People Are "Un-Recommending" The Popular Books That They Personally Couldn't Stand, And Some Of These Are So Valid

If you're a reader, you probably have a finger on the pulse of the book world, and you know some novels just explode in popularity. Well, redditor MikasaMinerva asked, "Please un-recommend some books to me, especially popular ones." So people started sharing books that get lots of hype that, unfortunately, don't live up to it. Here's what they said.

1."The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by V. E. Schwab. This was way more interesting in premise than in execution, and TBH was kind of boring for me."

2."It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover was so horribly written I did not finish the book and resolved never to touch another Colleen Hoover book again. I refuse to read books by a grown woman who writes that badly."

3."Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. It's a fantasy for people who don't read fantasy! A coworker lent me this book because I'm a big fantasy fan, and the holes in the worldbuilding were so frustrating. It's like the CW version of epic fantasy."

4."The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. The plot was okay, but the writing was slow, boring, and disengaged the audience. I kept waiting for something to happen besides trauma to progress the story. It didn’t happen."

5."Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. I tried so hard to like it. I read the first 100–150 pages three times. It was dreadful; I still can’t understand the fuss."

6."The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave. Man, oh man, it was an exhausting read for me. Then you get to the end and… like, that's it!? The story was so underwhelming I thought surely there must be a twist coming! It never came. I was bummed to see that it was made into a show; there are so many better stories out there than a man mysteriously abandoning his wife and daughter. It happens literally every day."

7."The Secret History by Donna Tartt. I don't know what it is, but that book pissed me off. I wouldn't say I liked all the characters; several of the storylines felt unnecessary. There was no need for them except to shock and hurt the reader. I also felt like it didn't need to be that long."

8."The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. I think it's prime reading for an angsty teen, and I'll confess I loved it then. But reading it as an adult, it doesn't hold up. The whole 'the universe will conspire to help you' thing gets ridiculous after you exist a little while in society."

9."The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune is so popular, but it read to me like a contrived after-school special. I felt like the 'moral' was hitting me over the head."

10."Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. I put it down halfway through. I found it actively unpleasant. I guess other people have thicker skin than I have. And it's on a ton of Best Books lists."

11."I just finished The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides and hated it! And I was upset with myself for wasting the hours of my life I couldn't get back from reading it! Ugh! What was that?! I work in mental health, so I was irritated by all the 'technical' stuff. Like, does this guy not have any other patients? The asylum hired him for one lady? And he hand-writes his notes? What is this, 1880? And how he spoke of Alyssia to other staff would get him fired in a heartbeat. And then the 'twist' at the end?! It's not deus ex machina, just one giant plot hole 😡."

12."The Midnight Library by Matt Haig is so blatantly trying to be some life-changing, inspirational book that you can practically hear the author trying SO HARD to nail it in the climax and failing miserably because it's just mediocre."

13."The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. I would not have finished it, except I needed to know what happened. And what happened was so much less than satisfying."

14."Years ago, I was in a bookstore, and I overheard a woman say to her friend's teenage daughter, 'As a university professor, any course I'm assigned to teach, or any course I design myself, there is always one book I always put on the syllabus. Everyone should read it.' So, of course, I'm going to buy whatever book I hear her say blindly. She mentioned All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, which led to tremendous acclaim, a massive fanbase, and a show on Netflix. But before the hype, I thought it was silly and sentimental. The tiny back-and-forth chapters were irritating. Noble, precocious young characters without any flaws are not interesting. Fifteen million copies sold. Pulitzer Prize. Shows what I know."

15."Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. IMO, this was a mystery with no mystery. It was just a waste of time with a lot of cruelty."

16."Normal People by Sally Rooney. A more accurate title would have been: Insufferable People Who Should Communicate So I Don’t Have To Read About Their Terrible Experiences Not Communicating."

17."Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. The chapters from the octopus's perspective were the only enjoyable part, and there were far too few of them. I found Cameron's character to be an annoying, petulant manchild, and Tova was exasperatingly stubborn. I didn't care much about the human characters or what happened to them. I only finished it to find out what happened to the octopus."

18."Happy Place by Emily Henry. I'd consider romance one of my favorite genres, but this book wasn't for me, and I simply don't understand all the hype about it. I couldn't get attached to the characters (like I do with almost all the other books I read), and it just got so boring for me."

19."The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. The trailer for the movie seemed like it was on every other ad break, then it came out, and everyone loathed it. It bombed. A couple of years later, I went to my library and found their copy, a VERY used paperback, which obviously had been read by a fair number of people. I got about 50 pages in and started thinking, 'THIS won the Pulitzer Prize?! HOW?' I didn't get to page 100."

20."Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. The writing was awful; I actively cringed at several parts. Characters were madly unlikable — especially Sadie, who had no redeeming qualities and used her trauma as an excuse to be a terrible person. Marx was the only good character, and he was flat, written as if he were a god with no faults."

21."I never have figured out the appeal of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Had to read it three times throughout high school, college, and grad school. It hated it each time."

22."The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid felt like the book equivalent of oatmeal. It's not actively bad, but it's bland and forgettable."

23."My take is Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. From how people talked about it, I had been expecting a truly extraordinary book, but it's just a nice story. It's popular right now, but I'm not sure it'll be considered a classic one day because it's so trite overall."

24."Dune by Frank Herbert. I tried reading it and was over halfway through it when I set it down because I wasn't enjoying it; I read that much because of the idea it was supposed to be one of the most fantastic sci-fi books written. I just couldn't get into it; it seemed slower than expected. It is something I'll give another try at some point, though."

25."Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro. I just felt bored by this. I know the main character is a robot, but I just didn’t care what happened, and I found the metaphors very heavy-handed. I had previously read Never Let Me Go and thought it was good, and I read The Remains of the Day this year and thought it was excellent, so this one disappointment hasn’t completely put me off the author."

Do you have one to add? What popular book would you not recommend to others? Tell us in the comments or in this anonymous form.

Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.