write, for sure, in the sense of composing clean, well-expressed prose. It's just what the clean, well-expressed prose is expressing about that I can't get into.

caw
 

C.bronco

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I really liked F. Scott Fitzgerald and Gatsby! Henry James's Portrait of a Lady put me to sleep several times before getting through chapter one. I even fell asleep mid-day trying to read that for a class.
 

Emermouse

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I have weird issues with Neil Gaiman. Now before anyone says anything, I love, loved The Sandman series. Those comics pretty much introduced and cemented my love for Neil Gaiman. I also love Coraline and The Graveyard Book, but for some reason, I just can't get into his adult books. I've tried both American Gods and Good Omens because everyone was praising them to high heavens, but I just couldn't get into them. Don't know why; there wasn't anything specific I could point to where I said he lost me.

I have a similar thing with Kurt Vonnegut. I like his eight rules for writing and all the quotes I've seen attributed to him make him seem like the kind of guy I'd really like to read, but I cannot get into his fiction.
 

AW Admin

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I really liked F. Scott Fitzgerald and Gatsby! Henry James's Portrait of a Lady put me to sleep several times before getting through chapter one. I even fell asleep mid-day trying to read that for a class.

Heh.

Once I completed my Ph.D. quals I put all my Henry James, D. H. Lawrence and Thomas Hardy in storage.

Haven't missed 'em.