What do you think is the most overrated book of last 50 years
What do you think is the most overrated book of last 50 years
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Harry Potter
Agreed.
Agreed
Oh gosh I thought books would be thrown at me for that answer!
Eh, I have not read them except for 40 pages of one of them; I was reading it en route to giving it to someone.
Just not something I ever felt like giving myself, or my kids over to. They are no worse the wear and I’ve definitely moved on ?
I read the first one to get an idea of what my son was reading.
Awww. I really really enjoyed the Harry Potter books! Potay-to, Potah-to! haha.
@Kelli that’s the best part! Po-tay-to!
Shades of Gray series
Definitely not deserving of any of its attention.
Extremely poorly written….. I couldn’t make it through the first chapter.
Agreed
@Carole , this is exactly what happened when someone loaned me the series! Ugh.
Very, very overrated! But she made a fortune on it.
Twilight
Hated it.
The Bridges of Madison County.
Remember that adults weren’t the target audience for them.
The Time Traveler’s Wife.
I enjoyed it.
Hated it.
Twilight and Shades of Grey – no question.
I completely agree!!!!
I agree too
Gone Girl
I tried reading this book twice and couldn’t do it.
It was one of the hardest books I have ever read, but worth the struggle. The first half is so hard, after that I finished in a day.
Agree! Boring
@Sandra Really? I’ve only tried listening to the audiobook; maybe if I switched to the physical book, I’d have an easier time?
@Monty possibly. The hard part is there is not a single likable character so you don’t care what happens to them. The only way I got through the first half was a friend kept pushing me.
@Sandra Hm. Interesting. Maybe I’ll just stick with my gut feeling and not try it. Maybe when I have less on my to-read list (which will probably never happen) I’ll pick it up and try
This book wasn’t, and will never be, a classic, so it’s not worth the struggle. Too many other worthwhile books to read!
You are correct it is definitely not a classic.
Goldfinch
Agreed
100 Years of Solitude
For shame! Also, 100 Years of Solitude turned 50 last year.
Gravity’s Rainbow
Girl with tge dragon tattoo
Jonathan Livingston Seagull.
In my teen years i thought this book was the bomb. I found a copy last year and tried reading through it and couldn’t help laughing at myself. SO ’70’s!
Twilight and Fifty Shades of Grey.
Amen sister!
50 Shades!
YES!!!!
Just about to say the same! 🙂
@Cathey definitely!!
Amen sista!
50 Shades of Grey
50 Shades
50 Shades of Grey…et al
Eat Pray Love.
Omg the most self indulgent book ever! Hated it!
So glad to hear someone else say that! I couldn’t finish it – that woman irritated me so much!
@Cathy me too! Lol
Pap
Eat, Pray, Love.
We posted this at same time. Haha. Terrible book.
Absolutely! Weak.
Pap
MHO, Potter series. SORRY but you asked.
The Girl on the Train
Couldn’t finish it.
50 shades of gray
Was shocked to see it on the list here. Another example of the dumbing down process everywhere?
@Cecily Me as well.
I’m With you on that!!!!!
All the Christian Gray books!!!
Twilight series
Shades of Grey series
Twilight
Gone Girl
Go Set a Watchman (To Kill a Mockingbird, #2) by Harper Lee.
First one that came to mind for me, too
Ugh! I’ve tried to block it out because it’s just not the way I ever want to think of Atticus.
I was so very disappointed with this book, I loved To Kill a Mockingbird so much that I’ve read it a few times again after originally reading it in English class in high school in 1969. I’m glad she didn’t publish Go Set A Watchman first.
Bridges of Madison County
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
Yes!!! What a drag!
I thought this was good but was like….seriously? The Pulitzer? It was too long and dragged in so many places.
That sadly explains a lot of award winners…
@Robin – that was one of my many complaints about this one. And I didn’t really like most of the characters in the book. I was able to finish but it was a slog.
Couldn’t finish it, then I saw all the love on this site, thought well maybe I’d try again, but now I think you guys have made up my mind!
Glad I saw this! I just started it and decided to stop around page 100 because it bored me. More I don’t feel so bad!
50 shade of gag me
agreed
agree
I was going to say 50 Shades of Gross, but I like yours as well.
So dumb!
50 shades by far
Gone Girl. I have not read Harry Potter, but I have no desire to read it either.
Couldn’t finish it.
Harry potter are so good, Rowling is very creative.
I could not finish Gone Girl either. I picked it up and put it down several times for six months then gave up. I know the book is always better than the movie, but I went to see the first Harry Potter before I even knew that it was a book. I fell asleep in the theater.
Gone Girl was totally overrated. Awful book.
50 shades of gray.
I so agree with this!!
The Girl on the Train!
I. Hated. This. One.
Atlas Shrugged.
I hated it too, but it was originally published 61 years ago, in 1957.
Oh, see, it’s sucked for longer than I thought!!!
In that case, the Twilight series.
50 shades
50 Shades of Grey and Twilight series are what my Dad calls “serious trash” and I completely agree with that!
Catcher In The Rye..
Love it!
First published in 1951.
“The World According to Garp” & “A Confederacy of Dunces”.
To cite one I read: E L Doctorow’s Ragtime.
I loved that one, lol!
Loved the first half.
One of my favorites.
The Alchemist
Bridges of Madison County
For sure!
Agreed.
Yaaasssss
Loved it
Love Story
That book was popular when I was in college. All the girls in my dorm were reading it. I started reading it and wondered when it was going to get good. It never did.
@Karen yes
50 shades
The Shack
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
I liked it. Did get a little bogged down every once in a while. But overall I can recommend it.
I had to force myself to finish this one. Moved at a glacial pace.
I totally agree!
Gone Girl
disagree, with respect. i thought the story was well thought-out. I was tense while I read it, but enjoyed it.
Beyond cliche and unoriginal.
@Susan same here
I agree. I thought it was transparent. But many people loved it. To each their own?
That’s easy. The Goldfinch. Winner of the Pulitzer and winner of most hours of my life I’d like to have back because of a book.
Sorry. Loved it.
I thought it was excellent.
Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown.
Another real winner! Not!
That I’ve read? Confederacy of Dunces. Also Lolita.
YES finally someone says these books!!!! I thought it was me missing something.
Gone Girl , 50 Shades were my worst.
Haven’t read 50 Shades so I’m going to say Twilight.
To me there’s no comparison. Twilight was original. 50 Shades was drivel.
I was surprised that I liked Twilight given that I am a huge Anne Rice fan.
Twilight might be cheesy but it wasn’t poorly written. 50 Shades was bad.
Matter of opinion
50 Shades
Agreed!
Agree
Gone Girl…runner up…Bridges of Madison County
It’s very subjective. I liked both of those, lol
Indeed, it is! ?
The Corrections ?
Such an annoying book.
that’s what i said too!
50 shades and The Great Gatsby – surprised they are on the list because they are both so inferior to so many other books.
The Great Gatsby was published more than 50 years ago.
Actually The Great Gatsby was written in the 1920’s.
@Loretta Yes, that was my point. The question was most overrated book written in the last 50 years.
The Great Gatsby is a literary masterpiece published more than 50 years ago.
I love it, but different strokes for different folks.
Gatsby was a beautiful piece of prose. Fitzgerald’s use of the language was quite affecting. I just reread it and loved the writing and the message.
Fifty shades of grey
Fifty Shades
Fifty shades. I was surprised and disappointed it was on the list.
I think it is there because of a reader’s poll.
twilight
Respectfully disagree. I liked it.
50 Shades of Grey
50 Shades of Gross & its progeny.
100 Years of Solitude!
Turned 50 last year…
50 shades
Fifty Shades
Eat, Pray Love. V disappointed.
Definitely overrated.
@Meredith Thank you. I was afraid it was just me!
No way & the movie was even worse.
The Alchemist
YES! Thank you! Everyone raves about this book & I just found it annoying.
Thanks; I’m taking it off my
List!
I enjoyed Coelho’s The Witch of Portobello much more.
And Veronika Decides to Die.
50 Shades! Most definitely!
Goldfinch
Loved it, especially the first half.
One of my all time favorites!
Without a doubt Fifty Shades of Gray.
bridges of madison county. I actually threw it away when I was done, didnt want anyone to see it on my shelf.
I agree, i’ve been waiting to see if someone would say that. I hope that no young woman ever read it.
I hated it too!
I can’t knock any book that only takes and hour to read and 3 hours to get over
Eat pray love and 50 shades
Fifty Shades
Definitely. A true waste of paper.
Naked Came the Stranger.
50 shades of grey
Room
Really? One of my friends loved it & its been on my to read list. I saw the movie before I knew it was a book.
I absolutely hated it, but I’m typically in the minority with that opinion.
What was it about Room that you didn’t like?
I appreciated it, but won’t read it again.
I like it – a lot –
i thought it was very good.
I just didn’t care for the story or the writing.
I actually read it twice, the second time just before the movie came out. I enjoyed it both times.
I made the mistake of listening to it on audio. The voice of the little boy who was narrating it was soooo terrible.
50 Shades Of Grey
Kindred and Parable of the Sower (Octavia Butler), The Women of Brewster Place (Gloria Naylor), Waiting to Exhale (Terry McMillan)
The Girl on the Train
Liked the book, but there was no one to root for regarding all the loathesome characters. The baby, perhaps?
The Corrections by Jonathan Frazen.
The Red Tent
OMG I loved that book 🙂
Me, too! One of my very favorites!
Gone Girl
Goldfinch
Twilight, I made myself finish it hoping it would get better.
Fifty Shades
50 shades of gray
The Girl on the train. Started reading it really anxious to like it–but coudn’t
50 Shades if Gray
50 Shades of Drivel
Fifty Shades of Grey.
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Zora Neale Hurston
oh, i love that book.
Me too!
Me, too!
loved it!
Fifty Shades and Twilight!!
The Shack
I loved the Shack.
I haven’t heard of that one. I guess I’m not missing much.
Tried to read it, it’s a “dead kid” book though, and I cant.
I’d have to agree. That book just wore me out. It went on and on about really nothing at all. I was never so glad for a book to come to an end.
SLAUGHTERHOUSE 5….
Huck Finn.
Published in 1884.
I’m almost ashamed to admit it!
@Meredith Oops!
@Amy I’m probably the only one who even cares. Such a rule-follower with no life…this is what it leads to!
A Fine Balance then. One of the bleakest, least hopeful books I have ever read.
No, the question stipulated the last 50 years. I forget how old I am.
@Amy Me too
To Kill a Mockingbird
One of my favorites of all time!
I feel really bad not liking it. I didn’t actually dislike
it, I just don’t understand the hoopla about it.
Love in the Time of Cholera
WTH? Loved it!
I loved it too!
Agreed! I couldn’t stand this one! ?
Bridges of Madison County…
It was hot…He was hot…His truck, Harry, was hot…
Eat Pray Love!!!! I could not even sit through the movie with my FAVORITE actor Javi Bardem!!!!!!
I think mine have already been covered
Fifty Shades and Twilight
Ugh to both of them!
Gone Girl
The Underground Railroad
Started this book and could not finish it.
Same! I tried to stick with it but just couldn’t get into the story.
Loved this one!
The Corrections
50 Shades of Grey
Satanic Verses and 50 Shades of Grey.
Came here to comment the same 2 books!
Gone Girl
What? I thought it was well crafted.
Anything by Nicholas Sparks.
Hillbilly Elegy
50 Shades of Grey and Eat, Pray, Love
Couldn’t finish either!
The DaVinci Code. Sorry. I know I’m all alone on that.
You are not alone.
No, actually someone above you also named that one. It was the first comment I saw when I started looking at this thread.
You’re certainly not alone!
It was entertaining brain candy, but not great literature. I put it in the same category as Clive Cussler thrillers.
@Stephanie, that’s the reason I like it! Easy entertaining read.
One sentence chapters. So annoying. I figured they paid him by the page – many more than half blank!
Fifty Shades of Grey
All the 50 Shades. Hunger Games. The Rowan Girls. So many that the “critics” loved. Most of them were so trashy I didn’t get past the 1st chapter. When I
read trash, I don’t want it presented as Literature.
Hillbilly Elegy
Good one. That was so over-hyped.
Go set a Watchmen. It completely ruined To Kill a Mockingbird for me.
Another good one 🙂
I made a conscious decision not to read Go Set a Watchman for that very reason.
Same for me…wish I could go back in time and tell myself not to read it.
@Veronica good call
50 Shades of Grey
Anything by Jonathan Franzen. In my opinion the most overrated, over praised author of the last 20 or so years.
self indulgent crap, imho 🙂
Couldn’t agree more.
Fifty Shades of Grey
The Bridges of Madison County and Eat, Pray, Love
Confederacy of Dunces
I listened to it with Nick Offerman as the narrator. I think that made it for me.
I listened on audio, the reader was good. I just found the story tedious.
@Stephanie Fair enough. I was sad the author didn’t get a chance to publish more books. Sigh.
Everything I never told you. Although I’m glad I gave the little fires everywhere a chance because I loved that.
Liked Little Fires.
I liked Everything I Never Told You but my friend I loaned it to didn’t like it at all. There was a thread on this site a couple weeks ago discussing Little Fires Everywhere. Many people seem to have disliked it. It was pretty torn. Haven’t read it, but it’s on my shelf. I’m sort of wondering…
give it a chance…
Bridges of Madison County
The Alchemist.
This was my first pic from the list, and I had to start over 3 times. Hated it. Total waste of time. (Although the author says there is no such thing as time.)
@Debra Terrible book. Didn’t say anything I hadn’t heard a thousand times elsewhere and a totally boring book to boot. Only good thing I can say, it was short.
Life after Life
50 shades of grey. DaVinci Code.
50 Shades of Grey and The Shack.
Harry Potter series
At least it got kids reading
I will be a lifelong lover of magic/fantasy. I LOVE that series. Have read it multiple times and just recently rewatched the movies.
50 Shades and The Coffin Quilt
Alchemist
Fifty shades ughh
The Immortalists by Benjamin.
Fifty Shades of Grey
50 shades
50 Shades is pretty much a given, so I will add DaVinci Code.
The Shack
Fifty shades
Fifty Shades and the Twilight series.
Fifty shades
Poisonwood Bible
Love anything by Barbara Kingsolver!
Really??. Dang I just picked that up at a used bookstore….
@Joan I loved it read it twice\
@Joan I loved it! It made me a Kingsolver fan.
50 shades and twlight
Hunger games, twilight
The hunger games story is good but I can’t get past the annoying villains, they’re so over the top evil they’re cartoons. George Orwell would look at this book and tell them to turn it down a notch
Girl with the dragon tattoo and 50 shades
Interesting reading through all these comments. I think there is also a difference between overrated by critics and overrated by the general population. For example, 50 shades is perhaps the most mentioned here, and that was not a critical favorite! That was a book that gave a lot of people a thrill (I suppose, I never read it), and so it was widely talked about, but not because it was a great book.
I think a lot of it is when people tell you something is the best book ever….and then you read it and find it’s mediocre. Although my pick was The Corrections. It was a critical darling, but I felt it was a badly written book
I started 50 shades, couldn’t get through it, was so poorly written…
@Julie exactly!
50 shades and twilight series
Fifty Shades of Gray and its sequels
Define overrated? By the public or by litery circles.
By both I asked this question because I read most books online now over my phone. I have Kobo and Bookbub as well as Google Play store available to order books (kid in a candy store lol) But how many of us have recently read reviews or synopsis of a book we might be interested in and have them compared to either Gone Girl…didn’t read this or Girl on the Train…one of the most mediocre books I’ve ever read So I just would not want public opinion or literary criticism to define what we read Read what you like and what you enjoy.
Well said
The Da Vinci Code is one. The Hunger Games are too. And The Wheel of Time – vastly overrated.
For middle school students, Hunger Games is accessible and engaging.
The Da Vinci Code got me back into reading – loved the book!!
@Flo exactly: if one thinks a book is overrated consider its audience
@Kelly What exactly are you trying to say about me??
@Flo not you: this thread
@Flo that is how threads work ?
@Flo @Kelly. That’s why so many on here have said Twilight. Like Hunger Games adults weren’t the target audience.
@Liz totally: as a middle school teacher, I cringed when girls especially loved Twilight, but didn’t get in their way. Teachers especially can’t put down things children love.
@Kelly I was too at time. We even put Team Edward and Team Jacob signs above the room numbers. Made me want to read Wuthering Heights, which I disliked much more than the last 2 Twilight books.
Fifty shades of grey
50 shades of anything. Hated it
Fifty Shades
50 shades of trash
50 Shades of Grey for sure….. the worst piece of writing I have ever read.
Amen to that, sister!
Yes, Yes, and Yes!!!!
Yep.
The Handmaid’s Tale
Harlequin Romance Novels
Harry Potter….
*runs away quickly*
Ready Player One, it’s the worst book I’ve ever read. Nothing but crappy notaslgia BS
Gone Girl ?
The Goldfinch
I agree. I’ll never get those hours back!?
Atlas Shrugged
Oh and Twilight
The Poisonwood Bible
@Loisann that makes me sad.
Ok to be honest. I am not even sure if I would love it as much the second time, but I LOVED the doors it opened for me.
Not a fan either.
Goldfinch! Least favorite ever
That book made me so mad! I only stuck to it because everyone said it was so good. But the kid had a chance to change his life and he didn’t, and then he had a chance to change his life and he didn’t. On and on. I will never get back the time I wasted on that book. It was the same story told many times.
@Alison glad to know this….
50 shades….so awful so cliché, just read some damn porn if that’s what you want
Def the worst book I almost read : /
Agreed!
Gone girl. Fifty shades x3.
Gone Girl
The worst
50 Shades of Grey…. the whole series.
Anything by Dan Brown.
I totally agree.
Agreed!
Twilight. Heroine made me angry. Could have been one book instead of dragging it out for three.
Fifty shades
Fifty Shades
Bridges of Madison County
Fifty Shades
One Hundred Years of Solitude (like walking in quicksand) and the twilight series.
I loved this book!
I don’t think anyone actually believes that Fifty Shades and Twilight were “good”. Full Disclosure: read both.
Bridges of Madison County came to mind first
Hell yes!!!
Fifty Shades.
I agree
Horrible…..
Ditto
Eat Pray Love
Agree!
Hah! Made it through Eat, and only halfway thru Pray before I couldn’t stand her anymore.
I found this book so incredibly boring. UGH!
@Loretta The good parts were boring. The rest was insipid and self-aggrandizing. I think @Bev re-opened an old wound here. ?
@Stacie LOL. I hated the movie. Not even Julia Roberts could make me like it.
@Loretta Same here!
On Chesil Beach.
Interesting question, but certainly underlines the “different strokes for different folks” concept. And thank goodness there is that super-high-impact book out there for each of us, even if we have to endure those super-highly-negative-impact books to find it!
The Bridges of Madison County
And Fifty Shades
Agree
I’ll agree with 50 Shades
Fifty Shades
The Help
i loved The Help and thought that book was important
Important, yes; overrated, yes.
And it has become some of our cultural clichés i.e. chocolate pie
I disliked it because blacks have been living The Help the majority of the 20th century and a book had to make whites realize the struggle black women went through…? Like, really? That says a lot about people who became “woke” after reading this book. My grandmother and the majority of her sisters were domestics.
Exactly.
I’m kind of shying away from books like “The Help,” and movies like “Mudbound,” There’s more than one way to tell our story.
@Jeri, exactly! I’m tired of hearing the same story, told the same way. My 16 year old son liked Mudbound but the story is new to him. I love the Hidden Figures story.
More “Hidden,” less “Mudbound.”
Not sure about the last 50 years, but recently, the biggest let down for me was The Wife Between Us. I was so excited to read it because of all the hype. I had a hard time getting into it, and when I finished it, it was just “ehh.”
The Nightingale…might be a good story, but I couldn’t get past the poor writing. I didn’t even think about Fifty Shades because I wouldn’t even take a fleeting glance at that book.
wow, I loved The Nightingale. Different strokes?
@Eileen Everyone loved it. Must be something with me.
I thought it was just me!
Fifty shades
Twilight twilight twilight
I wasn’t too impressed with The Goldfinch. Too long.
The list
Wicked
Twilight by Stephanie Meyer, The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead and Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
Totally agree on the Water for Elephants! Not impressed.
What do you people think of Kristin Hannah? Specifically The Great Alone?
Thinking of purchasing…
I just got it from BOTM, but havent read it yet
I didn’t care for it. I finished it but found the characters very frustrating.
@Loretta Same.
don’t\ like Kristin Hannah as a writer, at all.
Ok thanks everyone ?
50 shades
Life of Pi!!!
Hated that!
The Night Circus
This is on my list… disappointed???
Unfortunately I was very disappointed. The descriptions of the circus and attention to details were outstanding, but I thought the story line fell flat. However, don’t let me dissuade you from reading it. I know that many who read it really enjoyed it.
50 Shades = worst book ever!
50 Shades.
The Goldfinch
Yep
Agreed
50 Shades of Grey and the others in the series.
50 Shades
50 shades!!!!!!!
Handmaids tale
The Shack
Totally agree! The Shack was totally over-rated and I did not like the entire thing. One of those books I kept reading thinking it would get better. Then when it was over…I thought…well that was a chunk of my life I will never get back!
@Linda I felt obligated as a good friend raved about it and insisted on loaning me her copy. I read it and gave her a noncommittal reply about how I liked it. I did not want to hurt her feelings.
I didn’t like it either.
The Underground Railroad. Haven’t read Fifty Shades, but can’t imagine it’s good literature
I wish this question had not been asked. All it did was open the flood gates for book bashing without any thought. As a former Special Education teacher and avid reader, I don’t think any book that gets people to read is over-rated! Besides, I see several books named on this thread that I enjoyed very much and now I feel judged. ☹️
I love the way you put this!
@Monty, thank you. I’m saddened to see how eager people are to add to this list.
@Charlotte I agree. I don’t think it matters what books are out there, they’re meant to be enjoyed. So what if people enjoy Harry Potter or Fifty Shades or whatever other books are listed?
Charlotte – I disagree with your statement of “book bashing without any thought”. Most of those commenting on a thread like this will have read the books with thought and that is how they thought about the book in the end. They are not judging you. If you feel judged…you are the one who feels it. Please feel free not to read this post and read something you do like!