Bestsellers that don't live up to expectations

After reading Margaret Atwood's The Handmaids Tale several times, on reading the follow up - The Testaments, I was disappointed that I found it hard to follow and I lost the plot

I found A Handmaid's Tale engrossing and unputdownable - but I had no wish at all to re-read it. It was so frightening and depressing. Brilliant though.

Girl on a train was dreadful.
The Greenfinch was another

I tend to steer away from so called best sellers now- they only have to be on top of Amazon's list for a day to qualify as such.

Finding decent contemporary fiction is very difficult- there is such so much dross out there.

These are just a sample of some of the popular books I have read or tried to read and hated. I am not dismissing any of them as rubbish as my taste is not definitive.

The da Vinci Code, Dead Simple, Fifty Shades of Grey, Imogen, The Thursday Murder Club, Last Bus to Woodstock, Widows, Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, The Naked Ape, Spare.

I thought Where the Crawdads Sing was dire.
Didn’t even try Fifty Shades Grey after reading the revues.
Took about six attempts at The Thursday Murder Club after which I quite enjoyed it but only read one more.
I can’t really recall other disappointments but I am sure there are many more.

Fifty Shades of Grey was execrable. Absolutely hated Gone Girl, and wasn't impressed by Girl on the Train either. The Time Traveller's Wife was another one.

Many mediocre books are over promoted because they are deemed to deal with popular issues, or are written by celebrities.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, I just didn’t get it.
The Thursday Murder Club was so bad that I gave up after a few chapters.

I’ll watch The Thursday Murder Club when Netflix release it next week but couldn’t get into the book.
I loved Crawdadds though.

I liked both of those NotAGran55.
Maybe it makes a difference that I listened to them as audiobooks, rather than read them.
Fifty Shades of Grey was certainly awful.

keepingquiet did you mean The Goldfinch? By Donna Tart.

I couldn’t finish Captain Corelli’s Mandolin or The Time Traveller’s Wife. Really didn’t like The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, or the one Lucinda Riley “Sisters” book I tried. I have enjoyed others mentioned on the thread though. Like Magenta8, I’d never describe a bestseller as bad just because it’s not to my taste. Plenty of others
obviously saw something in it that I missed.

Granmarderby10

keepingquiet did you mean The Goldfinch? By Donna Tart.

I think so as I couldn’t finish The Goldfinch, it needed some serious editing down.
I bought The Midnight Library and read it, but it was very dull.
Normal People I got half way through, dull and double dull.

NotAGran55

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, I just didn’t get it.
The Thursday Murder Club was so bad that I gave up after a few chapters.

The Thursday Murder Club was so bad that I gave up after a few chapters

Stephen Spielberg obviously does not agree with you!

eazybee

Many mediocre books are over promoted because they are deemed to deal with popular issues, or are written by celebrities.

Absolutely agree eazybee after being caught out several times by this over hyping I am more selective about the books I buy. I rarely buy books written by ' celebrities'

Granmarderby10

keepingquiet did you mean The Goldfinch? By Donna Tart.

I can’t get into anything written by Donna Tartt.
I’ve tried several times with all of them but it’s just No.

merlotgran

I’ll watch The Thursday Murder Club when Netflix release it next week but couldn’t get into the book.
I loved Crawdadds though.

i found the Thursday Murder Club irritating. I managed to read one, but that's my lot.

The critics I have read are very scathing about the film version of Thursday Murder Club.
Perhaps that means I shall quite enjoy it.
It is on Netflix on Thursday.

Thursday Murder Club is a classic case of lazy, greedy publishing. The publishers, as others have said, rely on the fact that the author is already famous and ignore the face that the novel is trite, unoriginal and poorly written. It’s all about the profit.

I read all of The Lovely Bones but absolutely hated it…..

The Thursday Murder Club might be a ‘best seller’, but you just need to read book club forums to see how many people have dumped it part way through.

NotAGran55

The Thursday Murder Club might be a ‘best seller’, but you just need to read book club forums to see how many people have dumped it part way through.

I didn’t make it past the kindle free sample. 😂

I find it funny how people's reading tastes differ so much.

Here's my take on those mentioned above:
Thursday Murder Club (not impressed at all - couldn't understand all the hype surrounding it, but I am looking forward to the Netflix series).

Where The Crawdads Sing - loved it.

The Lovely Bones - loved it.

Captain Corelli's Mandolin - really struggled to get into it but adored it after the first couple of chapters right through to the end.

The Time Traveller's Wife - gave up after first chapter.

Hilary Mantel books - gave up after first page

Orbital - no plot, therefore really boring even though 'beautifully written'.

Raising Hare (a recent 'bestseller') - absolutely wonderful, but then I know somebody who thought it was a load of boring rubbish.

Strange that GNs' are almost unanimous about disliking "The Thursday Murder Club". Lots of people must have liked it, it was a best sellers list for weeks and is still selling well.

I notice that "The Salt Path" has not been mentioned.