But Why Didn't You Finish It?
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1LyndaInOregon
There's a "books I didn't finish" sub-thread bubbling up in the "What's All the Hype" thread, and I thought it might be fun to offer up some "why I didn't finish it" tales of books we abandoned halfway through (or earlier).
Here are a few gems from my DNF list:
Pretend I'm Dead: This "scathingly funny" (?) novel about a bipolar off-her-meds housecleaner and her affair with a toothless, impotent junkie just isn't my thing.
The Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo: Just too gonzo for me. Fans of Hunter Thompson would probably enjoy it.
Spanish Jack: Unlikable main character, wooden dialogue, and vast lumps of expository material floating about like lumps in the oatmeal.
The Lumby Lines: This may be the worst professionally published book that I have ever tried to read. I don't know who Gail Fraser is, but she needs to go back to freshman English, and perhaps history. "A monastary built in 1893" cannot possibly be "one of the older in our country" Really? Do you maybe mean "county"? Same with the "oldest apple tree in the country". In the Pacific Northwest? There were no apple trees in the original 13 colonies? Not to mention that "one of the older" is completely incorrect usage. And last but certainly not least, if you're going to convince the reader that characters are "quirky", you need to demonstrate that quality, not just hang the label around the character's neck and go merrily on your way. … Seriously -- who gets this kind of garbage published? And by the New American Library no less?
The DaVinci Legacy: Bailed out of this overplotted thriller about some missing DaVinci designs for a superweapon, being sought by at least two semi-conflicting organizations, when the hero starts a fire by tossing a match into a puddle of diesel fuel. Nope. Doesn't work that way.
Holidays in Hell: A lot of people think P.J. O'Rourke is a very funny guy. Apparently, I'm not one of them, since I believe if you are going to write something that's snide, condescending, and cynical, it should at least be amusing.
Here are a few gems from my DNF list:
Pretend I'm Dead: This "scathingly funny" (?) novel about a bipolar off-her-meds housecleaner and her affair with a toothless, impotent junkie just isn't my thing.
The Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo: Just too gonzo for me. Fans of Hunter Thompson would probably enjoy it.
Spanish Jack: Unlikable main character, wooden dialogue, and vast lumps of expository material floating about like lumps in the oatmeal.
The Lumby Lines: This may be the worst professionally published book that I have ever tried to read. I don't know who Gail Fraser is, but she needs to go back to freshman English, and perhaps history. "A monastary built in 1893" cannot possibly be "one of the older in our country" Really? Do you maybe mean "county"? Same with the "oldest apple tree in the country". In the Pacific Northwest? There were no apple trees in the original 13 colonies? Not to mention that "one of the older" is completely incorrect usage. And last but certainly not least, if you're going to convince the reader that characters are "quirky", you need to demonstrate that quality, not just hang the label around the character's neck and go merrily on your way. … Seriously -- who gets this kind of garbage published? And by the New American Library no less?
The DaVinci Legacy: Bailed out of this overplotted thriller about some missing DaVinci designs for a superweapon, being sought by at least two semi-conflicting organizations, when the hero starts a fire by tossing a match into a puddle of diesel fuel. Nope. Doesn't work that way.
Holidays in Hell: A lot of people think P.J. O'Rourke is a very funny guy. Apparently, I'm not one of them, since I believe if you are going to write something that's snide, condescending, and cynical, it should at least be amusing.
2Tess_W
Bunburry 1-3: A Cosy Mystery Compilation I was real disappointed at this trio of whodunnits that takes place in the Cotswolds. The intro of the first book was a bit interesting, but it quickly went downhill and was overwhelmed with the predictable mundane. I read 2/3 of the mysteries but could not stomach the third. Read 192/289 pages.
No One Cares About Crazy People Really thought I could learn something from this non-fiction book; however, I was almost completely wrong. I am quite aware of how many of the mentally ill slip through the cracks. I hoped to learn something about schizophrenia, but into the book about 100 pages and the author is still telling about family vacations when his children were 5. I feel for the author, but he has got to get the point much sooner than he hopefully does! This is going to be a DNF for me. Read 100/384 pages
The Inheritance of Loss For an award winning book, I was quite disappointed. I read 6/32 (56 pages) chapters and just couldn't finish reading it when I had 11 hours and/or 330 pages to cover. I found the book plotless. There were various narrators and I wasn't sure who was telling the story at any given moment. I thought maybe it was because I was listening to the audio, but then I got the book from the library, and still could not follow along. The characters were flat and I couldn't care about any of them. In two words: mundane and boring!
No One Cares About Crazy People Really thought I could learn something from this non-fiction book; however, I was almost completely wrong. I am quite aware of how many of the mentally ill slip through the cracks. I hoped to learn something about schizophrenia, but into the book about 100 pages and the author is still telling about family vacations when his children were 5. I feel for the author, but he has got to get the point much sooner than he hopefully does! This is going to be a DNF for me. Read 100/384 pages
The Inheritance of Loss For an award winning book, I was quite disappointed. I read 6/32 (56 pages) chapters and just couldn't finish reading it when I had 11 hours and/or 330 pages to cover. I found the book plotless. There were various narrators and I wasn't sure who was telling the story at any given moment. I thought maybe it was because I was listening to the audio, but then I got the book from the library, and still could not follow along. The characters were flat and I couldn't care about any of them. In two words: mundane and boring!
3krazy4katz
I have 10 books in the "Officially Unfinished" collection and 19 in "On Hiatus"
On Hiatus could be for lots of reasons: got it from the library, liked it but didn't finish and didn't like it enough to buy so back on the waiting list; got bored in the middle but thought it had potential etc. Examples include Sapiens, which I really liked a lot but didn't finish and didn't feel like buying so I am back on the waiting list, and Why Buddhism is True, which was added in 2017. Some of them are even older and still on hiatus!
The ones that are Officially Unfinished are sometimes sappy romances or I just know I can't finish for some other reason. One of those is The Joy Luck Club, which really surprised me. I expected to love it. Another is Wedding Night, which is more understandable, I am probably not a Sophia Kinsella fan.
On Hiatus could be for lots of reasons: got it from the library, liked it but didn't finish and didn't like it enough to buy so back on the waiting list; got bored in the middle but thought it had potential etc. Examples include Sapiens, which I really liked a lot but didn't finish and didn't feel like buying so I am back on the waiting list, and Why Buddhism is True, which was added in 2017. Some of them are even older and still on hiatus!
The ones that are Officially Unfinished are sometimes sappy romances or I just know I can't finish for some other reason. One of those is The Joy Luck Club, which really surprised me. I expected to love it. Another is Wedding Night, which is more understandable, I am probably not a Sophia Kinsella fan.
4Crypto-Willobie
Life's too short.
5Cancellato
I did finish The Scarlet Letter ... 40 years after Mr. Peltier assigned it in 10th grade. I found it preachy and belabored at 15, and about the same at 55.
Nearly gave up on The Old Devils and wish I had. Characters were fun but awful at first, and then just awful.
I did give up on A Confederacy of Dunces, which I found incoherent and scatological. Also Bring Up the Bodies. I am not high on historical stuff.
Have never made it through anything by Robertson Davies, Jeffrey Eugenides, or Nabokov, though I assume that any failing there is mine.
Nearly gave up on The Old Devils and wish I had. Characters were fun but awful at first, and then just awful.
I did give up on A Confederacy of Dunces, which I found incoherent and scatological. Also Bring Up the Bodies. I am not high on historical stuff.
Have never made it through anything by Robertson Davies, Jeffrey Eugenides, or Nabokov, though I assume that any failing there is mine.
6smirks4u
>5 nohrt4me2: Nabokov is hard. Russians must think pain is a food group, and this is reflected in writings. Despair was a Nabokov book we were assigned. One of his books is narrated by a man who tells you upfront he is a liar; so the whole thing becomes a mystery. Plowing through something like War and Peace is similar. Ardalion in Despair only became Ardor Lion on one page. In other novels, the characters' various nicknames turn the whole affair into a house of glass.
7mlfhlibrarian
I think there are books that just aren’t meant for you, and you should ditch them as soon as you realise it. I usually give it 40-50 pages. On the other hand there are books which need to be read at a certain age e.g.Catcher in the Rye and if you miss the right time they will never work for you. My daughter raves about jonathan strange and mr norrell and if I’d read it in my teens I might agree but I’m just too old to suspend my disbelief in fantasy stuff now.
9Cancellato
>6 smirks4u: "Despair was a Nabokov book..." Hee! I get that. But I don't have a gripe against Russians in general.
I read a bunch of Tolstoy's novellas last summer and enjoyed those. As a Catholic, I read some as interesting allegories/metaphors for salvation. Man and Master. The Death of Ivan Illych. But there are other ways to read them, of course.
Zamyatin's We was very good. It was suppressed in the old USSR, and was a precursor to Brave New World and 1984. Ayn Rand pretty much ripped off big chunks of it for her dystopian, Anthem.
I read a bunch of Tolstoy's novellas last summer and enjoyed those. As a Catholic, I read some as interesting allegories/metaphors for salvation. Man and Master. The Death of Ivan Illych. But there are other ways to read them, of course.
Zamyatin's We was very good. It was suppressed in the old USSR, and was a precursor to Brave New World and 1984. Ayn Rand pretty much ripped off big chunks of it for her dystopian, Anthem.
10WildMaggie
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
I tried to force myself to keep at this one but life is just too short. The first few chapters are heartbreaking and compelling. Eggers could have ended it there as a great novella. But after that, the book (up to about the middle where I gave it up) is neither. Nor is it even particularly interesting. It turns into over-long rantings and navel-gazings of a very young person who writes like he's the first to ever have to raise a kid he didn't plan to while his friends are carefree. About a gazillion young women have found themselves stuck in the same place. But when it's some guy, we're supposed to find his whining to be great literature? Nah. Where's a decent editor when you need one? For a really good take on this theme, try Anne Tyler's novel Saint Maybe.
I tried to force myself to keep at this one but life is just too short. The first few chapters are heartbreaking and compelling. Eggers could have ended it there as a great novella. But after that, the book (up to about the middle where I gave it up) is neither. Nor is it even particularly interesting. It turns into over-long rantings and navel-gazings of a very young person who writes like he's the first to ever have to raise a kid he didn't plan to while his friends are carefree. About a gazillion young women have found themselves stuck in the same place. But when it's some guy, we're supposed to find his whining to be great literature? Nah. Where's a decent editor when you need one? For a really good take on this theme, try Anne Tyler's novel Saint Maybe.
11WildMaggie
> 1 I agree on P.J. O'Rourke. Mean-spirited and not funny.
12bergs47
>11 WildMaggie: Oh I love him
13smirks4u
>9 nohrt4me2: All good points. A side note: if we scald all of the authors who are derivative, Shakespeare will have to give back a lot of the Bible. Charles Frazier, of the novel Thirteen Moons, will have to return two Cherokee legends and several popular stories of old. Ayn Rand is an acquired taste, like a lot of things. Some things we outgrow.
14Cancellato
>10 WildMaggie: Alas, I liked that book. More funny than whiny, imo. But it was a bit too long by abt 100 pages.
15dustydigger
I have had The Spy Who Came In From the Cold on hiatus for years.I have such vivid pictures in my head of Richard Burton being so desperate in the film version that I cant bear to read the second half of the book.On the other hand I have read Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy3 times,no problem,.so go figure.I think I will spread it out over the next few years and will get there in the end!.lol
I have made several attempts at Middlemarchand cant get into it at all.I am very used to 19th century style,and I thoroughly enjoyed Silas Marnerbut somehow I dont get Middlemarch. Partly I think its because I get the impression that Eliot was determined that this was going to be her masterpiece,and it must be grand and depict her society widely. I think I'll just class it as DNF............
I have made several attempts at Middlemarchand cant get into it at all.I am very used to 19th century style,and I thoroughly enjoyed Silas Marnerbut somehow I dont get Middlemarch. Partly I think its because I get the impression that Eliot was determined that this was going to be her masterpiece,and it must be grand and depict her society widely. I think I'll just class it as DNF............
16Tess_W
>I'm with you, loved Silas Marner, but in the last 10 years have started Middlemarch 3 times and never completed. Eliot is one of my top 5 favorite authors.
17Cancellato
>15 dustydigger: Eliot saw Romola as her masterpiece. If you dislike "Middlemarch" (loved it; still no better dissection of marriage gone wrong, imo) don't try "Romola." It is a very cerebral defense of Protestantism. Her anti-Catholicism is on full view, interesting but not my cuppa. I did finish it, though.
Mill on the Floss was meh for me. Veers into Dickensian sentiment.
Mill on the Floss was meh for me. Veers into Dickensian sentiment.
18librorumamans
Wuthering Heights or, as I prefer to call it, Blustering Frights.
It was on a course in undergrad, and I bailed part-way through. Years later, I found myself required to teach it and still couldn't manage to finish it. It's too overwrought and improbable. I think I may actually have thrown it across the room (not the classroom).
It was on a course in undergrad, and I bailed part-way through. Years later, I found myself required to teach it and still couldn't manage to finish it. It's too overwrought and improbable. I think I may actually have thrown it across the room (not the classroom).
19Tess_W
>18 librorumamans: Sorry you do not enjoy Wuthering Heights. It's my favorite novel of all time!
20Cancellato
>18 librorumamans:, >19 Tess_W: My mother was a beauty and a romantic. I was neither, and she didn't disguise her disappointment. Her dream date was dinner with Cary Grant. Mine was burlesque with Groucho Marx. She loved "Wuthering Heights," and once threatened to hide all my science fiction and adventure books until I read it. I think my liking Jane Eyre kept her from disowning me. She didn't like my moral of that story, though: Wit and courage will always beat beauty and status if the man is worth having.
21terriks
>20 nohrt4me2: Hear, hear! I agree with your takeaways from Jane Eyre.
It's been years since I've read that book. I might have to go find it and at least get it onto to To Be Read 📚 stack.
It's been years since I've read that book. I might have to go find it and at least get it onto to To Be Read 📚 stack.
22krazy4katz
>20 nohrt4me2: That perspective might actually make me like Jane Eyre!
That entire genre does not work for me. I just reread my critique of Jane Eyre and came across this sentence: "Aren't there any charismatic men in the 19th century?!" Nevertheless, I admitted it was well written.
The only reason I read it was that I had just finished The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde, which I loved! So I wanted to see what the connection was with Jane Eyre. There was a connection, but I have forgotten what it was.
That entire genre does not work for me. I just reread my critique of Jane Eyre and came across this sentence: "Aren't there any charismatic men in the 19th century?!" Nevertheless, I admitted it was well written.
The only reason I read it was that I had just finished The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde, which I loved! So I wanted to see what the connection was with Jane Eyre. There was a connection, but I have forgotten what it was.
