The Worst Classics You Have Ever Read

[NickAdams]

Reading On The Road was the literary equivalent of viewing "realism" in film.

That's a bad thing?

[Stieg]

That's a bad thing?

Absolutely not but this novel has about as much excitement as watching paint dry. Very mundane content.

[NickAdams]

Absolutely not but this novel has about as much excitement as watching paint dry. Very mundane content.

Bland content, but how's the prose?

[Stieg]

Bland content, but how's the prose?

Didn't care for it, no milieu blasting off the pages IMO for a book of this nature. I think that is essential. Quite circular, redundant in subject matter a la "same things just different day".

[Moira]

Reading On The Road was the literary equivalent of viewing "realism" in film.

I still haven't finished Cat's Cradle, I would rather bang my head against stones than torture myself through Vonnegut's drivel against the religious ... see the cat, see the cradle.

I don't know about Cat's Cradle but i'm enjoying Slaughterhouse 5 very much at present.

[Stieg]

I don't know about Cat's Cradle but i'm enjoying Slaughterhouse 5 very much at present.

I loved Slaughterhouse-5 but I did not find Cat's Cradle nearly as funny and the philosophical commentary, though layered on, is too tedious and not nearly driven home as deeply than in the previous novel.

Though there is a few chapters (3 or 4) taking satirical jabs at Albert Schweitzer, his literary works, and some popular culture associated with him that ROCKED. Otherwise, the novel came across a soap box rant a dull one at that.

[Sibyl]

I didn't like Madame Bovary at all when I read it. I didn't like the plot nor Flaubert's writing style...
And I'm not too fond of Dickens either, but that's probably just because of personal taste, since long descriptions bore me.

[Brigitte]

I could never really fully appreciate Faulkner's work. I read three of his novels - three! I think it hurt me deep inside. xD I don't ever want to read a Faulkner novel again.

I read, The Sound and the Fury, As I Lay Dying, and Intruder In The Dust.
*shudders*

[barbara0207]

And I'm not too fond of Dickens either, but that's probably just because of personal taste, since long descriptions bore me.

I just skim the passages with long descriptions if they get too boring. Otherwise I love Dickens - except "The Pickwick Papers". I never finished them, although I tried several times.
Another book I couldn't finish was "The Plague" by Albert Camus. But then I generally have a problem with French authors - we just don't seem to speak the same language, if you know what I mean ... I prefer German, British and American writers.

[Mortis Anarchy]

Definetely Jean Paul Sartre's trilogy. Also Gogol's Dead Souls (mainly because it was unfinished).

I agree with Sartre...wow...I've only just started it a couple of days ago...

[applepie]

Grapes of Wrath was the worst for me. There was an entire chapter about dirt and a turtle. I'm sure this had some significance, but blech. I couldn't even bring myself to finish the book.

[Brigitte]

I just skim the passages with long descriptions if they get too boring. Otherwise I love Dickens - except "The Pickwick Papers". I never finished them, although I tried several times.
Another book I couldn't finish was "The Plague" by Albert Camus. But then I generally have a problem with French authors - we just don't seem to speak the same language, if you know what I mean ... I prefer German, British and American writers.

Ooooh yeah. The Plague kept putting me to sleep. It took me an entire summer to read. Seriously. Argh. It was when I came back to school that I learned about existentialism and lalala. It's still a boring book to me, too.

[quasimodo1]

Now here's an opportunity. While in university, after my third major change, it was Enligh Lit. One of the courses I signed on for was "Restoration Literature" and that was a mistake. Should have sampled it more first. It was really a dip in the quality of EL (e.g. "She Stoops to Conquer") and I voiced this in a final (essay question). Of course the prof. thought this not to be the case and failed me on that test. Although i pushed through the course...this didn't help. quasimodo1

[chaplin]

Gogol's Dead Souls (mainly because it was unfinished).

I don't see how you can criticize a book merely because the author didn't finish a work, as in Dead Souls case. That means that The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Amerika, The Castle and many others are automatically devoid of any literary merit because they were not finished. I don't agree.

[Turk]

Do i have to like a half-novel? It's very natural to get disappointed when you finish the book in the middle of story.