Have you ever read a book you absolutely hated? Maybe you hated it so much that you couldn’t even bring yourself to finish it?
Well, we asked some of our writers for Forge Press this same question, and the results are below.
Prepare yourself for the exact opposite of our more common reading recommendation pieces. But also don’t be swayed without reason! We all have our own tastes.
The Sun Also Rises – Ernest Hemingway (chosen by Lucy)
I have a bone to pick with Hemingway’s writing in general, and in my opinion this book is his worst example of it. To date, I have read three of his works, and trust me when I tell you that the only one worth your time is The Old Man And The Sea, and that’s because it’s only around 100 pages long. Before turning to literature, Hemingway used to be a journalist and you can instantly tell that from his writing. In The Sun Also Rises, readers are treated to several plot points that should, in theory, bring great drama and tension to the novel. Unfortunately, for me, Hemingway has a very special talent for doing away with all potential intrigue.
The novel centres on a group of American and British friends who travel through Spain and experience rural and urban culture alike, culminating in the narrative’s biggest drama: they witness a nineteen-year-old bullfighter get gored to death in Pamplona. And yet the way Hemingway describes it all makes me feel like I’m reading an article from the Sheffield Star, not a timeless work of modern art. This is not a real quote from the book, but I think it’ll give you the gist: ‘Brett and I saw a bullfight. The bullfighter got gored to death. Brett cried about it. What a shame.’ Don’t turn around and tell me that this stripped-back style is some great metaphor about the dehumanising capacity of Western capitalism and the American dream; it’s not minimalism, it’s just shoddy writing.
Literary critics throughout the years have argued this novel to be one of the best works of the American literary canon and often compare Hemingway’s oeuvre to that of John Steinbeck and F. Scott Fitzgerald. I think that such a comparison is frankly insulting to Steinbeck and Fitzgerald. As a student of both English Literature and Spanish, I can appreciate the contributions that this book made to widen America’s understanding of Spain’s landscapes and cultures while also finding it incredibly, incredibly boring. Not for me.
Alphabet Squadron – Alexander Freed (chosen by Sophie)
I am well versed in the intricacies of the Star Wars galaxy, knowing such minor details that you would never know you needed. I like the prequels, I like the sequels; I like almost everything about the Star Wars universe. But Alphabet Squadron by Alexander Freed… was not a good read. It introduces five new characters within the first two or three chapters, gives them very little backstory, and then throws them all together for the rest of the book.
A fun concept, certainly, but giving readers five names with nothing to tell them apart and putting their characters together means you are constantly juggling between these unknown characters, unable to put any sort of depiction to a name and ultimately leaving you hopelessly lost. I got about two-thirds of the way through before having to give in and leave the book there, because I was simply too confused to carry on. The book is widely praised, and I am certainly in the minority with my opinion, but if you can’t read it all in one sitting or struggle to imagine faces for names, give this one a wide berth!
Jane Eyre – Charlotte Brontë (chosen by Adelaide)
As an English literature student, I read lots of books and most of the time I love what I’m reading. However, despite it being nearly seven years since I tried to read it, I still harbour a grudge against Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. I know that most people love it and find it a really romantic story, but I just couldn’t get on with it when I tried reading it. I found it too long (I only got halfway through!) and just not very interesting.
Maybe I was too young to really enjoy it – I was twelve when I tried – but for some reason I just can’t find it in me to pick it back up again. Nevertheless, I have enjoyed watching theatre adaptations of it and I absolutely loved Jean Rhys’s post-colonial prequel Wide Sargasso Sea, so I’ll probably force myself to read Jane Eyre again at some point and finally answer the question of whether I truly hate this gothic Victorian novel or whether my mistake was just trying to read it so young!
