books What classic literature do you find overrated?

[cybershocker455 324]

We all have some classic literature that you had to read because it was required literature. And there are definitely some books you probably didn't like. What are some of those books?

 

For me it's Scarlet Letter because it was so boring to read.

[Johnny1226 14,674]

Anything written by Shakespeare

[QuirkyUsername 1,576]

Anything written by Shakespeare

Couldn't agree more with you.

[Megas 27,086]

Anything written by Shakespeare

Whoa whoa whoa, Hamlet, Richard III and his comedies are some top tier shit.

 

 

I can agree with Romeo and Juliet though, always thought it was lame

[Akemi Homura 7,680]

I liked Macbeth, but the legacy of Romeo & Juliet has gotten fairly stale.

[Seraph 128]

Anything written by Shakespeare

 

Alas, no love for The Tragedy of Julius Caesar? Et Tu Johnny1226?  That one was great as was Macbeth and Hamlet. 

 

Personally, I think Tom Sawyer is a rather overrated classic and I'd ideally like to avoid teaching it when I start teaching High School. Just to give the students something different to learn. 

[Celtore 2,769]

Oh come on, Shakespeare gets such a bad rap because of crappy teaching. Watch an actual production, seeing one of his works as a play is a completely different experience than reading it like a book.

 

Anyway, as for my pick for overrated literature, the great gatsby. The symbolism is as subtle as a bull in a china shop, none of the characters have any redeemable traits, the plot is utter garbage and it gets way too much credit for what it actually is. It's a book for literature critics who get their kicks on analyzing something to death over solid storytelling, even after all the hidden meanings have been found and unceremoniously extracted.

 

Dont get me wrong, I like it when authors put in symbols and hidden undertones to their works. I just care about having an engaging story, characters and plot elements more.

Edited April 9, 2016 by Celtore

[Discordian 6,013]

All of them.

 

I tend to only enjoy things from the last twenty years or so. I know almost nothing of literature. Never interested me.

[ISleepNow 20]

Personally, I think Tom Sawyer is a rather overrated classic and I'd ideally like to avoid teaching it when I start teaching High School. Just to give the students something different to learn. 

 

 

They don't teach Tom Sawyer, it's Huckleberry Finn (dat N word).  But at least that story was entertaining.  The Great Gatsby was boring as shit as were most 'modern American classics'

Fuck 'Native Son'

Fuck 'A Separate Peace'

Fuck 'Lord Jim'

Fuck 'To Kill a Mockingbird'. 

The only books that I read in high school that were bearable were the first and the last and those were Call of the Wild and Catcher in the Rye.  Don't read the rest cause they suck

Edited April 9, 2016 by ISleepNow

[Seraph 128]

They don't teach Tom Sawyer, it's Huckleberry Finn (dat N word)

 

They taught Tom Sawyer at my high school and Huckleberry Finn. My district wasn't nearly as strict about those things for some reason. 

[captainborgue 343]

Anything by Falkner, and Catcher in the Rye. Ugh, HATE IT SO MUCH.

[cmarston1 5,952]

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn comes to mind.

[Concerned Bystander 2,901]

I too read 'Catcher in the Rye' at school, and although it wasn't terrible, I feel strongly that it doesn't come even close to deserving the hype that for some reason surrounds it.  Of course literature is subjective, I'm sure many people see something in it that I do not.

[Love You 100]

Romeo and Juliet, pretty dull in my opinion.

[JeyWiz 1,097]

It's gotta be Romeo and Juliet. Seriously, people always talk about that stuff when it comes to romance. I mean, come on, the ending isn't even happy!

 

"Romeo, oh Romeo! Where the FREAKIN' HELL ARE YA, ROMEO!?"   

Edited April 10, 2016 by DJ Gumball

[powerpuff-tsubasa 447]

shakespeares plays. theyre mindnumbing

[GeekySonic 1,150]

I can't give an honest answer. I haven't read enough classics. Even in school, I have only read To Kill a Mockingbird and some Shakespeare plays.

 

This year, we read 1984 and just now started Fahrenheit 451, and those are both pretty dang good. I still don't think I would be able to label any as overrated, anyway.

[Phanact 333]

We all have some classic literature that you had to read because it was required literature. And there are definitely some books you probably didn't like. What are some of those books?

 

For me it's Scarlet Letter because it was so boring to read.

 

 

I think a lot of it is overrated. I mean, sure, its written well for its time, but the fact that its idolized basically says, to me, that there isn't any good literature from this era.

[Guest]

I agree with #7 and The Great Gatsby.

But the worst is Hemingway. I mean. It's all about his "Iceberg Principle", which is really not that iceberg-ish and not his invention, either. Reading or even analyzing a novel by Hemingway is science. By that I don't mean it is /a/ science, but it's the same set-up each and every time. 

I am easily bored when reading his works because of the hype that's attached to it.

 

 

#17 > I make myself read 1984 twice a year because I love the idea behind it so much. 

 

 

Oh, and Narnia.

Edited July 12, 2016 by Guest

[captainborgue 343]

Catcher in the Rye and pretty much everything by Falkner- but ESPECIALLY The Sound and the Fury. GOD, I hated that book.

[Guest]

Catcher in the Rye and pretty much everything by Falkner- but ESPECIALLY The Sound and the Fury. GOD, I hated that book.

What didn't you like about Catcher in the Rye? I think it's great!

[Celli 4,332]

All of the ones I was forced to read in grade school.

[captainborgue 343]

What didn't you like about Catcher in the Rye? I think it's great!

 

Um, does it matter? You enjoy it, I hate it.

 

But, if you REALLY want to know...

 

 

The main character spends the entire book complaining about his ultra privileged life and how useless he is and how nobody likes him, but yet simultaneously dreams of SOMEHOW MAGICALLY saving people from their problems by doing... what, exactly? Being a whiner? He constantly bitches about all these failures in his life, every single one of them being something he did to himself and yet somehow it's everyone else's fault for all of them.

 

[Guest]

Um, does it matter? You enjoy it, I hate it.

 

But, if you REALLY want to know...

 

 

The main character spends the entire book complaining about his ultra privileged life and how useless he is and how nobody likes him, but yet simultaneously dreams of SOMEHOW MAGICALLY saving people from their problems by doing... what, exactly? Being a whiner? He constantly bitches about all these failures in his life, every single one of them being something he did to himself and yet somehow it's everyone else's fault for all of them.

 

 

Well, it doesn't matter, but I would like to know why

I agree with some of the points you make, but I find it to be eye-opening. One might recognise one's own patterns of thought. 

Edited July 12, 2016 by Guest

[KatieBelle 302]

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka.

That is all.