# Worst "Classic" Book Ever **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 31, 2001, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-classic-book-ever/79185 "2001-08-31T20:09:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Soda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@Soda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soda)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2001, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-classic-book-ever/79185/21 "2001-08-31T21:44:49Z")
\*The Turn of the Screw[/] by **Henry James**. Why, oh, why did they force us to read that as part of Brit. Lit.? It sucked. ---
**Author:** ![Soda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@Soda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soda)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2001, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-classic-book-ever/79185/22 "2001-08-31T21:47:00Z")
Oh, crap-a-doodle-doo. Stupid book even made me screw up my coding. I’ll also add a vote for \* A Confederacy of Dunces\*. I never got it, was it supposed to be funny or what? ---
**Author:** ![Milossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Milossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milossarian)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2001, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-classic-book-ever/79185/23 "2001-08-31T21:49:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\*_The Great Gatsby_, on the other hand, improved every time I read it. I really disliked it the first time I read it, but when I read it for the third time my freshman year in college, I learned to love it. \*\* Funny you should say that, because I was going to say that I just finished reading “The Great Gatsby,” and while I found it an overall good read, it did not strike me as a classic in the least. It didn’t reverberate with any profundity that I could discern. What’s all the hype about? ---
**Author:** ![cichlidiot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f9b8f/32.png) [@cichlidiot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cichlidiot)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2001, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-classic-book-ever/79185/24 "2001-08-31T22:09:32Z")
I admit I like a lot of the books mentioned on this list. I can relate to the complaints about The Brothers Karamazov, it does start off slowly. I tried 4 times to get through the first 100 pages, before I actually read the entire book. I have to say I thought it became a page turner later on and was worth the read. My vote is for The Hunchback of Notre Dame, not so much the story itself, as the chapters of architectural descriptions. The cathedral sounds interesting, but pages and pages of structural minutiae, it was just too much. Since a lot of posters mentioned they enjoy Dostoevsky, maybe someone could explain The Double. I understand it is about a split-personality (?), but I didn’t understand the ending at all. "When he came to himself, he saw that the horses were taking him along an unfamiliar road. Dark woods wound to the right and the left of it; the place was desolate and deserted. Suddenly he almost swooned: two fiery eyes were staring at him in the darkness, and those two eyes were glittering malignant hellish glee. ‘That’s not Krestyan Ivanovich! Who is it? Or is it he? It is. It is Krestyan Ivanovich, but not the old Krestyan Ivanovich, it’s another Krestyan Ivanovich! It’s a terrible Krestyan Ivanovich!’ " I apologize if this is considered a hi-jack, strike me down if you must, but could you enlighten me first? Where was he being taken, had he been there before, how come? ---
**Author:** ![scout1222](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@scout1222](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scout1222)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2001, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-classic-book-ever/79185/25 "2001-08-31T22:22:45Z")
\<------------You can probably guess my stance on _To Kill a Mockingbird_. I’ll have to agree with _Scarlett Letter_, which I thought was kind of a snore. But what tops my “hated to have to read in school” was _Red Badge of Courage_. I don’t remember much of the story, but I just remember trying SO hard not to fall asleep as I slogged through it. ---
**Author:** ![Jeffro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@Jeffro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeffro)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2001, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-classic-book-ever/79185/26 "2001-08-31T22:40:20Z")
Silas Marner I had to read this when I was a freshman in H.S. Please tell me they dont use crap like that any more. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2001, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-classic-book-ever/79185/27 "2001-08-31T23:19:50Z")
_To Kill a Mockingbird_ was pretty horrid, but _The Scarlet Letter_ was so boring it almost made me cry. ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2001, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-classic-book-ever/79185/28 "2001-08-31T23:58:03Z")
Worst classic? Boy, pick just about anything by Steinbeck. I didn’t hate _Of Mice and Men_, and _The Moon is Down_ wasn’t terrible, but damn. _The Red Pony_? Blegh. On the other hand, _The Great Gatsby_ is the shit. The prose, in the first place, is second only to Nabakov’s (IMO). I love that the narrator isn’t the main character; it provides a certain detached subjectivism – a slight unreliability that I love – to the whole narrative. Mostly, though, I like Gatsby. The poor guy has so idealized his past that he can’t enjoy the present, can’t live in the moment. That kind of moral really appeals to a hedonist like myself. “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” ---
**Author:** ![Lionors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c37758/32.png) [@Lionors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionors)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2001, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-classic-book-ever/79185/29 "2001-09-01T00:03:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by delphica \* > But by a landslide, my own personal I Would Never Burn A Book But I Might Look The Other Way If I Saw Some Sparks From A Nearby Bonfire Heading Its Way Or At Least Not Move Very Quickly To Jump Up And Get The Fire Extinguisher is The Heart of Darkness Amen. (In this case, couldn’t we just conveniently forget where the fire extinguisher is, period?) Right under that would have to be Daisy Miller and Uncle Tom’s Cabin . I’ve yet to meet up with a Hemingway I like, either. I do like most of those recommended previously, though. ---
**Author:** ![BingoBurringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/43a26b/32.png) [@BingoBurringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BingoBurringo)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2001, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-classic-book-ever/79185/30 "2001-09-01T00:06:03Z")
Come ON! No one hear thought HEART OF DARKNESS was an absolute effort to get through? A book that short has NEVER felt so long. One of the most unenjoyable reads I’ve ever had. TURN OF THE SCREW is a close second. ---
**Author:** ![beegirl13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/848f3c/32.png) [@beegirl13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beegirl13)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2001, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-classic-book-ever/79185/31 "2001-09-01T00:21:46Z")
I have enjoyed many of the books mentioned here, \* To Kill a Mockingbird\* and _Tess_ to name a couple. I could not get through \* A Tale of Two Cities\*. It could have been that I was trying to read it on my own in 9th grade, but I am an avid reader and read way above my grade level. I just didn’t get the book at all, and haven’t tried again. It was the same with _The Scarlet Letter_. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2001, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-classic-book-ever/79185/32 "2001-09-01T00:42:27Z")
John Knowles (Knoles? Knowls? Noles?) _A Separate Peace_ is only good for toilet paper. ---
**Author:** ![TheThill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheThill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheThill)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2001, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-classic-book-ever/79185/33 "2001-09-01T00:59:54Z")
Worst I can think of at the moment was _The Spire_ by William Golding if that counts as a “classic”. Read about half of it for a discussion group and decided to do without both. Slow, medieval, pointless as far as I could tell. As far as _Gatsby_ is concerned, it just aged badly. Lots of dated references, etc., making it difficult to get through, but not impossible. _Huckleberry Finn_, however, is great fun once you get into the flow of it (yes, I also had to start it twice) and a fine period piece. Just read it in fact, and would recommend it to anyone. ---
**Author:** ![Jeannie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e480ec/32.png) [@Jeannie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeannie)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2001, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-classic-book-ever/79185/34 "2001-09-01T02:17:40Z")
I know that people will disagree with me on these, but these are the books that I absolutely hated. The Scarlet Letter: I admit that my hatred may be linked to the fact that our English class spent a whole semester just on this book–and I am not exaggerating. Catcher In the Rye: I hated the main character so much that it isn’t even funny. I find it hard to like a book when I can’t even remotely identify with the protagonist. Great Expectations: It is obvious that Mr. Dickens was paid by the word. I hope I never have to read another book by this man. Animal Farm: I would be willing to give this one another try, actually (it’s one of my husband’s favorites). But at the time I had to read it in high school, I just couldn’t get into a book about farm animals that was really a book about politics. I will admit that I am not really into “the classics.” And I’m probably less cultured because of it. But no matter how hard I tried, I just simply hated the above books. FTR, I really loved To Kill a Mockingbird ---
**Author:** ![Ferggie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@Ferggie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferggie)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2001, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-classic-book-ever/79185/35 "2001-09-01T03:29:38Z")
Ugh to Mockingbird, though 'twould have been a lesser ugh had I not been required to study it thrice. Ugh to Animal Farm, ugh to Gatsby, ugh to A Separate Peace, ugh to Bridge to Terabithia, and my most emphatic ugh to Faulkner. But that’s just me. I’ll read anything by Dickens. Or Twain. Though I must say about the point where Huck dresses up like a girl that particular one gets tedious. Silas Marner is on my favorites list, though when I first read it I was sure was going to hate it. ---
**Author:** ![Soup\_du\_jour](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Soup\_du\_jour](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soup_du_jour)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2001, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-classic-book-ever/79185/36 "2001-09-01T03:39:43Z")
Man, I LOVED \*Ulysses[p/i]! I had a bonus, though. I was a part of about a dozen brilliant students that read the book after school as part of a reading group. Man, that was good. -Soup ---
**Author:** ![Chocobo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@Chocobo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chocobo)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2001, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-classic-book-ever/79185/37 "2001-09-01T06:41:55Z")
I couldn’t stand _Beowulf_ when we read it for our Hon. English class last year. I only read the first half, then picked up the rest from what we discussed briefly in class. I aced the test. When our teacher handed back the tests she told me that she re-read my test about 3 times just looking for places to dock me points because she _knew_ that I hadn’t read the book. She gave me kudos on being the best BSer she’d ever had. Hmm…a lot of the books listed here are on our Honors English docket for this year… To Kill a Mockingbird is, as is The Old Man and the Sea. Moby Dick is in there somewhere, too, I think. So much to look forward to… ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2001, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-classic-book-ever/79185/38 "2001-09-01T06:46:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by scout1222 \* > \*\*But what tops my “hated to have to read in school” was _Red Badge of Courage_. I don’t remember much of the story, but I just remember trying SO hard not to fall asleep as I slogged through it. \*\* I was going to say _Red Badge of Courage_ but I couldn’t even remember what I hated about it. I just hated it from start to finish. ---
**Author:** ![Milossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Milossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milossarian)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2001, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-classic-book-ever/79185/39 "2001-09-01T06:49:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\*I’ve yet to meet up with a Hemingway I like, either. \*\* I used to be the same way - until I read “The Garden of Eden” last year. It’s a pretty cool, and actually rather sensual, book. I may feel more of an obligation than you to like Hemingway, however, given that I live in almost the exact place where he used to in Michigan … ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2001, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-classic-book-ever/79185/40 "2001-09-01T06:53:53Z")
Worst - _A Tale of Two Cities_. Best - _Shogun_. I know you didn’t ask for the best but Shogun doesn’t get enough credit around here and damnit, **I** think it’s a classic! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-classic-book-ever/79185.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-classic-book-ever/79185.md?page=3)