Submitted by somepeoplewait t3_zx9wzn in books
I started rereading The Godfather by Mario Puzo last night. I read it once about a decade ago. I remembered it wasn't exactly well-written - even Puzo himself said he wrote below his talents because he was trying to bang the novel out for money to pay back his gambling debts - but I didn't care, because I was looking for a breezy read after having recently finished several non-fiction books.
But... damn is the writing poor. Like, shockingly. Constant telling instead of showing. Terrible dialogue, particularly for the character of Kay. Describing who the characters are instead of showing us who they are through their actions.
I'll still finish it because the story makes up for the writing. I felt the same way about the Crazy Rich Asians books. I actually really enjoyed those, because the story didn't exactly demand Cormac McCarthy's talents, even though the quality of the writing did surprise me. But, reading a book written so poorly feels sometimes like watching a movie with very amateur cinematography.
Anyone else have any similar experiences? I also experienced this with The Alchemist. The difference between that and The Godfather or Crazy Rich Asians was that, along with remarkably weak writing, it also had such a basic "live laugh love" story that I couldn't even finish it.
Any other examples of books you started because they were popular, only to find the writing would have earned the author a B- (at best) in a creative writing course?