(Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme brought to you by The Broke and the Bookish.)
Recently a friend of mine and I were talking about the new “The Great Gatsby” film, and he wondered aloud why I hadn’t reviewed the book in honor of the film’s release. This prompted a confession that I read The Great Gatsby in high school and despised it. So this week our topic is some “great” works that I just freakin’ can’t stand.
The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
About this novel I say the same thing a certain comedian said about the Brat Pack movies: “Pretty people with problems!” Call me crazy, but I’m not interested in re-reading a novel about a guy whose main problem is that he can’t have everything he wants.
Great Expectations (Charles Dickens)
Good grief, the drivel! Overbearing, over-lengthy, and dull. Plus I want to smack the snot out of Estella.
The Three Musketeers (Alexandre Dumas)
Couldn’t tell the characters apart, couldn’t actually tell what the plot was, or why everyone seemed to hate Richelieu so much. I couldn’t get into the novel in 150 pages; there was no way I was reading the other 500-some.
The Scarlet Letter (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
Nothing like being whacked about the head and shoulders with repeated reminders that it’s all symbolism. As I said in my original review, the themes are great and still relevant, but the story has lost most of its shock value, and Hawthorne could have let up on the symbolism and still gotten his point across.
Let the flame comments begin!
I barely made it through the cliff notes of Great Expectations without going to sleep.
I had to read it freshman year of high school, and hated every second of it. The book was long, boring, and fully of the whiniest characters ever. Pass! 🙂
Nothing wrong with not liking a book, even a classic. I didn’t particularly care for The Great Gatsby either, and Great Expectations was just that…great expectations that weren’t quite fulfilled.
Thanks for stopping by my TTT this week!
Ems
I wanted to like Great Expectations, but I just couldn’t. I was only about 14, though, so I might have just been too young. I know I should give it another chance, but I just don’t have the energy. I’d rather read something I know I’ll enjoy.
Thank you for swinging by, Ems! Have a great week.
First, loved the title of the post. 🙂 And secondly, ,I have to agree with you on the Great Gatsby though I’ve only seen the movie adaptions of the other three (which are still overly tedious).
Glad you liked the title, Amelia. It was suggested by a friend of mine. 🙂
The only movie adaption I’ve seen for these is Disney’s 1990s version of The Three Musketeers (with Tim Curry as Richelieu). I liked it, but then it’s really nothing like the movie.
Thanks for stopping by!
I love this! I did NOT like the Great Gatsby either…I even read it again to see if age changed things; it didn’t. And the Scarlet Letter was just boring even though it had relevant points.
Steph @ The Unlikely Librarian
Yay, another Gatsby hater! I’m so glad to hear I’m not the only one!
Agreed about points and themes from The Scarlet Letter. I like modern adaptations of it, but the original has lost some of its zing.
Funnily enough, before last year I would have completely agreed with you on The Great Gatsby – I read it when I was a uni student (for myself, not for a class) and by the end of it I felt little more than scorn for their “oh woe is me” crap and found it all rather blah.
Then I re-read it late last year and ended up LOVING it!! Took me totally by surprise. I think there are some books – different for all of us – that leave totally different impressions on us depending on when in our lives we read them. Our life experiences and how we’ve changed must play into it. And also, my expectations were so low this time around!
It makes me sad to think of those books I strongly disliked, whether they would have fared better had I read them at a different time in my life. There are certainly plenty of YA and children’s books I wish had been around when I was a kid/teen, as I would have loved them then I’m sure, but as an adult I feel too cynical for it all.
Well put, Shannon! Yes, the same book definitely affects us differently at different times (which is why I keep reading Pride and Prejudice and Little Women over and over again. It’s fun to catch nuances you missed before.
I never thought about your third point — it is sad to think about. 🙁 But the good news is, there’s always someone coming up who reads and loves those books we’re too cynical to like. And there are so many books in the world that it’s almost nonsensical to be sad about all the stuff you’ll miss…when there’s so much good sitting right on your shelf!
The Great Gatsby has been on my to-read list for a while now, since it was never required reading for me.. Two classics that I absolutely can’t stand: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. I have serious issues with Jane in Jane Eyre, and I’m pretty sure that Steinbeck is one of the most boring writers I’ve ever had to trudge through. If I’m going to read classics, I’ll keep to my Oscar Wilde and Wilkie Collins! 🙂