# Classics that everyone says are good but you can't stand at all... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 16, 2003, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classics-that-everyone-says-are-good-but-you-cant-stand-at-all/148923 "2003-01-16T05:06:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ruralrage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df788c/32.png) [@ruralrage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruralrage)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classics-that-everyone-says-are-good-but-you-cant-stand-at-all/148923/1 "2003-01-16T05:06:04Z")
I happen to not like certain classical books, or ones seemingly so. Most around me think that the books are either ok or they are great. Some instances are The Great Gatsby, Of Mice and Men, and The Giver (Not a classic, but i had to read it amonst other classics for some unknown reason) The reasons i didn’t like them are because they tended to be quite depressing and, in TGG’s case, excessively boring. Mice and Men was ok, but i hated the ending. Another dislike is The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, mainly because all the characters do is drink and complain about their love lives, all while going to this rodeo. And yes, i know WHY some people like it, i just don’t understand. What are some ‘classic’ dislikes and why? ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classics-that-everyone-says-are-good-but-you-cant-stand-at-all/148923/2 "2003-01-16T05:38:52Z")
Catcher In The Rye sucks, Holden Caulfield is a moron. Dickens is long-winded, overly pedantic, and generally boring. ---
**Author:** ![DataZak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@DataZak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataZak)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classics-that-everyone-says-are-good-but-you-cant-stand-at-all/148923/3 "2003-01-16T05:41:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ruralrage \* > \*\*I happen to not like certain classical books, or ones seemingly so. Most around me think that the books are either ok or they are great. Some instances are The Great Gatsby, Of Mice and Men, and The Giver (Not a classic, but i had to read it amonst other classics for some unknown reason) The reasons i didn’t like them are because they tended to be quite depressing and, in TGG’s case, excessively boring. Mice and Men was ok, but i hated the ending. Another dislike is The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, mainly because all the characters do is drink and complain about their love lives, all while going to this rodeo. And yes, i know WHY some people like it, i just don’t understand. > What are some ‘classic’ dislikes and why? \*\* Anything by Thomas Hardy. Depressing stuff. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classics-that-everyone-says-are-good-but-you-cant-stand-at-all/148923/4 "2003-01-16T05:44:34Z")
Silas Marner. Christ on a pogostick, that was an awful book. ---
**Author:** ![Sylkyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/da6949/32.png) [@Sylkyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylkyn)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classics-that-everyone-says-are-good-but-you-cant-stand-at-all/148923/5 "2003-01-16T05:56:14Z")
Charles Dickens. Everything but A Christmas Carol. I loved that one. And what **sturmehauke** said. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Maximino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e95f7d/32.png) [@Mighty\_Maximino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Maximino)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classics-that-everyone-says-are-good-but-you-cant-stand-at-all/148923/6 "2003-01-16T06:12:00Z")
Would Pynchon count? I keep trying to read his books, but too many of my brain cells die and I have to stop. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classics-that-everyone-says-are-good-but-you-cant-stand-at-all/148923/7 "2003-01-16T06:26:36Z")
Just about anything written before 1920. Page long sentences that you can’t remember the start of when they end. God _Moby Dick_ has a chapter about “white”. ---
**Author:** ![Arden\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@Arden\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arden_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classics-that-everyone-says-are-good-but-you-cant-stand-at-all/148923/8 "2003-01-16T06:30:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by sturmhauke \* > \*\*Catcher In The Rye sucks, Holden Caulfield is a moron. Dickens is long-winded, overly pedantic, and generally boring. \*\* Preach it. Although I do like A Christmas Carol. I would also add that I found All’s Quiet on the Western Front too depressing, hated Grapes of Wrath, and was bored silly by Tolstoy and would rather do any number of unpleasant things than read Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre ever, ever again. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classics-that-everyone-says-are-good-but-you-cant-stand-at-all/148923/9 "2003-01-16T06:46:50Z")
I didn’t like _Catcher in the Rye_ either. And I HATED _The Scarlett Letter_. I could barely read two sentences at a time before falling asleep. Of course, a single Nathaniel Hawthorne sentence could span two pages. ---
**Author:** ![fishcrawford](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/85f322/32.png) [@fishcrawford](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishcrawford)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classics-that-everyone-says-are-good-but-you-cant-stand-at-all/148923/10 "2003-01-16T07:05:26Z")
Johnny Got His Gun, I despise. ---
**Author:** ![cichlidiot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f9b8f/32.png) [@cichlidiot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cichlidiot)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classics-that-everyone-says-are-good-but-you-cant-stand-at-all/148923/11 "2003-01-16T08:15:49Z")
I didn’t like The Great Gatsby or Catcher In The Rye either. I think I felt more let down by Catcher, though. I’m not sure what I expected to get out of it, but I expected _something_. Beating those two out easily though IMHO, is The Hunchback Of Notre Dame. There were points when I became so utterly frustrated with Hugo’s description of architecture, I actually became physically overheated (and not in a good way). Sort of a “No, not again! please just tell the damn story, fer cryin’ out loud!” I don’t have a problem with interesting architecture, just not pages and pages of descriptives about a freakin’ wall and arch and then the wall on the other side of the arch. It was awful. I kept thinking maybe I should have just rented the Disney version. I can’t even say it was worth the read, since there was pretty much only one small part of the book I enjoyed, and apparently this is included in the Disney version. Aieee! I just read this on preview, and feel I haven’t thoroughly conveyed the amount of pages of architectural descriptions. It felt like roughly half of the book. I personally love Dickens and if you find his descriptiveness tedious, I tell you it pales in comparison. ---
**Author:** ![digitalskeeza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@digitalskeeza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digitalskeeza)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classics-that-everyone-says-are-good-but-you-cant-stand-at-all/148923/12 "2003-01-16T09:01:15Z")
\*The Red \*freakin’_Badge of Courage_. I hated the main character (what a pansy), and the pace just draaaaggged… Ditto on _Catcher_ ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classics-that-everyone-says-are-good-but-you-cant-stand-at-all/148923/13 "2003-01-16T09:27:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by sturmhauke \* > \*\*Catcher In The Rye sucks, Holden Caulfield is a moron. Dickens is long-winded, overly pedantic, and generally boring. \*\* Is there an amount of pedantic that you find fascinating? (Sorry, couldn’t resist) And I’m sorry, but has anyone actually managed to really \* read \* “On the Road”? Cuz I sure can’t slog through it. ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classics-that-everyone-says-are-good-but-you-cant-stand-at-all/148923/14 "2003-01-16T11:25:56Z")
**Middle** fucking **March** And anything by **Charles Dickens** ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classics-that-everyone-says-are-good-but-you-cant-stand-at-all/148923/15 "2003-01-16T11:31:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Stoid \* > \*\*And I’m sorry, but has anyone actually managed to really \* read \* “On the Road”? Cuz I sure can’t slog through it. \*\* Yep. Really disliked it the first them I had to read it (HS jr. year), actually enjoyed it the next time I had to read it (college jr. year). But I continue to hate _Catcher in the Rye, The Red Badge of Courage_ and I hated _Tom Sawyer_ as well as _Huckleberry Finn_…there was no real reason for me to hate the last two, but I sure despised them. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classics-that-everyone-says-are-good-but-you-cant-stand-at-all/148923/16 "2003-01-16T11:36:57Z")
So many people told me Catcher in the Rye was a great American Classic. Like many of you, I found it incredibly boring and pointless. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classics-that-everyone-says-are-good-but-you-cant-stand-at-all/148923/17 "2003-01-16T11:41:35Z")
I have to echo: I loathe Charles Dickens, particularly Great Expectations. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classics-that-everyone-says-are-good-but-you-cant-stand-at-all/148923/18 "2003-01-16T12:32:35Z")
**Pride and Pejudice** – I had to force my way through it. **A Separate Peace** – this one has come up in a couple of threads, so I know there are plenty of like-minded folks out there. I had to read this one _twice_ in school. **The Beast in the Jungle** – I really hate all the Henry James I’ve had to read, but this on is the worst. It’s book where nothing happens, and the whole point of it is that nothing happens. But it takes so _damned long_ not to happen. James’ pages-long sentences don’t make this any more readable. I’ll agree that Dickens can be dreadful. I love **A Christmas Carol** and **A Tale of Two Cities** , but the title of **Hard Times** is only too appropriate, I hated all his other “Christmas books” (He wrote four more after “A Christmas Carol”. There’s a reason you probably haven’t heard of them). And I cannot understand how a book as tedious as **The Pickwick Papers** “made” his reputation. And for something a little more modern, after the noise about Salman Rushdie’s **The Satanic Verses** , I bought a copy and found it unreadable. ---
**Author:** ![Sparrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Sparrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparrow)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classics-that-everyone-says-are-good-but-you-cant-stand-at-all/148923/19 "2003-01-16T15:54:24Z")
Most of the “comic relief” sections of all of Shakespeare’s plays. The comedy is absolutely incomprehensible. Painfully unfunny. I guess a lot of it is due to context - we just don’t know the “in-jokes” that Elizabethans would find funny. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classics-that-everyone-says-are-good-but-you-cant-stand-at-all/148923/20 "2003-01-16T16:28:10Z")
I can’t believe the vitriol here aimed at Dickens. He’s one of my favorites, especially _Tale of Two Cities_. I hated: **Catcher in the Rye**. I didn’t read this until I was an adult, which may be why all I wanted to do was slap Holden around. **Lord of the Flies** Just depressing. Anything by Nathaniel Hawthorne. And I couldn’t get through **Moby Dick** either. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classics-that-everyone-says-are-good-but-you-cant-stand-at-all/148923.md?page=2)