Author hated most

ParadiseLost19 · Post by **ParadiseLost19** » 28 Dec 2013, 10:00

I have four authors whose writing styles I hate most: Franz Kafka, John Steinbeck, Cassandra Clare and Stephenie Meyer. The works I have read by these authors simply did not draw me in, and in the case of the latter two, the worlds and characters they created were, in my opinion, bland, boring and underdeveloped.

Nathrad Sheare · Post by **Nathrad Sheare** » 29 Dec 2013, 23:07

it's hard to beat the great oldies, isn't it? I have to say, I wasn't a huge fan of Stephanie Meyer's style... I see there really isn't a definite set of rules to indicate what will be famous and what won't??

Lysithian · Post by **Lysithian** » 12 Jan 2014, 11:07

Disliked Steinbeck. And that book I read in college that was so traumatic that I've totally forgotten the author! But I remember what the old teacher shouted at me when I couldn't answer a question about the book . . . YOU LIVE IN YOUR OWN LITTLE WORLD! AND YOU LIKE IT THERE!!! For a shy girl that was devastating!

Hearty Guy · Post by **Hearty Guy** » 12 Jan 2014, 16:12

mouseofcards69,

You wrote: "I can. In fact, I could give you two, but that wouldn't be answering the question properly, so let's go with Vladimir Nabokov. Why? Read Lolita. I'm an impecunious twenty-something with a grudge against dirty old men.

I would be inclined to agree with you, although I have never read this book. I wouldn't doubt that many actual pedophiles are sufficiently genius in some way, just as this writer acclaimed for marvelous feats in English bordering on genius may be, but that doesn't make the fictional character any more palatable than a flesh and blood parallel. I can see where, if you despise the characters in the book, even the wonderful writer and author of it will be tainted. Couldn't he have spent his enormous talent bringing attention to something less sordid?

Just as bad news/trash news sells newspapers and magazines, so too do sorted topics sell books.

Nathrad Sheare · Post by **Nathrad Sheare** » 12 Jan 2014, 16:12

Teachers...

FlorenceDupuis · Post by **FlorenceDupuis** » 15 Jan 2014, 10:31

Patrick Suskind. And after him it would be Stephen King.

kirknicola · Post by **kirknicola** » 16 Jan 2014, 07:11

I don't hate anyone in particular, I just don't understand how Stephanie Meyer made it with the over-bloated Twilight series. The first implausibility is that an octogenarian vampire still goes to school. Sure he's clever because he's been going to school for almost a century, but couldn't he find something else to do with his life?

The repetitive thoughts in Bella's head that went on for pages and pages and pages in New Moon - the only book that I have ever given up halfway through and popped into recycling - were also painfully boring, long and slow - but clearly that's because I'm not the intended target audience.

There were moments of excitement that quickly popped up, half explored and quickly dismissed. I think the pacing was off. And yet, it was so popular that it went onto unimaginable success.

I know Stephanie Meyers's, Sookie Stackhouse series was a little uneven, but I think at least the characters were more plausible within the fantasy element, and they were grown ups with interesting backstories which gave a lot more scope for the stories.

I'm a sucker for stories. I'm not mad about reading thousands of frilly words before finding out what something's about. I love reading about real people, thoughts, decisions, dilemmas ... that's why I loved the Harry Potter world. Sure the books could have been written about the school, or another character ... but the decision that every writer takes at the beginning of a book is, "How am I going to tell this story?" and I think JK Rowling made a great decision that paid off.

Alderica · Post by **Alderica** » 16 Jan 2014, 18:15

I don't hate any authors, although I do hate some of their books... the 50 Shades books immediately spring to mind! I think the author I come closest to disliking is Belle de Jour ("The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl") - she seems so superficial, reminds me at times of a stroppy kid who likes shocking her parents with gratuitous filth. I must say, the TV series with Billie Piper was a vast improvement on the book - at least Billie portrayed the lead character as having some depth and feeling!

uab_blazer · Post by **uab_blazer** » 17 Jan 2014, 00:47

I can count on one hand the books I have tried to read and absolutely hated. At the top of the list is Wuthering Heights, so I have to go with Emily Brontë.

Alderica · Post by **Alderica** » 17 Jan 2014, 14:51

uab_blazer wrote:I can count on one hand the books I have tried to read and absolutely hated. At the top of the list is Wuthering Heights, so I have to go with Emily Brontë.

I've no objection to Emily Bronte, but I didn't enjoy Wuthering Heights either. Glad it isn't just me

H0LD0Nthere · Post by **H0LD0Nthere** » 21 Jan 2014, 23:43

Lysithian wrote:Disliked Steinbeck. And that book I read in college that was so traumatic that I've totally forgotten the author! But I remember what the old teacher shouted at me when I couldn't answer a question about the book . . . YOU LIVE IN YOUR OWN LITTLE WORLD! AND YOU LIKE IT THERE!!! For a shy girl that was devastating!

Lysithian, I don't know whether to laugh or cry with you over that. I, too would have been devastated if anyone, especially a teacher, yelled that at me. But seeing it in print, it is such a funny quote. More for what it tells us about the speaker than anything else. That is truly the attitude in your typical college. If you don't like this horrible thing I am forcing down your throat, that proves you are a narrow-minded prude ... but I digress.

-- 21 Jan 2014, 23:45 --

mouseofcards89 wrote:
Bergamot wrote:Strange topic? I couldn't 'hate' an author, I'm sure each and every book has some pearls of wisdom in it.
I can. In fact, I could give you two, but that wouldn't be answering the question properly, so let's go with Vladimir Nabokov. Why? Read Lolita. I'm an impecunious twenty-something with a grudge against dirty old men.

Mouseofcards, I am with you on that. That is why, while I might not hate him, I would not want to be in a room with Ken Follett. I've read two of his books, and each of them describes the mental landscape of a serial rapist in a way that is just a little too sympathetic for my comfort.

jamespoet · Post by **jamespoet** » 26 Mar 2014, 21:15

I can't think of a writer at the moment who I particularly dislike based on the whole of their work or their personality, but one book I don't think is as good as it's cracked up to be is THE ROAD by Cormac McCarthy. The story itself is well plotted, and the father and son work very well as characters, but his strange choice in punctuation--or lack thereof, rather--just kept reminding me that I wa reading rather than going into their world, and that irked me. I personally think that McCarthy's Border trilogy is better, beginning with ALL THE PRETTY HORSES.

-- 27 Mar 2014, 13:30 --

jamespoet wrote:I can't think of a writer at the moment who I particularly dislike based on the whole of their work or their personality, but one book I don't think is as good as it's cracked up to be is THE ROAD by Cormac McCarthy. The story itself is well plotted, and the father and son work very well as characters, but his strange choice in punctuation--or lack thereof, rather--just kept reminding me that I wa reading rather than going into their world, and that irked me. I personally think that McCarthy's Border trilogy is better, beginning with ALL THE PRETTY HORSES.

The more I think about the issue as I worded it, the more I think about writers I don't particularly care for in regards to their entire work, John Updike came to mind suddenly. I can read through his short stories without getting too irritated most of the time, but his novels come off as pretentious and bratty--Updike's characters are very much like himself, New Englanders who are upper middle-class and of the WASP society, with exestential problems of depression without reason as opposed to real-world problems of grown up people.

It was as if the men and women in his books were high school students who never got out of their mentality. Don't get me wrong, I have no issue with high school kids, or am I trying to undermind the reality of their problems as they see them. But usually they grow up, graduate school, get jobs and college training, and they add some perspective to their problems and they realize that their ideas on love and interpersonal relationships must change.

Updike's characters, many of whom seem to be aged 35 and up, don't have any added perspective, and their ideas on love and relationships don't change, not in the abstract at least.

So with this in mind, I still say that I don't particularly hate an author, and I don't really hate John Updike. But out of the group of novelists who've won the Pulitzer, Updike seems one of the more confusing to me. If you look to William Faulkner, for instance, he had some more weighty, real world issues, such as religion and race and politics, that go well beyond the exestential problems of well-to-do men and women having to go to marriage counseling for Bill's low sex drive and Jeanie's midlife crisis. For me, it's not relatable, and it's too safe.

sugarcherie · Post by **sugarcherie** » 29 Mar 2014, 12:35

Elizabeth Wurtzel - please get over yourself.

lykewake · Post by **lykewake** » 10 Apr 2014, 15:10

G P Taylor.

Partially for the poor quality of his writing. Partially due to the offensive, heavy-handed religious message of Shadowmancer (embrace Christianity because all who don't are Pagans who are going to Hell). Mostly because he always comes across as an arrogant and closed minded individual whenever he is interviewed.

Deia · Post by **Deia** » 13 Apr 2014, 13:40

I would have to go with Mark Haddon and his book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. To me this book was just terrible and it reflects on the author.