Is The Great Gatsby worth reading?
It’s easy to favour any novel that has been branded a classic, but sometimes it’s just not the case that these are the best books that we have to offer. Here are five novels that shouldn’t be called classic – and why they’re not worth reading at all.
5. Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
This is a vastly overrated novel with its dense text and, quite frankly, miserable storyline. Tess of the D’Urbervilles is one of the most depressing novels I have ever read, and I won’t be reading it again in a hurry.
4. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
No-one is denying that Charles Dickens is a very successful author, but his novels take an age to get through. As far as I’m concerned classics should be enjoyed by everyone regardless of their reading ability.
Great Expectations is another dense novel with a lot of information crammed into one sentence. The story and the characters are brilliant – but it could have been told much more simply.
3. Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
I have never understood the hype surrounding this novel. The main character Holden is incredibly frustrating as a narrator, and the plot itself is far from admirable. It needs to be sacked from GCSE reading lists as soon as possible.
2. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Despite recent hysteria surrounding The Great Gatsby film starring Leonardo Dicaprio, this is one of those rare cases where the film is significantly better than the book.
The novel may be short, but in order to appreciate why it is held in high regard it has to be studied, which most of us aren't willing to do.
1. Ulysses by James Joyce
I have to admit that I’ve never read this novel, but at almost 700 pages long, Ulysses is almost impossible to get through.
It’s a typical novel from the modernism era, with long and difficult sentences that just don’t make any sense. Why it is so revered amongst literary critics remains a mystery.
Do you agree that these are very overrated classics novels? Share your thoughts with us by commenting below.