Okay, I tried. I really did. I told myself I’d finish that book, but nope. Couldn’t do it. I waved the white flag somewhere around chapter four. Life is too short to suffer through bad writing.
I don’t normally give up on books. Honestly, there are maybe five or six in my entire lifetime that I couldn’t finish—and that’s saying something, because I’ll usually push through just to see who did it or who died. But this one? Absolutely not. Between the awful formatting, robotic dialogue, and characters with the emotional range of a toaster, I just couldn’t take it anymore.
I get it—writing a book is hard. Editing is harder. But come on. If you’re going to publish something, at least make sure your readers can tell who’s talking, what’s happening, and why the protagonist suddenly fell in love with someone they met five minutes ago.
So, yeah. I gave up. No guilt. No shame. Just peace… and a reminder that sometimes, the best plot twist is closing the book and never looking back.
I remember one book that was asked to review by the author. It was TERRIBLE!! I didn’t make sense. I don’t think it went to an editor. I swear a middle schooler wrote it not an adult (Indidnt tell the author that part). I did read it all though because it was a requested review.
ReplyDeleteI am a firm believer that if you’re 50 pages in and the book still hasn’t grabbed you, stop torturing yourself!
ReplyDeleteAMEN! I'm a reader who (personally) returns the book to the library if it doesn't improve or grab my attention by chapter 3 or around the first 50 pages wherever that may land. I've returned a few in the last 2 years because they just were so...eh...between the flat characters or the over use of the F word (which in my opinion shows a lack of creativity on the author's end) I simply return it. One I distinctly remember returning was The Goldfinch. Everyone I know who is an avid reader loved that book. I could NOT get into it. I found it confusing and just....odd. Also Gone Girl!! Yet I loved the netflix movie!! go figure. Good for you for not torturing your self.
ReplyDeleteI’ve learned that some books are there so you can write the next one. If you didn’t go through the exercise of writing it, you would be the author you need to be for the next one. Took me 10 years to write my first one because I just keep going in circles. Now, I just shelve it and if I come back, great. If not, maybe I only come back for the ideas.
ReplyDelete