Submitted by Bethanne on Sun, 12/20/2009 - 10:55am
Earlier this week I shared my Top 10 Books of 2009, admitting that they are mine and mine alone. Same goes for this list of my Bottom 10 Books of 2009 -- until I have a deputy editor, several more assistant editors (there's only one so far!), a passel of interns, and a partridge in a pear tree to top it all off, that's the way it will be.
A couple of these books will seem obvious, in the "Oh, I could've guessed she wouldn't have anything good to say about that one!" kind of way. Others will probably ruffle some feathers, or leave you scratching your head: "But I loved it! LOVED it!" Remember, these are my Bottom 10. I'm not necessarily saying they're all terrible literature. A few of them contain some stunning writing -- but I feel that they did not succeed on their own terms.
I've listed the books in no particular order. I'm not interested in ranking and/or comparing; I'm simply sharing why I was disappointed.
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"The Angel's Game" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon -- I was captivated by "The Shadow of the Wind" and eagerly bought a copy of this beautifully designed next novel, only to be frustrated by its overly sentimental language, pasteboard-thin protagonist, and spiralling plot.
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"Geoff in Venice, Death in Varanasi" by Geoff Dyer -- This bifurcated novel made it onto several Best of 2009 lists, but it left me wondering what all of the fuss was about. Evidently the meaning of life all comes down to the anus, whether as object of erotic fetish or as biological disposall.
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"Chronic City" by Jonathan Lethem -- Lethem, the bard of Brooklyn, turns his sights to Manhattan -- but somehow gets stuck with the bridge-and-tunnel crowd, since almost nothing happens in his sprawling yet pointless new novel.
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"The Lacuna" by Barbara Kingsolver -- Harrison Shepherd was born into an exciting era and has an enviable fly-on-the-wall view of 1930s luminaries like artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera -- so why is he such a boring narrator?
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"Her Fearful Symmetry" by Audrey Niffenegger -- The subplot involving a severely OCD Englishman, Martin, and his longsuffering Dutch wife Marijke, should have been the entire book. No modern women, no matter how young, are as clueless as the protagonist twins.
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"The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown -- Perhaps it's due to the self-referential nature of Washington, DC as main locale, but Brown's long-awaited book felt downright claustrophobic to me, as if Robert Langdon were shutting me inside of a Masonic tomb.
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"Twenties Girl" by Sophie Kinsella -- Enough with the screeching flapper ghost, already! Kinsella buries the lede -- a lovely story about the lost ingenue buried in every elderly woman -- with cutesy costuming and a boringly improbable modern-day romance.
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"A Gate at the Stairs" by Lorrie Moore -- I don't care how clever Moore is with language. I never bought into Tessie's disconnect from her family or into her connection with a frazzled, dysfunctional restaurant owner. Lots to love in this book; lots to hate, too.
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"Cleaving" by Julie Powell -- We all know from the movie "Julie and Julia" that Julie Powell wanted nothing more than to be a writer. "I have thoughts!" This book shares none of them. An exercise in stretching a metaphor.
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"The Girl Who Played with Fire" by Stieg Larsson -- Yes, I know you (whoever you are) loved it. You LOVED it. You can't wait for the next book! I won't steal your place in line. Lisbeth Salander may play with fire, but she leaves me cold.
Authors mentioned in this post:
Carlos Ruiz Zafón, Geoff Dyer, Jonathan Lethem, Barbara Kingsolver, Audrey Niffenegger, Dan Brown, Sophie Kinsella, Lorrie Moore, Julie Powell, Stieg Larsson
Moore!
Glad to see A Gate at the Stairs on SOMEone's disappointed list. I feel the same way as when I didn't like Netherland--as if I was the only one out there who didn't like the the book. In both cases, interestingly, I read them before I read any reviews. It made me feel a little crazy to see the praise after.
Aside from what you mention, I also had issues with the very long overheard scenes on race. I think I understand what she was trying to do, but they were so very long.
What a refreshing post! It
What a refreshing post! It made me smile, and I agree with you on several: I strongly disliked The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, so I won't even pick up the Fire one; I strongly disliked The Shadow of The Wind by Carlos Zafon, and I loathed The Last Symbol. My reasons for that, though, are not so much the claustrophobia he gives, but the completely erroneous representation of Christianity that he continues to give. His Biblical quote wasn't even correct! Anyway, I still have to read Her Fearful Symmetry, so I'll be interested to see if we concur on that as well.
Thanks!
Bellezza, thanks for reading -- your comment made ME smile! Brown has such a bizarre take on Christianity that I hope he never writes a novel about Judaism or Islam.
Please let me know what you think of the Niffenegger! Happy holidays to you and yours.
I thought Cleaving was awful,
I thought Cleaving was awful, too. Nice summary of why.
Yet again, a woman who is
Yet again, a woman who is not afraid of her own opinion. It helps us all feel more confident in our reading experiences. Thank you!
Saving me some money!
I am not a very mature person. I know this. And I know it's immature to feel so satisfied that you did not like Cleaving. I have said before that I'm SO not going to read that book. Not that it matters to anyone whether I do, but I've had a bad feeling about it since I first heard about it, and seeing it on your Bottom list makes me feel smug. And immature. I embrace my immaturity.
I think Venice/Varanasi was on my second-string read list, but now I'm taking it off. I'm also taking Symmetry off because one of my friends in my writing group was also disappointed.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Right on
Your honesty has always been refreshing, so keep on keeping on! I think it's useful to look at what is lauded and "popular" in literature from mainstream to literary, so that we don't just jump on the bandwagon (or load up the Amazon cart). This list is thought-provoking, and serious readers will take it with a grain of salt, like they would any "best of" list.
A big bag of salt!
Thanks, Deanna; I appreciate your kind words and your nod to the fact that this is not a list written in stone. It's simply the books that disappointed/frustrated/bothered me -- just as "best of" lists are only opinion, too.
Larrson
Yeah okay I'm one of those people who LOVED The Girl Who Played with Fire. But I'm curious to know what leaves you cold about it. I think you might be the only book critic to have not-so-great feelings about it. I have to admit that your worst list looks like a lot of best lists and I'm not at all feeling like I want to keep reading this blog because I feel so starkly different from you about many of these titles.
I hear you...
...but I'm not sure I'm the "only" book critic to have mixed feelings about Larsson's books. They're fun and clever, but not high art -- and they simply didn't reach me. These were books that disappointed me -- not books that I'm saying were bad for everyone. Many critics loved "A Gate at the Stairs." Also: I published a "Top 10 Books" list, too. I'd love to know if you agreed with me on any of those titles before you stop reading.
looks like an attempt to
looks like an attempt to barbecue a few admired modern writers because they are a bit challenging, with a couple of cheap shots at some easy targets *cough dan brown cough*
Your criticisms read like a clumsy attempt to cosy up to the average reader in a bizarre high cultural critique.
worst bottom 10 list of the year.
Regular visitors to the site know
Glad to see that someone else
Glad to see that someone else didn't love 'Her Fearful Symmetry'. I finished it last night and was so disappointed, especially with the last couple of chapters. What a letdown.
Nice list. Your take on
Nice list. Your take on Lorrie Moore -- "Lots to love in this book; lots to hate, too" -- sums it up perfectly. While the same can be said about the Dyer, I'm inclined to give him a little more wiggle room because, with the exception of "Yoga for People Who Can't Be Bothered to Do It", which was fantastic, that's always the case with his books. At least he's attempting something different from anyone else.
Great list
I'm not surprised to see most of these show up- Angel's Game seems to have disappointed everyone who loved The Shadow of the Wind, and there have been other Gate at the Stairs dissidents! Looks like a lot of high-profile books with big expectations attached, which failed in one way or another to meet them. Thanks for sharing these with us!
So happy to see the Dyer
So happy to see the Dyer book in a bottom of list! I keep scratching my head over the popularity of that self-indulgent book...though I have loved the novelist's earlier stuff.
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