There's a book I read that's got good ratings on GR that I really hated. I now judge everyone who likes it terribly.
That lying about rape thing... that's awful, and genuinely harmful. Is this book by a male or female author?
This book sounds genuinely awful, and even if it was well written it doesn't seem like the kind of thing I'd be interested in. I'm glad we're friends on GR so if I ever consider reading it I'll see your rating and think twice.
What book is that? *curious* I'm such a damn picky reader (obviously) and I only seem to get pickier, in a couple years I won't like ANYTHING and I'll be judging everybody else on what they like too.
The book is by a male author. :/
It was yet another book that got me angrier and angrier as I kept reading it and even afterwards when I was done I kept getting angry, just slowly fuming about it until I had to do yet another too-wordy write up.
The book was The Long Way Home. It was a lot less infuriating than your book sounds, but there were a lot of things I didn't like about it. The main characters were far too focussed on having sex with each other rather than solving the mystery that involved kids getting kidnapped, raped, and murdered, including someone one of the MC's was close to. I like sex but when it overtakes plot it's just annoying. Also pretty much the moment the villain was introduced I was like yep that guy he did it. It was so obvious I started thinking I couldn't possibly be right and it must be some kind of trick but NOPE HE DID IT.
Sorry, I just hate that book so much...
It's not surprising that your book was written by a male author with that kind of attitude towards rape. It's a sentiment found far less often among women, though probably still all too frequently.
I have never read that one but ugh. I seriously hate when sex overtakes plot, or the relationship overtakes plot, especially if there actually IS a plot other than just a getting-together drama. Also I hate when things are so obvious you feel like it can't possibly really be what's happening but then nope, it is, totally obvious.
Sometimes women have a really messed up attitude towards rape too, although that's usually when it involves two men--but yeah, how blase and casual it was dropped in there with no repercussions was definitely a guy's attitude.
*lets out a relieved sigh* Oh thank god. I was wondering what's wrong with me, seeing all those positive reviews and my friend (who generally is very picky about gay fiction) being all excited about this book. I could not find anything to like in it, not a character to sympathize with, not a single scene to reread. And the kill-a-character so that A could get back together with B? Damn, I forgot all about it until you mentioned it in your review (more like I attempted to erase it from my memory) but I hated it with passion. Can't remember another story where elimination of a likeable character was performed so clumsily.
All that said, I admit - I probably wouldn't be so annoyed with the book if it wasn't recommended to me with so much enthusiasm. My expectations were way higher than Something Like Summer delivered.
This was one of those books where I didn't want anybody together with anybody, because A and B were assholes and C was too good for all the shit happening (and apparently too good for the book entirely, and died just to escape it). Definitely nothing in there worth rereading at all. I've seen this book recced around a few places and just decided to read it on a whim, plus the very positive reviews on Goodreads, and yeah, it way underdelivered. I could find a better story in ten minutes on fictionpress for free. :/
And it has 4.5 stars on Amazon as well! Perhaps there's an alternative version of this book that everyone else but us read...? I wish you'd post your review there too, to warn unsuspecting readers.
I would, but I never post reviews on public sites (especially goodreads) because people can get really defensive and mean on online forums. And on goodreads I don't want to tie negative reviews to my author profile because nowadays that reflects badly and looks "unprofessional". I just keep everything here on LJ, it's safer.
The problem is goodreads, not you. It seems like every book I check out over there is a 3 3/4 to 4 1/4 star book, no matter how bad or good the book actually is. And most of the reviewers seem to just be blogging about their experience with a book instead of writing objective reviews that will help other readers find what they're looking for. I've seen a lot of 2 star reviews that say "I just don't like this genre of fiction". Like that has anything to do with the story quality or will mean anything to the people who do like that genre. Sorry, I'm a frustrated goodreads member, still looking for those good reads and not finding them.
I suppose so. I get confused at the ratings I myself get on goodreads, people will just drop low ratings and not even leave a comment why. I probably shouldn't trust goodreads so much myself, but there's not a lot of other places to get any sort of ideas on these books and their quality. Maybe amazon, but there's much less feedback in general there.
Lord what the heck did I just read, your review cracked me up so much. It just sounds so bad. I feel like I can never trust Goodreads since when I first started out I would read books that had high ratings but they always ended up being really mediocre or really shitty. :( I'm always sad when good books get horrible ratings for stupid reasons.
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That lying about rape thing... that's awful, and genuinely harmful. Is this book by a male or female author?
This book sounds genuinely awful, and even if it was well written it doesn't seem like the kind of thing I'd be interested in. I'm glad we're friends on GR so if I ever consider reading it I'll see your rating and think twice.
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The book is by a male author. :/
It was yet another book that got me angrier and angrier as I kept reading it and even afterwards when I was done I kept getting angry, just slowly fuming about it until I had to do yet another too-wordy write up.
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Sorry, I just hate that book so much...
It's not surprising that your book was written by a male author with that kind of attitude towards rape. It's a sentiment found far less often among women, though probably still all too frequently.
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Sometimes women have a really messed up attitude towards rape too, although that's usually when it involves two men--but yeah, how blase and casual it was dropped in there with no repercussions was definitely a guy's attitude.
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All that said, I admit - I probably wouldn't be so annoyed with the book if it wasn't recommended to me with so much enthusiasm. My expectations were way higher than Something Like Summer delivered.
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