Required Reading Fail
There are two books, both very popular ones that hardly anybody dislikes, that were a "required reading fail" for me.
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley sophomore year of high school - I hated it with a passion. I read it straight through in one night and refused to open it again. I wish I could remember specifics, but I don't. The ideas and the world he created were intriguing, but it was just...empty and cold to me. Books with A Point to Make usually are, and I have never read a dystopia that I liked. I cared about nobody, identified with nobody, connected with nothing, enjoyed nothing that was meant to be enjoyed (if anything), and felt no personal emotional reaction to any of the events in the novel, good or bad. The characters were pawns, the world was a deliberate game board, and they just moved around mechanically making their Points and living out the blatant dystopian Themes.
I happened to mention this in one of my lit classes a few weeks ago and was promptly bombarded by half the class telling me it was wonderful, one of their favorites, I should give it another try, etc., so I'm in the minority with this one, but nonetheless: for ME, it failed in every way a book can fail.
And the other one was Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, junior year of high school. I haven't quite figured out my hatred of it; I think it's Mark Twain's nasty biting tone, along with a plot that bored me to tears and humor that didn't amuse me. I'm not big on adventure stories or satire, and this was both. Sarcasm yes, humor and social commentary, yes - but satire, no. (I did like A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, though.)
It didn't help that we had to do a lot of reading aloud in class, and for some reason, everybody who read aloud kept correcting the dialects as they read. Hello?? The dialects are SUPPOSED to be there! Read it the way it's written! Having the themes rammed down my throat on both books, as high school English classes tend to do, also didn't help my initial distaste for the books.
I know most people love these books, and I can see why if I think about it, but my gut reaction was still negative. XD Anyone else agree, or am I alone on this one? :)
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley sophomore year of high school - I hated it with a passion. I read it straight through in one night and refused to open it again. I wish I could remember specifics, but I don't. The ideas and the world he created were intriguing, but it was just...empty and cold to me. Books with A Point to Make usually are, and I have never read a dystopia that I liked. I cared about nobody, identified with nobody, connected with nothing, enjoyed nothing that was meant to be enjoyed (if anything), and felt no personal emotional reaction to any of the events in the novel, good or bad. The characters were pawns, the world was a deliberate game board, and they just moved around mechanically making their Points and living out the blatant dystopian Themes.
I happened to mention this in one of my lit classes a few weeks ago and was promptly bombarded by half the class telling me it was wonderful, one of their favorites, I should give it another try, etc., so I'm in the minority with this one, but nonetheless: for ME, it failed in every way a book can fail.
And the other one was Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, junior year of high school. I haven't quite figured out my hatred of it; I think it's Mark Twain's nasty biting tone, along with a plot that bored me to tears and humor that didn't amuse me. I'm not big on adventure stories or satire, and this was both. Sarcasm yes, humor and social commentary, yes - but satire, no. (I did like A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, though.)
It didn't help that we had to do a lot of reading aloud in class, and for some reason, everybody who read aloud kept correcting the dialects as they read. Hello?? The dialects are SUPPOSED to be there! Read it the way it's written! Having the themes rammed down my throat on both books, as high school English classes tend to do, also didn't help my initial distaste for the books.
I know most people love these books, and I can see why if I think about it, but my gut reaction was still negative. XD Anyone else agree, or am I alone on this one? :)