{"id":36,"date":"2001-10-10T06:09:00","date_gmt":"2001-10-10T14:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=36"},"modified":"2001-10-10T06:09:00","modified_gmt":"2001-10-10T14:09:00","slug":"36","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=36","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Sometimes, I think when I am itching for a fight and want someone to argue with, I like to read the bad customer reviews of books that I enjoy over at Amazon.com<\/a>. They all read roughly the same — full of grammatical errors, misspellings, angry rants and ill-informed opinions — and because I disagree with them, this makes me feel better about myself. I feel smarter, better read, and although I’m not, I can’t help but derive some amusement from the whole endeavor. Today, I share some of these comments about some of my favorite books. It might be interesting to see why other readers hated them so much.<\/font><\/p>\n

The Sound and the Fury<\/em> by William Faulkner: “Like being on a three-week drunken spree,” says a reader from Illinois. “Yuck.”<\/font><\/p>\n

The Great Gatsby<\/em> by F. Scott Fitzgerald: “I dont like any of the characters,” writes a reader from Alabama. “They should all be destroyed b\/c they are all awful people who would rather party than actually face their lives. I dont think that teachers should force students to read it b\/c just because it happens to be by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Big whoop.”<\/font><\/p>\n

The Sun Also Rises<\/em> by Ernest Hemingway: “I could not understand what the author was trying to convey,” says, a reader from USA, “except that all the characters in the book are drunks fighting over a woman on a picnic.”<\/font><\/p>\n

Slaughterhouse Five<\/em> by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.: “O.K., I read it,” admits a reader from Maryland, “but I literally have no idea what this book is about. And I’m not reading it again to find out either. Apparently, people like almost anything in life, which is really a sad commentary on the human condition.”<\/font><\/p>\n

One Hundred Years of Solitude<\/em> by Gabriel Garcia Marquez: “An ugly novel,” proclaims a reader from America, “not the less ugly for the undeniable talent with which it is executed. I do not recommend it.”<\/font><\/p>\n

Pnin<\/em> by Vladamir Nabokov: “In my opinion,” says a Michigan reader, “it should go out of print and stay there.”<\/font><\/p>\n

Invisible Cities<\/em> by Italo Calvino: “I give this book a big ol’ ZZZZzzzzzz….” offers a reader from New York City.<\/font><\/p>\n

Leviathan<\/em> by Paul Auster: “Mr. Auster’s probably a great writer,” concedes a reader from Georgia. “He just depresses me.”<\/font><\/p>\n

A Prayer for Owen Meany<\/em> by John Irving: “Ugh, if burning books weren’t frowned upon, guess which one would be roasting right now?” asks a reader from Toronto. “Go on, guess.”<\/font>
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometimes, I think when I am itching for a fight and want someone to argue with, I like to read the bad customer reviews of books that I enjoy over at Amazon.com. They all read roughly the same — full of grammatical errors, misspellings, angry rants and ill-informed opinions — and because I disagree with … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[238],"class_list":["post-36","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}