The Worst Classics You Have Ever Read

[Desolation]

I've read (or rather tried to read) three different translations of The Castle, two of The Trial, three of his collected stories, and some of his diaries...I really, really want to like Kafka. I love absurdism, surrealism, modernism, and existentialism, all of which Kafka is associated with. Weird, chaotic, and long-winded work for me (I am a Pynchon fanatic, after all). So Kafka always seemed like he would be a perfect match for me. I don't know why, exactly, but his works have just never moved/interested me. It's a shame - I feel like I'm missing out on something amazing.

[FenwickS]

I've found Moby Dick tedious and unrelenting with uninteresting cetological descriptions. I felt like I had whale oozing out of my ears!

[Hal]

i enjoy reading classics and I am a budding scholar of literature, however, many classics are not to be read for enjoyment. They are to be read because they are seminal texts in the evolution of letters. Middlemarch is not a joy to read anymore than Ulysses is. Parts of Moby Dick are really painful. But I think even the most difficult and boring of these books teach us something.

[kev67]

The Grapes of Wrath. What's the appeal?

I did not enjoy that book much neither. As I was reading it I thought that Woody Guthrie handled that subject much better. Then I learnt it was The Grapes of Wrath that inspired Woody Guthrie to write those dustbowl songs, so I will have to let Steinbeck off.

Recently finished The Lord of the Flies. I thought it was powerful writing, psychologically astute, but deeply unpleasant. It was an effort to start each chapter. It is often used as a set text for school exams, but its effect seems to be to put a lot of kids off reading.

I am concerned Catch-22 has been mentioned so often. I have that waiting on my bookshelf to be read. I started it aged 14 when I was in hospital, but I did not think much of it and put it down. I was more interested in real air battles at the time, and did not like this clever-dicky stuff. It is quite a thick book too, so it will prove a chore if I don't get on with it again. Still, it's one of those iconic books that everyone's heard of, even if they have not read it. At least it should be a good companion piece to that other war-is-insanity novel, Slaughterhouse Five.

[Adolescent09]

Recently finished The Lord of the Flies.

How it is possible for anyone to like any part of 'The Lord of the Flies' whether it be the writing, the characters, the message or even the title is completely beyond me, but I respect your opinion.

I loved 'The Grapes of Wrath' but preferred 'East of Eden' and I absolutely adore Steinbeck's 'The Moon is Down' which to me is hands down one of the most underrated and least read war novellas sketching the emotional toll of war. Specifically World War II, but applicable to war in general. It might even be my second favorite novella overall after Hesse's Siddhartha.

[lichtrausch]

I've read (or rather tried to read) three different translations of The Castle, two of The Trial, three of his collected stories, and some of his diaries...I really, really want to like Kafka. I love absurdism, surrealism, modernism, and existentialism, all of which Kafka is associated with. Weird, chaotic, and long-winded work for me (I am a Pynchon fanatic, after all). So Kafka always seemed like he would be a perfect match for me. I don't know why, exactly, but his works have just never moved/interested me. It's a shame - I feel like I'm missing out on something amazing.

It must be a translation issue. I read Kafka in the original and he taught me to love absurdism and surrealism.

[Yulehesays]

I did not enjoy that book much neither. As I was reading it I thought that Woody Guthrie handled that subject much better. Then I learnt it was The Grapes of Wrath that inspired Woody Guthrie to write those dustbowl songs, so I will have to let Steinbeck off.

Recently finished The Lord of the Flies. I thought it was powerful writing, psychologically astute, but deeply unpleasant. It was an effort to start each chapter. It is often used as a set text for school exams, but its effect seems to be to put a lot of kids off reading.

I am concerned Catch-22 has been mentioned so often. I have that waiting on my bookshelf to be read. I started it aged 14 when I was in hospital, but I did not think much of it and put it down. I was more interested in real air battles at the time, and did not like this clever-dicky stuff. It is quite a thick book too, so it will prove a chore if I don't get on with it again. Still, it's one of those iconic books that everyone's heard of, even if they have not read it. At least it should be a good companion piece to that other war-is-insanity novel, Slaughterhouse Five.

I am glad I am not the only one who feels this way about The Grapes of Wrath. I can see it's a great book, but I didn't enjoy it.

I read the Lord of The Flies and can't really remember what I thought of it because I was only about 15 when i read it. For this reason I'm re-reading it as soon as I finish Ellman's biography of Joyce.

Catch-22 is another one that didn't thrill me. Parts were funny, and I did enjoy it, but I wouldn't rate it as a classic or something that's a must-read.

[mal4mac]

I agree with mal4mac except that I haven't actually read Joyce's Ulysses and so I figured it doesn't count in my case. I did get through the first chapter, about 50 pages, and enjoyed the first 20 pages or so--well, maybe the first 10 pages. I skimmed through the rest--quickly--enough to convince myself that it didn't get any better and stopped.

I think reading fifty pages is more than enough to have an opinion... I haven't read much more of Ulysses myself. I don't read novels, in full, if I don't like them, and consider it an an act of masochistic idiocy to do so! There are dozens of modern novels that I gave up on very quickly (e.g., yesterday, I managed about ten pages of Chris Cleave's "Gold" before giving up...)

P.S. Use the library and then you don't find yourself thinking, "I spent 10 quid on this, so I'll force myself to read it..."

[YesNo]

Reading 50 pages, or the first chapter, was probably a mistake and I did it twice which means I'm a slow learner.

In a separate thread, Finnegans Wake was discussed and conveniently it is on the internet in full, free display. I don't think I read more than 50 words of that before giving up. So maybe I'm improving.

[Ughek]

I've found Moby Dick tedious and unrelenting with uninteresting cetological descriptions. I felt like I had whale oozing out of my ears!

I agree with you. That's the first book that came to mind when I read the thread title. There's a good book hidden in there somewhere, though.

[mona amon]

I think reading fifty pages is more than enough to have an opinion...

This may be true of some books or even most books, but not Ulysses. When I first read I liked the first three chapters, but was getting a bit tired of Stephen's stream of consciousness, then in chapter four there was Bloom and his pork kidney and I knew I was hooked. After that each chapter is so different from the others that one never gets bored (bemused maybe), so I think just the beginning chapters are definitely not enough in this case.

[Desolation]

I don't know...There were years, before I felt ready to read the novel in its entirety, when I would just read the first 3 episodes of Ulysses over and over again. If they were enough to convince me that I would love the book, I don't have any qualms about saying that they're enough to convince others that they won't like the book.

Stephen's scenes are still my favorites - especially episode 3 (the infamous "ineluctable modality" on the beach episode, with the most heavy stream of consciousness).

[Yulehesays]

This may be true of some books or even most books, but not Ulysses. When I first read I liked the first three chapters, but was getting a bit tired of Stephen's stream of consciousness, then in chapter four there was Bloom and his pork kidney and I knew I was hooked. After that each chapter is so different from the others that one never gets bored (bemused maybe), so I think just the beginning chapters are definitely not enough in this case.

I had a very similar experience while reading Ulysses the first time. I loved the opening but was feeling a bit baffled after Proteus. Then when I read about Bloom's pork kidney sizzling on the pan I knew I was going to love it! That chapter made me so hungry