BakersDozen Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 This confession may well get me banned for life from WTM. Those who thought they liked me here will put me on their hate list. I may wake up to my inbox full of messages chastising me and admonishing me to change...or else. Knowing full well the repercussions that may occur... I hate The Great Gatsby. Hate it. Loathe it. Detest it. All three times I've suffered through it, I've felt the same. It is the only book I've read that I hate as much as I do. It is the only book I have ever thrown in the trash (gasps of shock and horror ripple across the board...). And it's on my oldest dd's reading list for this coming school year. She will read it and watch the Robert Redford movie. I shall refrain from sharing my views on it and shall do my duty as a teacher to discuss things with her while not telling her how much she should hate it, too. There it is. Waiting to be banned... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hen Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 ha, not my favorite book, but I preferred it over the Steinbeck books. The only book I ever threw across the room was 1984 :p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 Hey, we ALL have a classic we hate or just won't do with our DC. It's okay! Not every book is for every person. There are SO many classics out there, just set this one aside, and move on to others. Or, let DD read it on her own and skip discussing with her -- or have her discuss with someone else. Or substitute a short story by Fitzgerald. Whatever you decide, it's all good. Don't let it ruin your homeschooling, for heaven's sake! :) While DSs and I unexpectedly really liked and appreciated The Great Gatsby, DSs absolutely hated Melville (although, I really appreciated what he was doing), while I refused to do The Grapes of Wrath with them (it was a painful type of "Donner party" in slow-mo that scarred me for life (LOL!) when I read it years ago in my early 20s, and I just could NOT make myself do it again). So, we compromised and substituted one SHORT STORY each by Melville and one by Steinbeck, and MOVED ON. ;) Maybe this can become the thread where everyone can get their one "I hate _____" book out of their system. :tongue_smilie: Warmest regards, Lori D. ETA: hahaha, I see Hen already started the healthy venting by flinging 1984... :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deee Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 I hated Gatsby, too! Not sure if was due to teenage contrariness (I read it in high school), or over-analysis (cos I read it in high school). I have never been able to bring myself to read it again. Because I'm not American I haven't felt too stricken by this. D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candid Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 I was so-so about Fitzgerald, but Hemingway! For the longest time I figured it would have been better without him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NCMom Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 You are not alone. I hate Gatsby, Billy Budd, Pilgrim's Progress and absolutely anything written by Tennessee Williams. I'm sure there are more that I just can't think of, probably a lot more! My youngest just read Gatsby of her own volition and liked it, and I was SO happy I didn't have to read it. Woot! I'll bet everyone has a certain "classics" that they dislike. Ya can't please everyone and all that... :lol: Georgia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HelenNotOfTroy Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 I am very unfond of most American literature. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommyfaithe Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 Well, they let me hang around...and I hate the Great Gatsby, AND Jane Austen! GAG!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenNC Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 Thomas Hardy-----dear gods, the man spent an entire chapter on a turtle crossing the road! Harold Pinter--- in the one play I saw (The Birthday Party), I felt like I walked in on the middle of something and left no further along than when I arrived with absolutely no idea of what was going on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paisley Hedgehog Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalypso Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 I did not like it either, but my dds 18 and 16 really liked it. I have told them I will try reading it again but can't bring myself to pick it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithManor Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 Okay, I have a hate-hate relationship with some of the "modern" classics. Here is how it goes - Hemingway...I could doom him to certain layers of Dante's Inferno. Only slightly less hated - Steinbeck. As for that dear Great Gatsby - I don't hate it enough to relegate it to a book burning, something I'd consider with Hemingway :D , but on the other hand, if someone else burned it, I would probably clap. Faith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 Wuthering Heights. 'Nuff said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texasmama Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 My oldest dd said that Gatsby was the only lit work she read in high school that she loved. Lol I feel long-suffering about Great Expectations. And I must read it aloud this year to my boys. I am very afraid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hen Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 ..... I refused to do The Grapes of Wrath with them (it was a painful type of "Donner party" in slow-mo that scarred me for life (LOL!) .... wow, you just summed up why I hated Grapes of Wrath, I just never thought of it in those terms! I also felt a slow, icky scream about Of Mice and Men, from the cowboy who kept his hand in vaseline and in a glove [insert jr. high girl ewwwww here...] to having to shoot your friend, it was just ick and "why?" the only thing of value I walked away with from Steinbeck was finally "getting" all the Bugs Bunny references to Of Mice and Men, still not worth it to me. I made the executive decision to substitute all the Steinbeck books for The Great Gatsby, which I tolerated better, for my H.S. students. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G5052 Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 I actually prefer American Literature over British and World literature. But I like the older stuff, not the newer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 I hate Gatsby too! I found the characters so loathsome that I couldn't even enjoy loathing them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrothead Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 Wuthering Heights. 'Nuff said. Amen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbollin Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 last year... my oldest didn't like Billy Budd. (I never read it) year before that she hated Austen a lot.. "mom. this is so stupid..do I have to finish it?" "well, uhm... not really sweetie, you finish other stuff it's ok.... and.. .well' "but mom, I have to finish just to see if I end up liking it at the end. " she didn't. LOL a few months later there was the option of another Austen novel and she said "let me guess.... the plot and characters will be like this".. and she nailed it! so she didn't have to read that classic... Even if there isn't an alternative novel for the weeks listed in the program you are looking for you don't "have" to do Gatsby (you're not in a co-op where you have to???). or you could treat it like the way you share something that tastes horrible "here.. this is so groooossssssssss try it!". oh oh oh oh.... a friend of mine did a novel review some book in modern times and in the recommendation the 12th grader wrote "I would not recommend this book to others. It was dreadful to read" giggle giggle.... it's ok not to like everything or to change a book. your post made me smile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoseInABook Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 Add me to the Wuthering Heights list. I didn't finish it and that's saying a LOT. I think it's the only book that I've ever picked up that I didn't finish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BakersDozen Posted June 24, 2013 Author Share Posted June 24, 2013 I found the characters so loathsome that I couldn't even enjoy loathing them. Love this and agree with it! So glad I am not banned, lol. I read a thread about Gatsby some time ago and just shook my head, wondering what it was that I was missing. I have slogged through some dreadful books (Wuthering Heights, Great Expectations) but at least got something out of them beyond insane annoyance. Dd just slogged through Billy Budd. Poor child. The only book I ever threw across the room was 1984 I purchased a volume that had both 1984 and Animal Farm in it. I cut Animal Farm out and did...hmmm...what did I do with 1984? I think I gave it to some crazy person who wanted to read it. I won't even attempt Melville after trying a few times in high school. My life is way too short for such things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbeym Posted June 24, 2013 Share Posted June 24, 2013 I don't mind Gatsby. My most-hated book is Great Expectations. Had to read it in 9th grade and it completely turned me off of all things by Dickens. I've never read Austen, either Bronte, Hemingway, Melville, or Steinbeck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medawyn Posted June 24, 2013 Share Posted June 24, 2013 There will be no Steinbeck in my house. Grapes of Wrath :ack2: Someone else can fill that gap. Or not. Surely plenty of people have survived (and thrived) in adulthood without Steinbeck. I'm still wishing for those hours of my life back, and I was only 16. And this is why there are a wealth of great books; there is no possible way I can teach them all, so I don't have to feel guilt avoiding the ones that make me :ack2: . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arabicenthusiast Posted June 24, 2013 Share Posted June 24, 2013 Gatsby is one of those books that really frustrates me. I've never got beyond the first chapter because I just couldn't bring myself to continue reading it. I finished 1984, but was really not as impressed as I wanted to be. I loved the idea behind it and it was recommended to me quite a few times and then I actually read it and was quite disappointed. At least I finished that one though. :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted June 24, 2013 Share Posted June 24, 2013 I read Gatsby for the first time this spring. Not so much a fan - ds and I may watch the movie, but he already knows the ending. There is some meme going around about Leonardo not doing well in the water - Titanic, Gatsby, even Inception (almost). I don't like Austen either and they still let me post. Something like this one: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texasmama Posted June 25, 2013 Share Posted June 25, 2013 I read aloud (with great emotion) the first chapter of Great Expectations today. Wish me luck for the next 49 chapters... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BakersDozen Posted June 25, 2013 Author Share Posted June 25, 2013 I read aloud (with great emotion) the first chapter of Great Expectations today. Wish me luck for the next 49 chapters. GAH! Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happi duck Posted June 25, 2013 Share Posted June 25, 2013 In public high school we read Deliverance. Ick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoot Posted June 25, 2013 Share Posted June 25, 2013 I read it for the first time earlier this year and had the same visceral reaction as you. I cannot even put into words how much I hated that book. Now, every book that I dislike gets rated against The Great Gatsby. Was it or was it not as awful as that book, that is the question? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoot Posted June 25, 2013 Share Posted June 25, 2013 Well, they let me hang around...and I hate the Great Gatsby, AND Jane Austen! GAG!!!!! I think I may love you. :laugh: I'm really glad I don't have a girl because I will never have to suffer through Jane Austen again. There is absolutely nothing that could make me trudge through that trash again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingiguana Posted June 25, 2013 Share Posted June 25, 2013 The trick to reading Grapes of Wrath? Read every other chapter -- read the ones that don't have the Joads in them. Skim the ones with the Joads so you know what's going on, but for heaven's sakes, don't actually read them. The other chapters are interesting, though. I hated The Great Gatsby too. One of my kids read it. I kept my mouth shut. And in the end she agreed it was awful. But there is a video game which is a lot better than the book: http://greatgatsbygame.com/ Great Expectations? Still better than other Dickens I've attempted, so I won't diss it (although the middle section just keeps going and going like the Energizer Bunny). Moby Dick -- did it as a readaloud, if you can believe that. So we got to share our loathing for it. But we couldn't put it down. It was just so bad it was kind of interesting. However, I still love the sentences in Pride and Prejudice. And the funny bits. Other Austen books-- eh -- not really doing much for me. Sometimes I wonder if Pride and Prejudice was written by a whole nother person. (There was a theory about this -- I read it somewhere on the BBC. That someone else actually wrote her books? I can't find that article now.) But I am sick to death of the romance movies based on the book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingiguana Posted June 25, 2013 Share Posted June 25, 2013 I've now read Wuthering Heights twice. The first time because I had to for high school lit. I hated it. The second time because I really wanted to see if my mature self would finally understand it. I hated it even more. Oh, I can see what she was trying to do, describing a psychotic character, but it was the ending bit where she tries to tie it up with cute bunny fluff that really made me gag. And in the 2nd reading, I was left wondering WHY? WHY is Heathcliff like that? What happened to him? What went on in his childhood before he entered the story? And why did the father bring him home? And how did the father feel about that decision in later years? And why was Catherine drawn to him? I mean, really, there were no better men around? It had all the feeling of Greek tragedy, but without the Fates there to make it plausible. The gods weren't forcing these people to do anything. So what was it about their characters that made them do it? Just lots and lots of loose ends and a definite lack of explanation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grantmom Posted June 25, 2013 Share Posted June 25, 2013 We read Gatsby with my book group last year, and I hated it too!!! I didn't really remember having much of an opinion on it from reading it in high school. That was so long ago. But as I read it this time, I was like, why is this a classic? I honestly just didn't even think it was good writing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted June 25, 2013 Share Posted June 25, 2013 In public high school we read Deliverance. Ick. The kids and I were recently looking up some various "100 Best Novels" lists, and I was amazed to see this appear more than once! I read it long ago, and always assumed it was considered a potboiler, a purely commercial 'sellout' effort. It would be interesting to read it again from a mature perspective, but I don't know if I can force myself to do it, lol. I'm not a big Steinbeck fan; I think he has a very cloying attitude toward the poor and the disabled. I utterly loathe the ending scene in Grapes of Wrath, when (spoiler alert) Rose breastfeeds the old man. Because yes, of course, a woman who has been near-starving for months, to the extent that her unborn baby dies, is going to be flowing with milk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjzimmer1 Posted June 26, 2013 Share Posted June 26, 2013 I know we read Great Gatsby and Great Expectations in high school but I can't say I have any lasting memories one way or the other on them. I had to do a book report on Billy Budd and I do remember it being very boring. I was thankful it was short. But actually it's Shakespeare that makes me want to run screaming from the room. Between high school and college I know I've read at least 4 of them and I hated them all. But I thinks it's because I get all bogged done with the English(British) vernacular that I have very little understanding of the plot. I actually planned to graduate all my kids from high school without doing Shakespeare since I figured there was plenty of other good ready out there but since we needed an outside source to teach writing (because it just became a battle of wills when I tried to correct their writing) that they are getting Shakespeare in their English classes. As long as they don't want to discuss I'll be good with this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaKim Posted June 27, 2013 Share Posted June 27, 2013 For anybody who hates Steinbeck in general, try Travels With Charlie. I found it at the Goodwill before I had ever tried any of his other books. It is actually very interesting and not depressing or icky at all. Glad I read it before I encountered Grapes of Wrath, or I'd have never even tried it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TXMary2 Posted June 29, 2013 Share Posted June 29, 2013 That is how I feel about Jane Austen. Ugh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texasmama Posted June 29, 2013 Share Posted June 29, 2013 I will say that Great Expectations is going better than I had expected. I am needing to explain a lot of the vocabulary as we go, but I don't mind. We are six chapters in, and my boys actually think it is a pretty rockin' story. :D (Yay for me for using my best dramatic radio voice as I read.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngieW in Texas Posted June 30, 2013 Share Posted June 30, 2013 I really don't see what makes most "great literature" great. I thought most of the books I read under that guise were absolutely horrible. Jane Eyre - Really? That's supposed to be romantic. The guy is horrible. My kids were disgusted and so was I. Great Expectations - I have tried to wade through it several times without success. I know what happens in the whole story. Maybe it was a good book for the time it was written, but I think it's just awful. anything at all by Hemingway should be burned just to save everybody else from having to endure him Great Gatsby - a loathsome book filled with loathsome characters with absolutely no redeeming value whatsoever OTOH, there have been a few (very few) that I actually thought were very good: Count of Monte Cristo Pride and Prejudice Tale of Two Cities Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grantmom Posted June 30, 2013 Share Posted June 30, 2013 It's actually kind of funny, isn't it? I mean what says it is great literature? Are we just calling it great, "classic" literature because it has always been called that and it just is that way and has been for all time? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tammyla Posted June 30, 2013 Share Posted June 30, 2013 :iagree: Oh, my...I'm waving my hand wildly in agreement here. Dh loves The Grapes of Wrath and I loooathe it :rant: . Op great thread. Hey, we ALL have a classic we hate or just won't do with our DC. It's okay! Not every book is for every person. There are SO many classics out there, just set this one aside, and move on to others. Or, let DD read it on her own and skip discussing with her -- or have her discuss with someone else. Or substitute a short story by Fitzgerald. Whatever you decide, it's all good. Don't let it ruin your homeschooling, for heaven's sake! :) While DSs and I unexpectedly really liked and appreciated The Great Gatsby, DSs absolutely hated Melville (although, I really appreciated what he was doing), while I refused to do The Grapes of Wrath with them (it was a painful type of "Donner party" in slow-mo that scarred me for life (LOL!) when I read it years ago in my early 20s, and I just could NOT make myself do it again). So, we compromised and substituted one SHORT STORY each by Melville and one by Steinbeck, and MOVED ON. ;) Maybe this can become the thread where everyone can get their one "I hate _____" book out of their system. :tongue_smilie: Warmest regards, Lori D. ETA: hahaha, I see Hen already started the healthy venting by flinging 1984... :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KRG Posted June 30, 2013 Share Posted June 30, 2013 Not to be cliche but I would rather stick hot pokers in my eyes than read Hemingway! I did enjoy The Great Gatsby though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 I mean what says it is great literature? Are we just calling it great, "classic" literature because it has always been called that and it just is that way and has been for all time? This is a great question, and one we could explore in a spin-off thread. Here are two past threads on that topic, plus a short article that lists seven possible criteria for helping to determine whether or not a book is of "classic" status: Who decides what is "classic"? What do you consider a classic article: "How Does a Book Become a Classic?" In the meanwhile, I thought I'd bring a little balance to the "book bashing" :tongue_smilie: [meant only with all good gentle humor!] by linking this past thread: Spin-off: What classic book surprised you by being a good read And while it doesn't always work out this way, sometimes revisiting a work years -- decades -- later when we have more life experience and "new" eyes allows us to see things in a work we didn't like previously. Although, I've also experienced the reverse, as well -- tried to re-read a work that affected me profoundly in high school / college, only to discover it is now pretty "lite" to me in what it has to say... I think that's just one reason why it makes that designation of "classic" so difficult to pin down -- and so tricky to know how to "time" your reading of The Great Books... Either way, I hope we'll all keep dipping into the Great Conversation that is made up of The Great Books, and share our insights -- whether they involve a profound life-changing revelation -- or book flinging! (lol) And speaking of sharing, I'll link one more past thread of a favorite past Great Book conversation from this board on Jane Eyre, esp for you, Angie! :) Jane Eyre and boys Warmest regards, Lori D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidArchuletaFan Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 I think I threw Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men in the rubbish bin. Tried reading it twice but the profanity and blasphemy was too much for this sensitive soul. I love Dickens for his humour and the way he interweaves different threads into his plots. And it's always satisfying because he doesn't ever leave you wondering about what happened to any of the characters - he wraps up all the loose ends. I'm just reading Great Expectations now and you all have me nervous about this one. My all time favourite book is The Chosen by Chaim Potok. I love the psychology of it I guess. Definitely not everybody's style though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingiguana Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 Another book I hated: Main Street It refused to go anywhere. And took pages and pages to do it. Is Babbit any better? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy22alyns Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 Two words: Moby Dick. I deserve an award for getting through that one. You all are really going to slaughter me for this one, but I actually preferred the TV movie with Patrick Stewart. And the other thing I got out of Moby Dick was that NOW I understand The Wrath of Khan! :lol: I fail to see the appeal of Jane Austen too. I read P&P and tried Emma but put it down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen in CO Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 Well, they let me hang around...and I hate the Great Gatsby, AND Jane Austen! GAG!!!!! I used to hate them both, but made myself read Pride&Prejudice a few years ago, now I've read most of her books many, many times. I still loathe Gatsby. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen in CO Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 Well, they let me hang around...and I hate the Great Gatsby, AND Jane Austen! GAG!!!!! I used to hate them both, but made myself read Pride&Prejudice a few years ago, now I've read most of her books many, many times. I still loathe Gatsby. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrapbookbuzz Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 I have not experienced The Great Gatsby yet. But 'classics' I do NOT like and will most likely not have my children read are Animal Farm, Lord of the Flies (just gross), and any Jane Austen. Yeah, yeah, I know. But all her characters make me mad. I just want to tell them, "Just say what you mean already and get on with it!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hen Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 Two words: Moby Dick. I deserve an award for getting through that one. You all are really going to slaughter me for this one, but I actually preferred the TV movie with Patrick Stewart. And the other thing I got out of Moby Dick was that NOW I understand The Wrath of Khan! :lol: I fail to see the appeal of Jane Austen too. I read P&P and tried Emma but put it down. but of course Patrick Stewart makes anything go down easy....you don't even need a good story line, just feast your eyes on him :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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