Most overrated?

[paperplane]

Not sure if it's been mentioned already, 'Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy'.

 

Didn't find it hilarious at all that it's made out to be, not even a slight giggle but a lot of eyerolling, I gave up just before half way.

[chesilbeach]

Not sure if it's been mentioned already, 'Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy'.

 

Didn't find it hilarious at all that it's made out to be, not even a slight giggle but a lot of eyerolling, I gave up just before half way.

 

I thought it was okay, and made me chuckle occasionally, but I'm not one of the ardent fans who think it's the best thing since sliced bread.

 

I'm still sticking by Captain Corelli's Mandolin as the book I thought was overrated.  Can't even remotely see what all the fuss is about.

[Marie H]

I can assure you you are not the only one! I very much enjoyed TDVC! I don't think it was badly written at all. No grammatical errors or typos, and it was very great, fast paced, great thriller! That's just my humble opinion

 

Edit: And I agree on Coelho! Although Veronica Decided To Die wasn't as bad as The Alchemist.

 

Hee hee, frankie, but my least overrated one was The Alchemist 

[gardengirl]

This thread, although interesting, just highlights the fact that 'One man's meat is another man's poison'

[frankie]

Hee hee, frankie, but my least overrated one was The Alchemist 

 

 

This thread, although interesting, just highlights the fact that 'One man's meat is another man's poison'

 

That it does To each their own. Everybody's right in what they like, there are no wrong books to like. We just always don't agree on them, but that only makes it interesting

 

[Adrenalise]

 

Here's one I just read: The Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. Although the story and its context are interesting, the book (in my opinion) is just horribly written. And it's being taught in my college literature class!

 

I'm uncomfortable with the idea of anything being overrated or underrated because in the end, every piece of work is what it is and a large part of it is to do with how the reader connects with and interpretes it.

 

A novel is not just the sum of its strengths but also its flaws, both of which will define it. It can take on a life of its own, beyond the intent of its author but only if you let it happen. I prefer to think that if something does not affect me, it is because I lack some necessary insight that would enable an appreciation of it.

 

Jean Rhys wrote extensively from experience of the lives of young women as outsiders. At certain times when I found myself on the outside, I empathized strongly with her work, in particular Wide Sargasso Sea and Good Morning, Midnight. I thought her writing was hauntingly beautiful but I don't necessarily regard the quality of prose as a requirement for an appreciation of a novel.

 

If it is the most appropriate way of expressing an idea, then it cannot and should not be said in any other way, even if it is ugly. My first post on this forum was about William Burrough's Naked Lunch which is frankly a mess, but could it or should it have been any other way? He saw and did ugly things and his prose was fit for purpose.

 

It is worth noting that Jean Rhys did not receive any critical acclaim for her work and did not enjoy commercial success until very late in her life, so you could just as well argue that her work was in fact highly underrated for decades.

 

Nevertheless, in Wide Sargasso Sea she created a person of a marionette. She gave the mad Creole women in Rochester's loft the power to choose her own name, she gave her a past, a voice, a life left behind and a life yearned for. And the greatest thing about it is that it takes nothing away from Jane Eyre, the novel to which I have heard it compared unfavourably to as the real deal to Rhys' fanfic. It actually adds a more horrifying dimension to Jane Eyre but stands alone and apart as a work in its own right. Throughout, she gives a voice to Antoinette Cosway that draws from the lifelong experiences of Rhys as an outsider, a drifter and a shadow.

 

When she began to get recognition for Wide Sargasso Sea she famously said "If I could choose, I would rather be happy than write...If I could live my life all over again, and choose..."

 

Still sends a shiver down my spine.

[UnderTheDome40]

This subject will always be purely a matter of opinion. In sports, you can say a player is over-rated and most of the time nobody can argue because it all comes down to box scores or stats but with books, every reader has their own taste. With that said, i have 2 books i've read which i found to be over-rated. 1. many might agree with was Cujo by Stephen King. And #2 of my over-rated books, i highly doubt anyone will agree with because it was so well liked by just about everyone except for myself and that was The Shining. Yes, the Shining lol. Don't ask why, i just didn't like it much at all. I always loved to love the main character in a story but in this case, he was the bad guy. Even though i've heard some readers say they felt bad for him or whatever but i just didn't like him at all. And the story was a little boring. I think it would have been better if maybe the story came from the wife's perspective? i don't know. 

[ian]

This subject will always be purely a matter of opinion. In sports, you can say a player is over-rated and most of the time nobody can argue because it all comes down to box scores or stats but with books, every reader has their own taste. With that said, i have 2 books i've read which i found to be over-rated. 1. many might agree with was Cujo by Stephen King. And #2 of my over-rated books, i highly doubt anyone will agree with because it was so well liked by just about everyone except for myself and that was The Shining. Yes, the Shining lol. Don't ask why, i just didn't like it much at all. I always loved to love the main character in a story but in this case, he was the bad guy. Even though i've heard some readers say they felt bad for him or whatever but i just didn't like him at all. And the story was a little boring. I think it would have been better if maybe the story came from the wife's perspective? i don't know. 

 

I have to agree - it's all a matter of opinion. Plus, sometimes, you aren't in the right frame of mind for a book. Sometimes, a second read can make all the difference.

[geordie9]

This subject will always be purely a matter of opinion. In sports, you can say a player is over-rated and most of the time nobody can argue because it all comes down to box scores or stats but with books, every reader has their own taste. With that said, i have 2 books i've read which i found to be over-rated. 1. many might agree with was Cujo by Stephen King. And #2 of my over-rated books, i highly doubt anyone will agree with because it was so well liked by just about everyone except for myself and that was The Shining. Yes, the Shining lol. Don't ask why, i just didn't like it much at all. I always loved to love the main character in a story but in this case, he was the bad guy. Even though i've heard some readers say they felt bad for him or whatever but i just didn't like him at all. And the story was a little boring. I think it would have been better if maybe the story came from the wife's perspective? i don't know. 

 

I agree with you about The Shining, i found it quite boring and was probably my least enjoyable King book. But im just about to start reading it again as im reading all his books from the beginning again, just fininished Salems Lot. I might enjoy The Shining better this time round. i hope

[Angury]

"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"

 

 

 

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is utter dross, but I didn't think many people rated it these days.

Out of interest, what about the book didn't you like?  

 

I have not read it, but here in the U.S. Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold was very popular for a long, long time. Did anyone here who read it think it was overrated?

 

 

I thought it was alright, but there didn't seem to be much of a story. I didn't know it was that hyped about in the first place. I wouldn't call it a bad book, but not something I would recommend either.

 

Anyway, my list of overrated books:

• Catch-22 by Joseph Heller - I couldn't even finish this mammoth. I've heard it's the book people have given up on the most, and I can see why. It just didn't seem to go anywhere, and the writing made it a chore to get through.
• The Alchemist by Paul Coelho - I still don't understand why this is so popular. It seemed to be more of a self-help book than an actual story. The writing was very simple which was the biggest disappointment for me.
• The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams - perhaps I had big expectations for this, but I couldn't get into it. I didn't find anything funny about it, nor was it an interesting read.

I would put Catcher in the Rye and Great Gatsby there as well, but I think if I reread them I might have a different perspective. As far as I can remember, the writing in the Great Gatsby was really well done, it was just the story I found to be lacking.