Over rated writers

[Gnasher]

1. George Orwell. Avoid at all costs.

 

My son was reading one of his books (1984) and as a good parent who takes an active interest in his education i thought I'd check it out for myself.

 

I watched a repeat episode of big brother on Tv,( i couldn't be bothered reading the book). What a pile of shit. A load of celebrity wannabes sat round all day talking about their fake tan, i realise the film, tv series rarely matches the book but this was bollocks.

 

Any other so called great writers i should avoid?

[Trumo]

Dan Brown. Just because.

 

Also, this thread should be on the GF.

[Paco]

Hugh mcilvanney

[Jairzinho]

1. George Orwell. Avoid at all costs.

 

My son was reading one of his books (1984) and as a good parent who takes an active interest in his education i thought I'd check it out for myself.

 

I watched a repeat episode of big brother on Tv,( i couldn't be bothered reading the book). What a pile of shit. A load of celebrity wannabes sat round all day talking about their fake tan, i realise the film, tv series rarely matches the book but this was bollocks.

 

Any other so called great writers i should avoid?

 

What?

[Rick Sanchez C-137]

Has the OP had a stroke?

[Pureblood]

Ones who spell "overrated" as two separate words.

[Mook]

Has the OP had a stroke?

 

Probably depends which repeat he was watching, I've had a few strokes over that Imogen bird off Big Brother.

[RJ Fan club]

1. George Orwell. Avoid at all costs.

 

My son was reading one of his books (1984) and as a good parent who takes an active interest in his education i thought I'd check it out for myself.

 

I watched a repeat episode of big brother on Tv,( i couldn't be bothered reading the book). What a pile of shit. A load of celebrity wannabes sat round all day talking about their fake tan, i realise the film, tv series rarely matches the book but this was bollocks.

 

Any other so called great writers i should avoid?

You should have seen the pirate VHS of Animal Farm that was going round our Halls of Residence in '96.

 

Total filth.

[setreal]

1. George Orwell. Avoid at all costs.

 

My son was reading one of his books (1984) and as a good parent who takes an active interest in his education i thought I'd check it out for myself.

 

I watched a repeat episode of big brother on Tv,( i couldn't be bothered reading the book). What a pile of shit. A load of celebrity wannabes sat round all day talking about their fake tan, i realise the film, tv series rarely matches the book but this was bollocks.

 

Any other so called great writers i should avoid?

 

Couldn't agree more. His invention "Enhanced Interrogation Technique" isn't as ace as it sounds either.

[A_S]

Watch all the hipsters trash a few great writers. It's the done thing in these types of threads. 

[Dr Nowt]

John Kennedy Toole.

 

His posthumously released, Pulitzer prize winning so-called masterpiece was on ITV2 the other night with a load of orange, subnormally intelligent people from Billericay playing the cast, and it was a right load of old bollocks that made my fucking teeth hurt.

 

None of them could do a New Orleans accent, and good luck working out which one was meant to be the true genius; presume it was the sole person who pronounced h "aitch" as opposed to "haitch".

 

And even he looked like a congenital idiot, so who can say?

[neko]

four legs good, two legs baaaaaad.

 

never thought I'd see George Orwell and over-rated in the same sentence.

 

i'll nominate Martin Amis, although i think London Fields is very good.

[Hand Shandy]

Tolkien.

 

I love The Lord of the Rings as a story, but by all that is holy that man could waffle.

[Boss]

Chuck Palahniuk is overrated and so is Haruki Murakami.

[Total Longo]

James Ellroy went from brilliant (American Tabloid) to utterly pretentious and unreadable (The Cold Six Thousand) in the space of two connected novels. I hate him for that.   

[rubble-rouser]

James Ellroy went from brilliant (American Tabloid) to utterly pretentious and unreadable (The Cold Six Thousand) in the space of two connected novels. I hate him for that.   

 

I love The Cold Six Thousand - opinions eh?

 

Even so, does that make him 'over rated'? As Aussie Scouser said, the [problem with any 'overrated' thread is that it gives people the opportunity to trash good stuff that they just don't like.

 

To be overrated an author should have been critically praised (perhaps as part of a passing trend or fad) when in fact his work displays none of the qualities for which it was feted.

 

Too lazy to think of any examples right now - who is the literary equivalent of Mumford & Sons? 

[Boss]

four legs good, two legs baaaaaad.

 

never thought I'd see George Orwell and over-rated in the same sentence.

 

i'll nominate Martin Amis, although i think London Fields is very good.

 

Good shout, some of his stuff is overbearingly pretentious.

[manwiththestick]

Whoever wrote the bible, unbelievable nonsense.

[lifetime fan]

Martina Cole - Peggy Mitchell with a crayon.

[Total Longo]

I love The Cold Six Thousand - opinions eh?

 

Even so, does that make him 'over rated'? As Aussie Scouser said, the [problem with any 'overrated' thread is that it gives people the opportunity to trash good stuff that they just don't like.

 

To be overrated an author should have been critically praised (perhaps as part of a passing trend or fad) when in fact his work displays none of the qualities for which it was feted.

 

Too lazy to think of any examples right now - who is the literary equivalent of Mumford & Sons? 

 

You're bang on RR, I just hated that book. 

 

Given that American Tabloid is one of my all time favourites, it's sequel was such a let down. Didn't you find the staccato prose irritating at all? 

[rubble-rouser]

I didn't know Ellroy's stuff at all before I read it and got almost halfway through before I realised it was a sequel!

 

I actually really enjoyed the staccato style although I'm glad he's left it behind - I need to try to crack Perfidia. Started and finished it a few months ago.

 

For what it's worth, I think Ellroy's work from 'Clandestine' up to 'The Cold Six Thousand' is superb - the apex for me is probably the 'Black Dahlia', with 'The Big Nowhere' running it close.

 

Most writers who get called overrated tend to be those who started well and fizzled out - Amis, McEwan etc.    

[Paul]

James Ellroy went from brilliant (American Tabloid) to utterly pretentious and unreadable (The Cold Six Thousand) in the space of two connected novels. I hate him for that.

Count yourself lucky you didn't attempt Blood's A Rover, the third in that trilogy

[rubble-rouser]

Count yourself lucky you didn't attempt Blood's A Rover, the third in that trilogy

 

I read that out of a kind of sense of duty - it made absolutely no sense, although I quite liked the ending. 

[Paul]

You're bang on RR, I just hated that book.

 

Given that American Tabloid is one of my all time favourites, it's sequel was such a let down. Didn't you find the staccato prose irritating at all?

To be fair, James Ellroy is staccato prose. It was the plotting and characterisation that I wasn't having.

[Paul]

By the way, the OP is clearly a gag. I'm just joining in the Ellroy chat.