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[–]polishedpebble 59 points60 points  (14 children)

Not surprised The Casual Vacancy is top - people going into it expecting it to be like Harry Potter because it's JK Rowling, I haven't read it yet but from what I've seen it's a slow going book as well.

[–]Onequestion0110 37 points38 points  (4 children)

There’s a lot of that, I think. Game of Thrones is probably picked up by a lot of people who just liked the show. American Gods is in the same boat, and is significantly more R-rated than most of Gaimon’s stuff. Different media makes for a very different experience.

[–][deleted]  (3 children)

    [–]placeholder2169 6 points7 points  (1 child)

    What I've heard from those that picked it up because of the show is that it's too slow and too descriptive. The show doesn't have a million pages about old nan telling stories to a seven year old and you don't have to listen to Sansa's nattering childish thoughts.

    [–]Onequestion0110 2 points3 points  (0 children)

    Game of Thrones is dry, compared to most fantasy lit. You can tell it's written by someone with a background in history. Personally I don't mind (I also love Wheel of Time, even most of those middle books)(except for any plot line involving Faile). I'm sure a lot of people jumped in expecting something more swashbuckling and got Patrick o'Brian instead.

    [–]leowr109 18 points19 points  (0 children)

    I finally got around to reading it last year. It took some getting into, but I think she did a great job at getting the sense of a small community, with all its connections, bitterness and pettiness, across very well. I thought it was an enjoyable read and worth checking out.

    But, yeah, if you were expecting something like Harry Potter you are going to be disappointed.

    [–]cb789cb 8 points9 points  (0 children)

    Casual Vacancy is written in the same tone as Harry Potter, but it is all about extremely unpleasant people acting in very unpleasant ways about incredibly small stakes. Except there is one plot line that is something out of Trainspotting and really hard to read. None of the plot threads tie together that well and the book is really long, so I’m not surprised a lot of people don’t finish it.

    [–]jharder0002 5 points6 points  (0 children)

    It wasn't even that I expected it to be Harry Potter. I loved her writing style, and this just felt so different.

    [–]4parkerlane 3 points4 points  (0 children)

    I loved it but I can definitely see why most HP fans would not.

    [–]Room_Temp_Coffee 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    Half way through it and struggling to finish for over a year. I don't think it's bad but it is slow, I plan on coming back to it

    [–]InstantIdealism -4 points-3 points  (3 children)

    Well it was not loved by critics and sales were catastrophically low, then it “leaked” who the author was and they stamped Rowlings name on it and it became a best seller

    [–]dispenserbox 23 points24 points  (2 children)

    i think you're thinking of the robert galbraith books, casual vacancy isn't one of em

    [–]InstantIdealism 7 points8 points  (1 child)

    Ah! Thanks for clarifying amigo

    [–]reatangerine 4 points5 points  (0 children)

    Yeap, and comoran books actually have decent sales and reviews for a supposedly no name writer.

    [–]boardgame_goblin 21 points22 points  (7 children)

    This is so funny to me because I abandoned The Casual Vancancy and American Gods, and I NEVER stop partway through if I can avoid it. I would have given up on Catch-22 if it wasn't for a high school lit assignment. It's now one of my all-time favorite novels.

    [–]BadJuJu2 4 points5 points  (4 children)

    For Americans Gods you missed Zero. Really anti climatic. Seems the book just meanders between characters talking, driving around the US broken up by various very weird sex scenes.

    [–]Purdaddy 7 points8 points  (0 children)

    I share your opinion. For a book that culminates in a battle between Gods it was really boring. I like the lore behind it though.

    [–]MartyVanB 3 points4 points  (2 children)

    I hated that book. Gave up about 50 pages in.

    [–]BadJuJu2 4 points5 points  (1 child)

    It was my first Gaiman book and I’ve never felt compelled to pick up another....because I don’t want to relive the “what a god damn waste of time” reaction. I heard he has great concept but they are poorly executed.

    [–]MartyVanB 2 points3 points  (0 children)

    American Gods is one of those books like Hitchhikers Guide that Reddit just loves that I dont get.

    [–]edisito9 1 point2 points  (1 child)

    What changed?

    [–]Arfys 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    Not the op, but for me I almost dropped it because the first part was very whimsical and the text tended to go on long tangents. I picked it up again after a few months and continued it. I'm glad I did so. Everything really comes together, and it becomes much more poignant. I loved that it made me cry for the characters I was laughing at just a few chapters ago

    [–]Anasyromenos 12 points13 points  (10 children)

    Disappointing that The Glass-Bead Game is on there. I remember it being too interesting to put down.

    [–]TrashPanda_Papacy 7 points8 points  (5 children)

    I actually had to abandon this one because I was getting tired of the protagonist being such a Mary Sue (or Gary Sue?).

    [–]sodemieters 2 points3 points  (4 children)

    It didn't come across to me like that at all. Sure Knecht had some great qualities, but that is to be expected in a biography of a grandmaster, but that being a given, I saw him continually being confronted with his flaws by his peers, teachers and the outside world. He also regularly got stuck due to his own shortcomings.

    And on top of that the conclusion to the story has him realize he had been on the wrong path and had to radically reassess everything he thought he knew.

    To me this is worlds away from a Mary Sue.

    But in all fairness: I'm not sure where in the story these hardships come foreward, and where you stopped reading. I can understand that in the beginning you might smell a bit of a prodigyfantasie in the young protagonist, but this fantasie will be put up for scrutiny when the story progresses.

    [–]CrazyCatLady10822[M] 2 points3 points  (3 children)

    No plain text spoilers allowed. Please use the format below and reply to this comment, to have your comment reinstated.

    Place >! !< around the text you wish to hide. You will need to do this for each new paragraph. Like this:

    >!The Wolf ate Grandma!<

    Click to reveal spoiler.

    The Wolf ate Grandma

    [–]sodemieters 8 points9 points  (2 children)

    Understood. I fixed it.

    Ps. Sorry about your grandma

    [–]CrazyCatLady10822[M] 2 points3 points  (1 child)

    She'll live. :D

    You need to remove the extra spaces. Like this >!the...knew!<

    [–]nyet-marionetka 2 points3 points  (0 children)

    Hey. Watch the spoilers re: your grandma.

    [–]Eve_Narlieth 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    I tried reading it as a teenager and had no idea what was going on. I'd try it again but I have too many books in my backlog as it is

    [–]filosoful[S] 1 point2 points  (1 child)

    I don't know, I can only speak for myself, I found it rather boring.

    [–]sunnyata 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    Me too. It is a long way from his best.

    [–]MichelleMcLaine 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    It is his longest book, I think.

    [–]Kidlike101 6 points7 points  (2 children)

    The Casual Vacancy, J.K. Rowling.

    ^ this one makes sense. I don't think Rowling knows how to write for adults... also it comes with the heavy expectations from Harry Potter, nothing you put out after that will measure up!

    [–]tonyrocks922 7 points8 points  (1 child)

    I never read Harry Potter but I thought the books she wrote as Robert Galbraith were good.

    [–]CybReader 4 points5 points  (0 children)

    Yes, her Coroman Strike character is good. I like the series.

    [–]Melinoe231 11 points12 points  (11 children)

    Why would someone give up The book thief? It's a wonderful book.

    [–]SeraCat9 13 points14 points  (5 children)

    It's one of the few books that I completely regret reading. I finished it, because I kept waiting for the greatness. It never came and it's one of my most disliked books, together with the girl on the train.

    [–]Melinoe231 -3 points-2 points  (4 children)

    I hated The girl on the train! But for The book thief I just remember feeling very sad and once I found out that the boy was going to die it was weird, because I didn't need like a big plot twist, I just wanted to see how the story will play out

    [–]CrazyCatLady10822[M] 0 points1 point  (3 children)

    No plain text spoilers allowed. Please use the format below and reply to this comment, to have your comment reinstated.

    Place >! !< around the text you wish to hide. You will need to do this for each new paragraph. Like this:

    >!The Wolf ate Grandma!<

    Click to reveal spoiler.

    The Wolf ate Grandma

    [–]Melinoe231 1 point2 points  (1 child)

    Sorry for revealing a spoiler. I didn't even realize I did it. I tried replying to your comment like you said, but it didn't work. At least I think it didn't :(

    [–]CrazyCatLady10822[M] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    All you do is put >!...!< around the parts you want hidden. You can edit your comment or make a new one.

    You can try it with a Red Ridinghood spoiler like I did, if you want to figure out how it works before editing your comment. I'll walk you through if you have any issues.

    [–][deleted]  (2 children)

      [–]TheCzar11 5 points6 points  (1 child)

      Death as the narrator was so random. I’ll add the paper thinness of the characters as well.

      [–]sunnyata 2 points3 points  (0 children)

      Maybe somebody nicked their copy.

      [–]ThrowawaysFoDaize 2 points3 points  (4 children)

      About to start american gods, should I be worried

      [–][deleted]  (1 child)

        [–]sentimentalpirate 0 points1 point  (0 children)

        The main character is dumber and less genre savvy than the reader. You are always a step ahead of him. He also is characterized by not speaking much.

        I looove American Gods, but Shadow could definitely have more of a personality.

        [–]amadiskay 2 points3 points  (0 children)

        I loved it. However, I read Anasi Boys first which is much lighter, very fun and set in the same universe.

        [–]Youhavemyaxeee 1 point2 points  (0 children)

        I really love that book. It's a slow, meandering tale with vignettes separate from the rest of the book. The plot is eked out and there's a little mystery in one of the towns. I've read it several times and have enjoyed it every time.

        [–]TrashPanda_Papacy 4 points5 points  (4 children)

        Sad to see Little, Big on there, was like an American version of One Hundred Years of Solitude, but then again I know that one is abandoned a lot too so I guess it’s understandable.

        [–][deleted]  (1 child)

          [–]tonyrocks922 2 points3 points  (1 child)

          I really try hard to finish books. I've gotten through some rough ones but couldn't stay interested in 100 Years if Solitude. I've read about 400 books over the last 15 years and out of the 9 I didn't finish that was the only fiction. The other 8 were all business or history books that were either poorly written or I wasn't interested in the topic enough to finish.

          [–]correction_robot 2 points3 points  (0 children)

          Trying to read it feels like 100 years of solitude

          [–]wheretheysayopealot 4 points5 points  (2 children)

          I understand Casual Vacancy, I finished it but it was so specific to a tiny little village in butt-fuck-western-Europe that Americans were probably super confused and disappointed and Londoners probably just laughed it off. If I didn’t have American Gods as an audiobook, I’d not have finished. I also read Game of Thrones before it got popular, but have given up on thinking it’s going anywhere.

          [–]mirrorspirit 1 point2 points  (1 child)

          Maybe also Harry Potter fans who were expecting something more Harry Potter-ish.

          [–]wheretheysayopealot 0 points1 point  (0 children)

          Very true; the mundane life isn’t really worth reading about.

          [–]CustyMojo 2 points3 points  (4 children)

          I can’t believe house of leaves isnt on this list.

          [–]gwern 0 points1 point  (0 children)

          It's #201 in the posterior proportion ranking. Guess it's creepy enough to compel people to finish.

          [–]TheFamiliarV 0 points1 point  (0 children)

          I agree with you, even though it’s one of my favorite books 😂Of all the people that have started the book because of me I can’t think of one person that actually read it.

          [–]lacetourniquet 0 points1 point  (1 child)

          House of Leaves was one of the books I was most excited to read when I got it, but one I doubt I’ll ever finish.

          [–]CustyMojo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

          Im a huge fan of weird/horror, bit that book took me 3 different times to finish and almost 4 years. I just dont understand the hype around this book at all.

          [–]fisheus 11 points12 points  (14 children)

          I actually think it's good that people abandon books -- as long as afterwards they don't post a 1-star rant review about it.

          edit: I should have specified, my problem isn't so much with readers giving their opinion on books they did not finish, it's with readers assigning star ratings to books they DNF. It comes down to metrics: a 1-star rating from someone who DNF doesn't have the same value as someone who did finish the book, but it's treated as the same because of course, Goodreads is a fucking shite site.

          [–]thfuran 37 points38 points  (3 children)

          Way better than all the "5 stars. I can't wait til this comes out / I get a chance to read this"

          [–]sadgrad2 7 points8 points  (0 children)

          Ugh that annoys me so much

          [–]violetmemphisblue 5 points6 points  (1 child)

          That's at least better than people who use 1 stars as their place holder for books they want to read. At least 5 stars helps boost a book, while 1 stars only hurt (considering most promotions, placement on lists, contests, etc are some way tied to ratings on both GoodReads and Amazon)...but doing either is silly because GoodReads has a 'want to read' shelf that you can add to without rating at all...

          [–]glorious_albus 2 points3 points  (0 children)

          people who use 1 stars as their place holder for books they want to read

          What kind of dirty heathens do this?

          [–]sadgrad2 34 points35 points  (2 children)

          I think it's okay to review a book that you've abandoned if you've read enough to get a reasonable feel for it (for me, usually at least half) and you have some valid criticism to offer that would be helpful to potential future readers. And of course you make clear that you didn't finish it and how far you got.

          [–]lydiardbell35 19 points20 points  (0 children)

          Agreed. It's useful to know why somebody stopped reading a book.

          [–]potatosasquatch 3 points4 points  (0 children)

          If I had a DNF, I explained how far I got and based my review on that. Usually I too give it about halfway to try to be fair. I feel forewarning some folks if the book is really dreadful.

          [–]Maukeb 14 points15 points  (1 child)

          I see nothing wrong with abandoning a book because it is terrible and writing a review to that effect. I have definitely had books where by the middle I can't imagine anything that could possibly raise it in my estimation in the second half.

          [–]Enreni200711 0 points1 point  (0 children)

          But have you ever abandoned a book because, despite being well-written and technically good it just wasn't interesting to you (Or you got busy, or had a court of books going and forgot or any other reason)? I think that's more what OP is talking about.

          (Though I absolutely give 1-star ratings if I don't finish a book because it's just awful)

          [–]SeraCat9 8 points9 points  (0 children)

          I tend to not rate DNFs anymore because of people complaining about this. But at the same time, if someone hated the book so much that they couldn't finish it, why would their one star mean less? It's not like you need to read a whole book to earn the right to hate it, that's just the restriction that you place on it. Imo, a DNF + rating says a lot.

          [–]Panda_Mon 6 points7 points  (1 child)

          I disagree. Not finishing a book and feeling strongly about the reasons why you stopped reading is a VERY good metric for a persons honest opinion on it. If they didn't have a strong opinion on their experience, they won't go through the trouble of reviewing it. I stopped reading Doctor Sleep because... Meh. It was a fine book, but didn't pique my interest. I stopped reading Early Riser because it was melodramatic and trite, full stop. I would unabashedly review Early Riser but feel no inclination to review Doctor Sleep.

          And to be sure, you are holding yourself in contempt for EVERY TIME you have reviewed something you didn't "finish." Didnt use a computer until it broke entirely? Didn't play a game to 100% completion? Didn't finish the entire plate of food at a restaurant? Didn't do all your homework (ALL OF IT) and then rated your professor? All of these make you a complete and total hypocrite. I'm sure you can think of a few that actually apply to yourself :)

          [–]fisheus 2 points3 points  (0 children)

          You're right, you've made me see the light -- I'm off to give The Witcher a negative review now. After all, I've seen 3 and a half episodes and feel very strongly about my experience of confusion. Thank you.

          [–]tricksterhare 1 point2 points  (0 children)

          A 1 star DNF is justified if you can give good reasons for it.

          [–]mirrorspirit 0 points1 point  (0 children)

          Often someone's just not in the frame of mind to like a book at a certain stage in their life. If they pick it up later then they might relate to it more for a few different reasons.

          Example: Tried reading Poe's stories in high school -- they were incomprehensibly dense. Read them in my twenties and loved them.

          [–]ButtbuttinCreed 1 point2 points  (7 children)

          I have no idea why anyone would abandon A Game of Thrones

          [–]rmarshall_6 7 points8 points  (0 children)

          Probably people that love the show and decide they’ll get back into reading not realizing what a commitment reading the whole series will be

          [–]BlavikenButcherMemory Police 3 points4 points  (0 children)

          Dry writing. I barely made it through and gave up on the series mid-second book.

          [–]MartyVanB 1 point2 points  (3 children)

          Because some of us dont like scifi/fantasy.

          [–]gtwillwin 4 points5 points  (1 child)

          That wouldn't really affect the abandonment rate, right? If you don't like fantasy you probably aren't going to try to read a 700 page fantasy book.

          [–]MartyVanB 1 point2 points  (0 children)

          fair point but I cant tell you how times it gets recommended to me. Nonetheless I would never start that book so youre right

          [–]tricksterhare 0 points1 point  (0 children)

          Why would you start reading it in the first place then? I know i'm going to hate romance novels and detective stories before I even read the blurb so I just...don't.

          [–]TheFamiliarV 1 point2 points  (2 children)

          Surprised to see American Gods in there, it’s a masterpiece and pretty accessible.

          [–]dalinetta 1 point2 points  (1 child)

          I wasn't surprised at all. I got a bit more than 3/4 of the way through and decided I no longer cared what was on the next page. It doesn't matter how good a book objectively is, or how good it subjectively was to you- it will NEVER be to everyone's taste.

          AG is one of the few books I have abandoned.

          [–]TheFamiliarV 0 points1 point  (0 children)

          That’s bizarre to me, but to each their own! I just wouldn’t ever expect that to be a common occurrence with this particular book. I like a lot of “inaccessible” books that I totally understand how and why they put people off, this one just doesn’t make much sense to me as it’s a pretty easy read and I couldn’t put the book down, and heard similar opinions from friends of mine (who don’t read nearly as much as I do).

          [–]ahkna 0 points1 point  (0 children)

          I've definitely given up on American Gods before. I also had a similar experience with Stardust.

          This year I felt like I was reading The Queens of Innis Lear forever and I was only half through. Eventually I just didn't pick it up again.

          [–]WileECoyoteGenius 0 points1 point  (0 children)

          American Gods doesn't surprise me at all.

          [–]The__Imp1 0 points1 point  (0 children)

          Catch 22 makes sense. I felt like I was missing something for quite a while in the beginning. Once it clicked, I loved it, but I think it took quite a while to get there.

          [–]FoolsGetDunked 1 point2 points  (0 children)

          I feel better that more people stopped reading Blood Meridian.

          ​

          I really enjoyed the process of reading the book, I got about 3/4's of the way through, but I had no desire to keep reading it once finishing the chapter I was on.

          ​

          I feel bad because after seeing Star Wars I'm reading the Thrawn Trilogy (trying to diversify my reading). I may return to McCormack afterwards but I've already sorted my reading list for the next few months.

          [–]CybReader 0 points1 point  (0 children)

          Well, I contributed to that list. I abandoned Milkman. I love books structured like Milkman, but I didn't like that book.

          [–]tricksterhare 0 points1 point  (0 children)

          The Casual Vacancy deserves it, American Gods and GoT definitely don't and I imagine that's mostly because they're the kind of books that get recommended to non-readers who can never finish anything regardless of whether it's good or not.

          [–]ThObsceneBirdOfNight -2 points-1 points  (1 child)

          Interesting. I have abandoned Catch-22, The Glass Bead Game and Blood Meridian on this list. With Blood Meridian I got through most of it, but I had to return it to the library and even though the story was decent, I hated his writing style too much to renew the loan. Catch-22 and The Glass Bead Game were immediate dislikes for me, certain types of postmodern novels really don't work for me.

          [–]SomeCalcium 0 points1 point  (0 children)

          Blood Meridian is also in my list, but I plan to give it another go this year.