Example: Crime and Punishment ruined the surprise by revealing the murderer’s identity at the start of the story!
The all-time classic in this category is from Field & Stream.
Critic Tom Paulin once said the following about Terry Pratchett:
Which is proudly quoted on the back of many a discworld book.
And then he did write Going Postal in chapters, complete with in Victorian “In which…” headers, just to annoy him.
A thrilling adventure story which breathes life into of the imagined worlds of children. Never does the author forget that “boys will be boys”.
The Lord of the Flies
Clearly demonstrates the folly of allowing farm animals to manage their own affairs.
Animal Farm
An interesting study of the tensions between modern and traditional attitudes to life as an ambitious churchman faces difficulties in both finding a wife and maintaining an advantageous relationship with his principle benefactor.
Pride and Prejudice
A charming and uplifting novel which continually demonstrates the importance of looking always on the bright side of life, and shows the rewards of positivity.
Candide
An amusing story about a midget’s wedding ring.
Lord of the Rings
Did you ever wonder what would happen if bunnies could talk? Meet Fiver the dreamer, Hazel, his big brother, and their friend Bigwig, fuzziest of them all. Together they hop into adventure!
Watership Down
Entrepreneur struggles with workforce retention during a labor shortage:
Schindler’s List
A college student gets a crash course in contract negotiations.
Fifty Shades of Grey
The story of one family’s struggle to cope with the cultural change of surviving in the wild.
The Jungle
The narrator committed the murder. You’ll never figure it out.
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Great Britain is under the control of a secret, undemocratic, hereditary cabal, AND IT IS NOT THE ROYAL FAMILY!
The Harry Potter Series.
Someone stop Jonathan Swift from eating all those babies!
Heart-warming and nostalgic family story about a single father and his children. Set in the Old South, it centers around his thoughtful lessons on which local birds the children can or cant kill.
http://msgboard.snopes.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=95;t=000486;p=1
The Lady Chatterley example quoted by Exapno Mapcase above is often quoted as an attempt at a serious review, but was in fact a joke. Bloody good one, mind.
If you click the link I gave you’ll get a full history of the hoax.
I didn’t realise that. Apologies.
Okay, I’ll bite - To Kill a Mockingbird?
A young girl enters a contest. She found what she least expected to find… love.
The Hunger Games