"Classic" Literature that you hated?

[dangitall]

"Classic" books stayed alive for longer time than average books because of how "good" they are, but there are bound to be some "classics" that you disliked.
I personally really disliked "Romeo and Juliet". Mostly because our teacher force-fed it to us, but the fact that it was mostly about a depressed teenage couple with suicidal tendencies just seems a bit off to me.

 

[Duck Sandwich]

I didn't care much for Romeo and Juliet either. The Great Gatsby was just a big "WTF"-fest for me. A guy creepily obsesses over a girl he loved before he went off to war, and the narrator glorifies his feelings as some kind of longing for an idealized perception of the past.

 

[Sixcess]

I rather liked The Great Gatsby. Storywise there's not really that much to it, but I find it very pleasantly written.

OT: Moby Dick. It starts well but that doesn't last long. You'll learn a lot about whaling since every second chapter is a purely factual essay on one aspect or another of it, but the actual story isn't exactly fast paced to begin with, and the constant essays slow it to an utter crawl.

 

[aescuder]

I hated Huckleberry Finn...total waste of time.


to OP: oh poor Shakespeare. In defense of the author, "Venus and Adonis", "Much Ado about Nothing", and "Macbeth" were much better.

 

[monkeyonnos]

Oliver Twist. It was so depressing, and even the happy ending wasn't very happy. I just really disliked it.

 

[lobo_ace777]

Heart of Darkness

 

[Turigamot]

Canterbury Tales.


WHY U NO FINISH, CHAUCER!

 

[Rabid Chipmunk]

A Tale of Two Cities, Hamlet, and The Great Gatsby were all enormously underwhelming to me.

 

[A Random Reader]

Macbeth. The combination of a bad teacher, being force fed it and a dull plot it ruined it for me.

 

[Mikkaddo]

"Classic" books stayed alive for longer time than average books because of how "good" they are, but there are bound to be some "classics" that you disliked.
I personally really disliked "Romeo and Juliet". Mostly because our teacher force-fed it to us, but the fact that it was mostly about a depressed teenage couple with suicidal tendencies just seems a bit off to me.

Pretty much anything we were forced to read in school.

If pressed, I'd say "Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry" for being out right anti-racism propaganda in a time where racism had never been lower in severity or frequency.

And "To Kill a Mockingbird." because, let's face it . . . that book was not interesting at all, it was a bunch of BORING people and a JACKASS little girl doing shit no one cares about.

 

[Harkonnen64]

We had to read the Scarlet Letter in high school. I was so confused by it that it wasn't until we had to watch the T.V. "miniseries" (it was actually quite long), that I realized that I had confused the younger, male love interest with the old man who further seeks to persecute the adultress. Whoops.

Also, I say adultress because I can't remember her, or anyone else's name; what does that mean?

 

[Al-Bundy-da-G]

Beowulf, I know it was written hundreds of years ago but for the love of god would it kill you to not print the damn thing in stanza. It's not a freakin poem.

 

[Baneat]

Just about all of Shakespeare, but only cause of this:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SeinfeldIsUnfunny

So I respect it like Goldeneye.

 

[The Rookie Gamer]

A Lesson before Dying. The end made everything feel so futile.

 

[codeg]

Catcher in the Rye, worst book I ever read

 

[mwpher]

The closest thing to classic literature that I didnt like was "Wasteland" by T. S. Elliot. It's a fun read for anyone who finds absurd postmodern literature amusing.

 

[Simskiller]

"Pride and Prejudice"

Hated hated HATED that book. Though I did enjoy Crime and Punishment.

 

[loophole92]

Jane Eyre. What a frightfully tedious book, not to mention that the message at the end is 'If you're quite plain, your best hope is to wait for a handsome man to become horribly disfigured.' Completely unsure as to how it is viewed as a feminist book when the woman is so lacklustre.

 

[mwpher]

"Pride and Prejudice"

Hated hated HATED that book. Though I did enjoy Crime and Punishment.

Seriously, does anybody really like that book? The dad was pretty hilarious and the story was somewhat interesting when read in a cliffnotes format but there wasn't really much else.

 

[Kintobor92]

"Pride and Prejudice"

Hated hated HATED that book. Though I did enjoy Crime and Punishment.

Whoa there. You do know it's not the same author, right? Russian classic lit-Crime and Punishment-holds up a hell of a lot better than English does. Also have to say I loved both To Kill a Mockingbird and Catcher in the Rye.

So now I guess I'll echo everybody else. Shakespeare and anything by the Brontes can go ahead and die.