I have recently read The Ambassadors by Henry James, and I am ashamed to admit that I hated it :oops:
It was painful to read. After every half page I laid the book down on my chest and yawned. The story concerns an American that has to go to Paris to get his soon-to-be wife's son back to America, so that he, the older guy can get married and reap the financial benefits. There is plenty of room for interesting dialogue, humorous descriptions of Paris, poetic descriptions of Paris, and social commentary; but, alas, what I got here were gigantic paragraphs that were as prolix as possible and didn't explain anything and repetitive dialogue which always involved two characters making dated psychological assumptions about a third character behind that third character's back.
It was pure suffering. Am I missing something or does James just... blow?
What well-known, classic writer in English do you find painfully dull?