It’s a question inspired by this post https://www.reddit.com/r/books/s/s2jK2DzFrA by u/oh_sneezeus
Is there any book that is considered a classic or regularly shows up on the “100 books to read before you die” lists and such, you had high expectations before reading and then you ended up absolutey detesting?
For me it’s Blindness by José Saramago, it started off good and then page after page it was becoming more unbearable for me to read, I hated the characters, the things they were doing and the conclusions of the book. I was really disappointed because the plot seemed really good and all I ended up with was frustration.
Is there a book that did the same to you?
Blindness is the book that left me with a permanent mistrust of award-winning literature, because while some of it is legitimately good, too often award-winning is code for “page after page of navel-gazing angst that doesn’t go anywhere.” If a book wins a Pulitzer, a Nobel, or a Booker, watch out!
I didn’t make it through the book, so I eventually looked up the ending, and the instant I found out about it, I’m like, “How is this not considered the biggest copout ever?!” Basically the ending is that the outbreak just goes away as quickly as it came with no explanation whatsoever. I blame it on the navel-gazing nature of literary fiction. If Blindness had been genre fiction, everyone and their grandma would have been calling out this book, but because it’s literary, everyone assumes it’s deep.