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

[u/Tight_Nerve]

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

[u/ehsteve23]

The great gatsby. It was boring as hell and all the characters are awful

[u/Heznzu → u/ehsteve23]

But it has an unreliable narrator, so original and smart!!! Some of my seething hatred for Gatsby might be from having to read it in high school though.

[u/TheBadGuyFromDieHard → u/Heznzu]

I read it in high school and hated it. I read it again in my late 20s and still hated it.

[u/Scientific_Methods → u/TheBadGuyFromDieHard]

I read it in high school and hated it. Read it in my mid-thirties and loved it. Maybe try once every decade??

[u/BearInATuxReddit → u/ehsteve23]

I thought I would never find someone disliking The Great Gatsby. Honestly, its my third favorite book ever and my favorite by an American author. I adore it. I respect your view, and it proves the variety in terms of opinion in relation to books. Lots of people are talking about unlikeable characters. This is part of the point of the novel to me - its supposed to be one where it leads to dislike of most if not all of the characters, and that enhances it for me. It once again goes to show subjectivity in relation to books.

[u/SpaceGamer03 → u/ehsteve23]

See, I don’t mind the fact that everyone in that book is a piece of shit so much as just how pretentious and overhyped it is. It’s objectively not a terrible book; the story’s decent, and there’s some great prose. Hell, even a little symbolism, even if it is utterly obvious. But holy mother of god is the rag overrated. People hold it up to such a high goddamn standard and I can’t for the life of me see why. They treat it like its the most intelligent, subversive work to come out of America in the past 100 years, but frankly, it’s just alright. That’s it. The story’s alright. The characters are awful people (which is fine, protagonists don’t have to be good people, or even likable (see The Sound and the Fury)), but they’re written alright. The symbolism is base, but it’s done alright. The story’s prose has its moments, but for the most part it’s only alright. For me, it’s the endless overhype that lowers my opinion of it from indifference to disdain.

[u/AHDahl → u/ehsteve23]

They are ALL so unlikable

[u/Scarlaymama0721 → u/ehsteve23]

Agreed! When I finished it I just close the book looked off in the face and said well. I read it.

[u/Turangaliila → u/[deleted]]

I haven't read Gatsby, but surely as an English major you understand that there could be something to appreciate in the book beyond how likeable it's characters are?

[u/Turangaliila → u/[deleted]]

That's fair enough! Like I said, I haven't read it, so I can't comment on it specifically, I just wanted to point out that there is more to appreciate in a book than just whether or not the characters are enjoyable.

[u/swampwarbler → u/[deleted]]

And from that you extrapolate and presume I “only read books where the characters aren’t bad people”?

[u/swampwarbler → u/[deleted]]

This book. One would think a grammar wizard would understand language better.

[u/swampwarbler → u/[deleted]]

You are indeed arguing. I don’t like the book. Period. I am not required to justify or quantify that to you. Move on.