# What ruins a book for you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 26, 2014, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ruins-a-book-for-you/705652 "2014-11-26T04:57:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BaldDudePeekskill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5e925/32.png) [@BaldDudePeekskill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaldDudePeekskill)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ruins-a-book-for-you/705652/21 "2014-11-26T12:28:00Z")
Oh and Deus ex Machina endings to rambling books. Sort of seems that the author was getting tired of the book and just decided to end it abruptly. Also, scrappy heroines sort of annoy me. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ruins-a-book-for-you/705652/22 "2014-11-26T13:27:47Z")
Characters who don’t behave like real people, and it ruins the premise of the novel. Case in point: _Earth Abides_. I’m going to quote a review I wrote of the first 120 pages (all I could stomach before tossing the book aside) – > [@](#): > > The first [problem I had] is that I don’t feel like the main character’s response to the catastrophe is at all plausible. He’s away on a camping trip and returns to find everyone gone, and then he reads a newspaper article that says there has been a plague that is killing everybody in the nation. By the time he reads the article, whole cities are completely void of human life. His reaction to this is, “Welp, I’ve always been a loner, so this isn’t too bad. Hey, I can always read books when I need entertainment.” He deals with this new revelation about his circumstance in about two or three pages. Unless he’s schizoid – which could be; I’m only 1/3 of the way into the book – I can’t imagine any healthy human being, introvert or no, reacting to the fact that they are now one of the only remaining people alive in the whole nation with such nonchalance and lightning-quick acceptance. > > Then, he drives all around the country, in and out of major cities that are completely vacant (where are all the millions of corpses? maybe I skimmed over that part), until he meets a woman. They chat a bit, eventually have sex, and the next morning have a conversation about having children. She wants them. The guy points out that there are no medical personnel around anymore, and she says he could always read a medical manual to learn how to deliver a baby. Then she says, and I quote, “I’ve been through it twice before, you know. It wasn’t bad.” > > … Lady, if you’ve been pregnant twice before, you should know that being pregnant in a situation where not only are there no medical facilities or opportunities for treatment anywhere ever again, but you are literally one of maybe 100 remaining human beings in the entire United States and you cannot know how you are going to survive beyond the next couple of days…is completely batshit insane. If childbirth doesn’t kill you, there are 1000 other complications during pregnancy that could, not to mention end the life of your baby. And then you have to, you know, care for the baby/child in a post-apocalyptic landscape devoid of people. What non-brain-damaged woman would want to carry a child to term in these circumstances? > > Then, they kiss for a bit and think for two pages, and the guy says, “All right[…]I suppose you’re right. I’ll read the books.” > > I…I just can’t continue after this. These people do not behave like real human beings. Not only that, but the guy is having almost no emotional response to being alive in a world without human beings. Most of the book thus far is a description of nature and the protagonist’s search for food (which he finds very easily, too easily for there to be any drama). I feel no compulsion to care about him or his circumstance, or to wonder what is going to happen to him in the future. He’s a complete cipher. This book is basically reading like a “Life Without People” episode without the neat graphics. Another thing that chaps my hide is when authors come right out and foreshadow disaster in plain speech. Example: Paul Auster’s _Oracle Night_ – > [@](#): > > Less than an hour after he returns to the underground archive on Wednesday, Bowen commits one of the great blunders of his life, and because he assumes Ed will live – and goes on assuming that even after his boss is dead – he has no idea how gigantic the calamity he has made for himself truly is. Let the reader see the fallout from the one disastrous action as it unfolds! Don’t fucking spell it out like that! ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ruins-a-book-for-you/705652/23 "2014-11-26T13:50:20Z")
> [@Busy\_Scissors](#): > > I think when you can see the cogs of the genre fiction template moving, that’s really bad. All genres have templates that work - Good writers disguise / hide in plain sight / bury / subvert the template, whereas bad writers cannot and write to the formula. So if I can feel the generic template surfacing, like the author is moving the characters around in some bogus way, then that’s a bad sign. Just as bad are authors who subvert the template for the sole purpose of subverting the template, all the while directing attention to how they’re subverting the template by shouting “Look at me, I’m a rebel! I’m subverting the template!” Joe Abercrombie, I’m looking at you. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ruins-a-book-for-you/705652/24 "2014-11-26T13:58:44Z")
I read a lot more non-fiction than fiction, but when I do read fiction my preferred genre is space operas. Figured that might be relevant. 1. When a book goes “small”. For example, a book about a war between interstellar civilizations that concludes with a chase scene. I’m looking at _you_, Peter F. Hamilton and _Judas Unchained_. 2. When the author sets up a brilliantly realized society, then spends the vast majority of the book avoiding it. I was quite irritated by this in David Brin’s _Uplift_ series, where he has this fantastic galactic civilization… and then sets his books on out-of-the-way locations with characters who spend the entire book hiding from said civilization. It’s the equivalent of setting a book in NYC or Istanbul… and then all the action takes place in a small apartment with a really tiny window. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ruins-a-book-for-you/705652/25 "2014-11-26T14:53:45Z")
You know what a simile is - something compared to something else somehow similar. It can be a useful device when done well, and used _sparingly._ I once read a book (well, tried to read, and didn’t finish) a book where nearly every _paragraph_ contained a simile! It got really tiring. And many of the similes were really bad, too, something like “I was merely tolerated by my family, like a pet dog who has suddenly developed a bad case of flatulence.” ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ruins-a-book-for-you/705652/26 "2014-11-26T14:56:29Z")
Fire. ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ruins-a-book-for-you/705652/27 "2014-11-26T15:15:21Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Just as bad are authors who subvert the template for the sole purpose of subverting the template, all the while directing attention to how they’re subverting the template by shouting “Look at me, I’m a rebel! I’m subverting the template!” > > Joe Abercrombie, I’m looking at you. Did you feel that reading his first one (the blade itself), or was it more a cumulative response to his work? I only read him recently and was v impressed - although I agree it’s such a strong style that it becomes easy to parody. ---
**Author:** ![LionelHutz405](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lionelhutz405/32/536_2.png) [@LionelHutz405](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LionelHutz405)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ruins-a-book-for-you/705652/28 "2014-11-26T15:17:57Z")
When a main character is a smoker and the author can’t shut up about it. He lit another cigarette. He stubbed one out. He went out for more smokes. He emptied the ashtray, blah blah blah… I get it. He smokes, I don’t care that much. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ruins-a-book-for-you/705652/29 "2014-11-26T15:19:16Z")
Poor research (or outright ignorance) on how guns work. ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ruins-a-book-for-you/705652/30 "2014-11-26T15:23:13Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > I read a lot more non-fiction than fiction, but when I do read fiction my preferred genre is space operas. Figured that might be relevant. > > 1. When a book goes “small”. For example, a book about a war between interstellar civilizations that concludes with a chase scene. I’m looking at _you_, Peter F. Hamilton and _Judas Unchained_. > > . Can be a tricky technique, bringing the camera in (or pulling it back) in a novel. Or at least it seems like plenty of writers bollox it up. Gene Wolfe is one of my favourites, but he’s butchered this a few times (badly in the _wizard-knight_ IIRC)- he’s fond of focussing on the small then pulling right back to elide over major events in a few sentences. Very stylish when it works. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ruins-a-book-for-you/705652/31 "2014-11-26T15:38:20Z")
> [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > Characters who don’t behave like real people, and it ruins the premise of the… I haven’t read Earth Abides, but the survival rate of a healthy mother and infant is around 90%… As for carrying a child around…is it a ‘World without people’ scenario? If so, then…so what? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ruins-a-book-for-you/705652/32 "2014-11-26T15:45:21Z")
Giving the heroes heroic names and the villains villainous names bugs the shit out of me. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ruins-a-book-for-you/705652/33 "2014-11-26T15:50:56Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > I read a lot more non-fiction than fiction In non-fiction, _any_ error in fact really irks me, I don’t care how trivial, and makes me unable to fully enjoy the book. Two examples: In a recent [beststelling bio](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1400069726/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_1?pf_rd_p=1944687502&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0471283290&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1PHHB5PFXEMJX26GJTCF) of William T. Sherman he is identified as a grandson of Declaration of Independence signer (and _1776_ character) [Roger Sherman](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Sherman). He wasn’t- they were distant cousins, and while super minor it irks me because there were red flags, not least of which: -Roger Sherman was born 99 years before Cump was born, which while not impossible or unprecedented is very unusual, especially considering that Cump’s father was only in his early 30s when he was born. -IT’S SOMETHING YOU COULD CHECK ON WIKIPEDIA EVEN! The most cursory bio of Roger Sherman will tell you that Charles Robert Sherman (Cump’s father) was not one of his children. And yet the biographer states this _twice_. Not that it would particularly matter anyway since W.T. wasn’t raised by his father, who died when he was young, but by a foster-father whose daughter he (unhappily) married and thus even if his grandfather had signed the Declaration he wouldn’t have much influenced him. An even more trivial error is in [This Republic of Suffering: Death and Dying in the Civil War](http://www.amazon.com/This-Republic-Suffering-American-Vintage/dp/0375703837/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417014403&sr=1-1&keywords=drew+gilpin+faust), historian and Harvard president Drew Gilpin Faust more than once references the memoirs of Dr. John Witherspoon Dubose, who she refers to as a “Confederate surgeon”. He wasn’t- as a teenager/early 20s he was in Wheeler’s cavalry and after the war he became a surgeon and wrote his memoirs, but he wasn’t a medical professional during the war nor did he write his memoirs from a medical perspective as he is represented as doing. Now, John Witherspoon Dubose is a minor historical figure who I know of ONLY because I read his memoirs while researching my own ancestors who were Alabama privates in Wheeler’s cavalry/ While his memoirs give good perspective about their daily life. Even so, this gets me worked up because 1- The writer is THE PRESIDENT OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY 2- She thanks an army of assistants and fact checkers, there shouldn’t be ANY errors 3- If I caught this error, what errors am I not catching? While they don’t totally invalidate the substance of the book, it makes me unable to enjoy any new info gleaned until I corroborate it. I admit it’s a me problem. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ruins-a-book-for-you/705652/34 "2014-11-26T15:59:07Z")
Animal torture to show how bad the bad guy is. Loving descriptions of serial killings/human torture/murder scenes. Obvious political or philosophical ax grinding. Wooden, unrealistic dialog. Being able to figure out the mystery before the halfway point. Books without a single sympathetic character. Not enough cussing. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ruins-a-book-for-you/705652/35 "2014-11-26T16:00:28Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > Joffrey should be excluded because Martin makes you feel sorry for the villains, or they exhibit some sort of redeeming trait, and you keep waiting for Joffrey to do something, you start expecting Joffrey to do something that will give him the slightest hint of humanity…and you wait…and you wait… Though compared to Ramsay Snow-Bolton, Joffrey’s just a high spirited lad. ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ruins-a-book-for-you/705652/36 "2014-11-26T16:07:07Z")
Mary-Sue, Wish Fulfillment crap. I really like The Dresden Files but I wish Murphy would die for real, for good. I am so sick of “she’s five foot zero but unbeatable” or the stupid will they-won’t they between her and Harry. And for xist sake stop with the “Monster X is unbeatable but Harry finds a way” or “Mab could crush Harry like a bug but she respects his courage so much” ETA: Not just Jim Butcher but ANY author that does that kind of crap writing. I’ll save my screed on women characters for another time. ---
**Author:** ![No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea5d25/32.png) [@No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_umlaut_for_U)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ruins-a-book-for-you/705652/37 "2014-11-26T16:09:55Z")
Ach, so many! Anachronisms are the worst for me, and it’s usually some minor detail which could have been left out. Sue Grafton is the worst offender: she’s always creating things like 1973 Ford Fairlanes. Evidently, she is freezing Kinsey Milhone at some point in the past. It must be because Grafton doesn’t want to bother learning about computers and cell phones, either. Parallel to this is **FordTaurusSHO94** ’s complaint. I literally cannot read Tom Clancy’s books due to the endless gun descriptions. And, as above, get the car details right, or leave them out: I prefer the latter. ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ruins-a-book-for-you/705652/38 "2014-11-26T16:40:20Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > Authors who turn their books into political screeds. I’m a conservative, but right or left doesn’t matter, I want to read an action thriller/SF novel/spy thriller not your political bully pulpit. It’s one thing to make a political point subtly, but I hate it when authors beat you over the head with it. Brad Thor has become horrible about this to the point where I won’t read his stuff anymore. This mostly- it doesn’t ruin the books for me but it seems in the last few books Stephen King writes he has to insert his political views. It’s extremely annoying even when I agree with him… ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ruins-a-book-for-you/705652/39 "2014-11-26T17:04:21Z")
Being treated like a dimwit who can’t keep track of where the plot’s going. \*Sword of Shannara,[/i] I’m lookin’ at you… ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ruins-a-book-for-you/705652/40 "2014-11-26T17:12:43Z")
Sex scenes that use any of the following words: turgid shaft (unless the dick is black and private) manhood valley limpid pools [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ruins-a-book-for-you/705652.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ruins-a-book-for-you/705652.md?page=3)