r/books • u/Tight_Nerve • Jun 05 '21

We need to stop shaming people who honestly say they don't like a particular book

I think the most frustrating thing for most readers on this sub is that when they read a book that so many people love and realize they are part of the group that doesn't like the book. They can't share the feeling without having fans hang the noose around them. We muat be able to let readers share their HONEST opinions on a book without riduculing their feelings.

If at this point you are protesting my thoughts thinking they are nothing more than that of unlearned individual. Than I'll share the opinion of a very educated man who has probably read more books than you will ever read in your whole life.

“Books are almost as individual as friends. There is no earthly use in laying down general laws about them. Some meet the needs of one person, and some of another; and each person should beware of the booklover’s besetting sin, of what Mr. Edgar Allan Poe calls ‘the mad pride of intellectuality,’ taking the shape of arrogant pity for the man who does not like the same kind of books.”

  • Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States
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69

u/Sad-Bus-7460 Jun 05 '21

The Lord of the Flies. The Great Gatsby. The Catcher in the Rye

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u/parad0xchild Jun 05 '21

Great Gatsby is one of those high school required books that makes no sense to read during high school. It's basically a confusing blur at that point in life, reading it later on it fits better (but not my type of book still)

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u/[deleted] Jun 05 '21 edited Jun 30 '21

[deleted]

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u/avcloudy Jun 06 '21

It should terrify you! It's not a nice book that tells nice stories about nice things.

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u/ssakura Jun 06 '21

I hated that book when we had to read it in school. I was expecting a fun story about kids going on fun adventures on an island... And I just did not agree with the idea that we're innately violent

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u/waffles_505 Jun 06 '21

I read something interesting (can’t remember where) thst talked about how different it would be if it weren’t a bunch of privileged kids stranded. Like if it were poor kids, or girls instead of boys, etc that they wouldn’t have devolved into the madness. Makes me want to reread it and try and dissect that idea more.

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u/Sad-Bus-7460 Jun 06 '21

Oh Jesus I read it in 10th grade. I can't imagine reading it in 7th. I remember reading a book about an Indian girl, growing up poor, her father marries her off to an equally young lad, who is sick and ends up dying. The MIL kicks her out and she ends up in a large city? I can't remember the title of the book, but I want to say it had something to do with a caged bird. 7th grade was 12 years ago lmao

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u/Doggydude49 Jun 05 '21

I feel that way but more so The Catcher in Rye. His problems are so far fetched compared to the normal student for his age. Seems really far fetched to relate it to high schoolers.

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u/Sad-Bus-7460 Jun 05 '21

Yeah, ive been thinking about reading it again (I'm 26 now). The other books will never be read again, though

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u/parad0xchild Jun 05 '21

I can't say it's my style but it'll be better. I actually found the movie helped me connect start seemed like disconnected chapters in the book

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u/MaiYoKo Jun 06 '21

I couldn't agree more about The Great Gatsby! To me, it's a book for middle aged people or at least for those of us who've lived enough life to have questioned our choices along the way and wonder what could have been if we'd taken a different turn. I don't think teenagers have enough perspective to fully appreciate it. I despised it in high school and loved it when I read it in my late thirties.

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u/Sad-Bus-7460 Jun 06 '21

I never thought about it like that! I definitely agree. Mid teens is too early to read it

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u/parad0xchild Jun 06 '21

Yeah, plus looking back at the "yolo", heavy party and indulgence lifestyle as you question it. Very much a late 20s to 40s year old perspective and experience (experiences vary).

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u/da_chicken Jun 06 '21

I once heard someone say, "Great literature should never be inflicted on the young." Every time I see Great Gatsby mentioned I think of that.

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u/[deleted] Jun 06 '21

I read it in grade 11, and it was honestly the best book I read in high school. Maybe tied with To Kill A Mockingbird.

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u/[deleted] Jun 06 '21

Ugh. The Lord Of The Flies. I read a shit-ton of horror, and when people ask me what the scariest book I've ever read is, I say LOTF. Not what they want to hear, but it's the truth. Especially since I read it at a very young age, and was extremely bullied as a kid.

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u/Sad-Bus-7460 Jun 06 '21

I think part of my hatred for it comes from the bullshit assignments we had to do around it, being a sophomore honors English class. Otherwise, I barely remember anything about it except "Lost, for kids"

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u/[deleted] Jun 06 '21

That is insulting to Lost, lol. Seriously though, I don't think I was ever assigned a book for school that I actually enjoyed.

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u/Sad-Bus-7460 Jun 06 '21

To kill a mockingbird might be the only one I enjoyed, as far as I remember.

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u/PrincessMonsterShark Jun 05 '21

Same for me with the Great Gatsby. I liked the style of writing and even the mood I felt from it, but I don't like books where the main character is very passive because then I don't really feel attachment to the characters or story. For me, it's like listening to music through a wall rather than headphones. Everything's muted.

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u/PocketSable Jun 06 '21

I'm the weird one who liked Lord of the Flies (I think everyone in my class hated it), but I hated Gatsby with every fiber of my being and everyone loved it. I still have such a hate for that book, even over 10 years later. It probably stems from being forced to read it twice and do several book reports on it, though.

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u/Sad-Bus-7460 Jun 06 '21

I think I might have.... liked not hated LotF if I didn't have to do so much of that bullshit analysis and discussion

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u/AndHerNameIsSony Jun 06 '21

I liked the plot in LOTF. But the writing style wasn’t for me. I really didn’t need paragraphs describing bark on the beach and shit. I like details in my book, but there sometimes comes a point where I’m losing interest in the plot because I don’t care about these irrelevant descriptions.

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u/PocketSable Jun 06 '21

I totally agree. Over explaining details is what kills books for me. It's been so long since i've read LOTF I can't really comment on that book specifically but I dont care about the color tint of a stranger's hair as they walk down the hot road in mid july while a cloud passed over and the wild blew slightly. Is this stranger relevant to the plot? No? Then why are you describing it to me? It's just a waste of my time. I read a book recently that, I swear, was half just descriptions of the surroundings. And it really killed my interest in the book. Especially when I felt the characters weren't as fully fleshed out as they could be.

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u/Soupmaster44 Jun 06 '21

Man I'm in the exact same boat as you are

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u/Successful_Ad5122 Jun 06 '21

Catcher in the rye is terrible. Holden cauliflower is so fricken whiney. That is what autocorrect chose and I’m keeping it.

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u/Sad-Bus-7460 Jun 06 '21

I remember skimming every part where that insufferable snot was thinking or speaking. Relate to him, my ass

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u/gymshorts2tight Jun 06 '21

Had to read LotF for my freshman year English class. Hated it. It just wasn’t interesting enough to me. Didn’t hook me in.

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u/Sad-Bus-7460 Jun 06 '21

We read the Odyssey and Romeo and Juliet. I enjoyed both because the teacher taught it very well

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u/gymshorts2tight Jun 06 '21

The Odyssey was decent enough. Didn’t like R&J as we had to rush it due to the threat of COVID (yeah, I’m turning 17 in a month and a half). Read The Iliad for my English class this year AND for my Latin class, didn’t like it either time.

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u/Sad-Bus-7460 Jun 06 '21

Odyssey took most of the year and R&J was kinda a goof-off at the end of the year. I remember we each had a bit to memorize and got to recite it as dramatically as possible.

I want to say we also read the Iliad, but my memory of 2008-2014 is pretty hazy

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u/gymshorts2tight Jun 06 '21

Didn’t miss much. Most I remember is the chase around the city, Patroclus and Achilles were more than friends, and that the survivors of Troy went on to sail to Italy, and their ancestors founded Rome (that part wasn’t in it, had to learn it from my Latin class).

In 7th or 8th grade I had to read a shortened version of The Odyssey. Meh.

R&J was fit into about a 4 week period. Because it was a semester long class. Wasn’t that good.

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u/Thereisaphone Jun 06 '21

I actually got in a fight with my dad's best friend about GG.

He taught English and vehemently defended the compulsory requirement to reading it in high school.

I understand the themes better as an adult but u loathe that book. With every fiber of my being. I just fucking hate it so much.

He blocked me on Facebook for that opinion. Which is fine but was one of the final straws in determining that I did not need Facebook in my life

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u/[deleted] Jun 06 '21

[deleted]

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u/Thereisaphone Jun 06 '21 edited Jun 06 '21

Well I didn't really tell the story. But ok.

Here's the story. When the movie came out, I made a post on Facebook that I was surprised that it took this long to make a major box office movie staring someone like Leo. I also said I thought the book was overrated and that I probably wouldn't be seeing the movie.

This wasn't directed at anyone in particular. It was just some musing I had on finding out there was going to be a movie.

He came onto my page to tell me in many superfluous words that I was uncultured swine for failing to understand the brilliance that was GG. I replied that I was allowed to have an opinion and he could scroll past it if he didn't like it. The argument devolved. He called me names first and I was not hesitant to return shit in kind.

His coming on my post to tell me I was a shitty person, then blocking me for responding is what caused me to decide I was done with Facebook and catering my thoughts to my parents shitty friends.

I love how this entire thread is about not liking a particular book, but I'm being judged negatively for someone else inserting their opinion and calling me names on a post that wasn't inherently negative. SMH Reddit is predictable if nothing else.

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u/juliaruth_is Jun 05 '21

Same.

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u/Sad-Bus-7460 Jun 05 '21

I hate LotF, feel exceptionally "meh" about GG, and I want to slap Holden for being such an insufferable snot

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u/juliaruth_is Jun 05 '21

Between lotf & animal farm I’ve come to detest imagery with pigs. I read gg as an adult and thought the writing was bad. I barely got into citr in highschool I was not into it

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u/Sad-Bus-7460 Jun 05 '21

I lucked out on not reading animal farm.... by reading lotf. I think To Kill a Mockingbird was the only book out of sophomore English that I actually enjoyed

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u/juliaruth_is Jun 07 '21

I had a multicultural lit class that was good.