The Worst Classics You Have Ever Read

[kenikki]

I didn't particurally like The Great Gatsby, either. I just found it mediocre, maybe because it wasn't what I was expecting.

I agree about the Great Gatsby, It is a really good novel, the story would have been flawless if it wasn't for Fitzgerald's sloppy writing. Before I read it, of course we all know about the brilliant idea of the story but the actually text itself is rather poor.

[Stieg]

The Lord of the Flies is one book that I didn't dislike while I was reading it, but the further removed from it I am, the more I think "that really wasn't very good." It didn't seem realistic to me; Jack declined too quickly and was too much of a outliar--he was corrupt beyond what I would expect from a twelve or thirteen year old bully.

But children particularly of this age bracket can be the cruelest persons of all. Now take them, isolate them, and perhaps leave them to fend for themselves. Observe how they begin working out social order amongst themselves. Whether on a deserted island, friends in a empty schoolyard, or hanging in abandoned field for a greater length of time.

[manolia]

Some of my favourite books are mentioned and some that i definately want to read as well..Oh well. I didn't like "Madame Bovary" but i always thought that it was the translation that was bad and not the book. Maybe it's a lot better in french.

I just realized that I haven't actually listed an answer. The thing with me is, when I find a book boring, I usually stop reading it, so I actually don't know what happens afterwards...ok, I have one.... The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner. I read that about halfway and thought...."huh?" James Joyce too..."The Portrait of an Artist..." and "Ulysses"

Hehe Malwe you forgot "Emma"..

Then I get this nauseous feeling in my throat and throw the thing away.

Maybe it is something you ate..
Typical male reaction (all my male friends loathe Austen).

[chaplin]

I didn't particurally like The Great Gatsby, either. I just found it mediocre, maybe because it wasn't what I was expecting.

I actually liked Gatsby, but maybe it was just because my English teacher worshipped it and I needed a good grade.

[grace86]

I very much liked the Great Gatsby as well.

But...you guys are going to shoot me down...I didn't care for To Kill a Mockingbird. EEEP running!!! It just kind of trailed on to me.

[Pendragon]

All time worst: The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane. I have others I dislike, Great Expectations, Moby Dick, for example, but I abhor Crane or anything written by Sherwood Anderson, even if he is a local writer and actually buried up the hill from my grandfather here in town.

[Felixstowe]

Wuthering Heights is terribly dry book. Not bad, but can be in some places.
To Kill A Mocking Bird. That is terrible. Took me forever to read through, and with my English not being very good took a long boring time.
I hate not finishing a book, no matter how terrible.

[Adolescent09]

To Kill A Mocking Bird. That is terrible.

!!O_O!!
I found this book virtually impossible NOT TO LIKE!


Can you explain your position in further detail Flexistowe? I would like to see specifically why you didn't like it

[kilted exile]

Maybe it is something you ate..
Typical male reaction (all my male friends loathe Austen).

That is possible, but as a general rule I try to not eat anything I've made myself

[andave_ya]

Wuthering Heights was kinda too melodramatic for me. Moby Dick. and Gulliver's Travels. It was just too dryly whimsical for me. I've "read" it several times, getting further every time but I don't think I've actually finished it.

[marilee]

Emma and Pride and Prejudice

[chaplin]

All time worst: The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane... I abhor Crane...

Why, exactly, do you "abhor" Stephen Crane? Abhor connotes some sort of personal resentement, and it seems it would be hard to abhor someone who wrote so little.

He's not the greatest writer ever of course, but Red Badge is a nice portrait of a young soldier facing the realities of war and death, a cliche now, but done well nevertheless. He died in his twenties so his best work was yet to come, and the The Red Badge and Maggie would have been the first steps of a good, if not great, American catalogue of works if his voice hadn't been cut short.

[malwethien]

Hehe Malwe you forgot "Emma"..

Manolia...that's right....but technically, I have never actually read Emma

[manolia]

Manolia...that's right....but technically, I have never actually read Emma

Yeah i know. We've discussed a lot about that. I am just teasing you Malwe . My humble opinion is that you can read something else instead.

[weepingforloman]

I'd have to say that Catcher in the Rye was really not a good book- I suppose it was important in the development of English writing, but puh-lease! Not exciting at all, virtually no plot, just an insane, disgruntled, depressed boy talking about how "phony" everyone is. Also, The Old Man and the Sea- all Hemingway, actually. Most overrated author there is. Totally sparse writing, no passion or flavor to it, nothing good in it at all.