Worst Book You've Read for School

[Just_A_Glitch]

Frankenstein.

Horrible book. Fantastic story with so much promise, but Mary Shelley was a terrible author and ruined it.

That or Catcher in the Rye. 200 pages of a little brat complaining about his life? No thanks Salinger. No thanks.

 

[PhoenixKing]

Well, I really hated reading the first half of A Tale of Two Cities, but the end made me appreciate it a lot more. Most books I read were really good, so out of those, I would probably have to say... The Giver.

 

[Aaron Wickman]

The View from Saturday.

 

[EeveeElectro]

I've liked the books I've had to read, I can't really think of any I didn't like.
Well, at the time I didn't like Othello but now I love it and seen it three times on stage. Didn't like The Crucible by Arthur Miller at the time too, but after I read it I realised how clever and thought out the characters were. Abigail reminded me of a fair few people at my school...
I also liked reading Death Of a salesman and A view from the bridge.
Remember getting really confused about Skellig as well...

 

[triplea]

The Great Gatsby

 

[CK76]

"The Scarlet Letter"

The story is fine, it's the execution that makes it such a drag to read. Get the synopsis and discuss that, but the lengthy and tiresome description bits? Pass.

 

[Kagim]

Probably Frankenstein.

I expected the book to be interesting, but it was just soo boring and badly written. I was like "this is what pasted for horror in the 1800s?!"

To be fair Mary Shelly wrote that while drunk off her ass with a couple friends on a rainy day.

So why the hell are we going over it in school as if it's a great piece of literature?

Because we live in a world where everyone thinks Frankenstein is the monster.

I thought that the point of that book was to show that Frankenstein WAS the monster, instead of his creation.

As for me? The Handmaid's Tale. Way to make sex boring.

Yes, in the non literal sense.

However a lot of people think that Frankenstein is the zombie that the doctor rose. As in the ERRGGG ARRGGG guy. Tall green and homicidal is who a lot of people think Frankenstein is. Not small, phd, and naive.

 

[JohnSmith]

The Spy Who Came In From the Cold, John le Carre'

Of all the fiction surrounding the cold war and berlin in particular why did my teacher pick this. I found it a confusing read and unlike the rest of the class i actually knew a fair slice of cold war history prior to reading, plus little tid bits that some of my class seemed to miss like who MI6 are... You know on second thoughts as terrible as this book was I think it may have been about the right thing to inflict on my class.

 

[CK76]

That or Catcher in the Rye. 200 pages of a little brat complaining about his life? No thanks Salinger. No thanks.

Isn't that the point though? No one listens to him talking about his ducks or hat. The only hope he has is in the reader, so we either affirm or condemn him.

 

[Radek1994]

Their Eyes were Watching God and The Passing
Favorite would probably The Catcher in the Rye.

 

[AngloDoom]

'Spies'.

A whole chapter, describing a smell, and then basically what is a 150-page interlude of a child's life until something happens. Then an abrupt ending.

Almost devoured my teacher after reading it.

 

[Hithlain]

Beloved.

I retch after I think about it. I actually ended up reading it 3 times because I didn't really get what was going on the first 2 times I read it because it's so insane. Ug. Whenever anyone asks about the worst book ever it will always be Beloved for me.

Toni Morrison is an award winning writer. That doesn't mean her book isn't crap!

 

[oppp7]

"Their Eyes Were Watching God"

I have no idea why that is part of any curriculum.

Ya, that would be mine too. The fact that every character spoke like a hick places it at the top of my hate list.

 

[Rakkana]

The Tempest. I'm sorry. Shakespeare has dome some alright stuff but this was just awful.

 

[JohnSmith]

Also while considering this topic, I put it to you members of the escapist that getting high school children to read the plays of shakespeare rather than taking them to see them first is a great disservice both to the plays and the children. Failing that a film adaption, I nearly lost interest in Julius Caesar the tenth time we read it through with my class mates making a mess of the "olde" english, but seeing it preformed properly is amazing.

 

[GrinningManiac]

Romeo and Juliet (love Shakespeare, but it's his WORST)

But, the trophy would go to Hemingway's "A Farewell to Arms"

...

GOOD GOD I HATED THAT BOOK

 

[thatguy1]

"The Scarlet Letter"

The story is fine, it's the execution that makes it such a drag to read. Get the synopsis and discuss that, but the lengthy and tiresome description bits? Pass.

Hawthorne spends a questionable amount of time describing Bosoms.



For me, definitely a lesser known book, "Maggie: a girl of the streets"

Her life sucks, her family sucks, her town sucks, she becomes a prostitute, she dies, the end. this is litteraly the extent of the plot.

Wow, my life would really be better off if I hadn't read this. Stephen Crane neeeds to be brought back to life and punched in the stomach.

 

[Geo Da Sponge]

Probably Frankenstein.

I expected the book to be interesting, but it was just soo boring and badly written. I was like "this is what pasted for horror in the 1800s?!"

To be fair Mary Shelly wrote that while drunk off her ass with a couple friends on a rainy day.

So why the hell are we going over it in school as if it's a great piece of literature?

Because we live in a world where everyone thinks Frankenstein is the monster.

Frankenstein is the monster. Frankenstein's creation is not the monster.

Think about it...

 

[Double A]

Sophie's World.

It's like banging your head against a brick wall and scraping really long fingernails on a chalkboard. And eating bland gruel. It's painfully boring.

 

[captainordo]

Siddhartha. Nothing happened within that book.

And I get to read it this summer. Fun.
OT. the worst book that I have read so far would be Angela's Ashes. I can't believe that Frank McCourt would publish it while he was still alive.