What makes you give up on a book?

[Anders Ämting]

I stop reading a book if it starts to bore me. I see no point in reading stories that fail to entertain. The book has to interest me from beginning to end.

I also tend to stop reading when I get the feeling I'm smarter than the author, or when I feel I disagree with the author's opinions, or if I think I could do something better than the author.

...In fact, if the book is making me draw any kind of conclusions about its author, that's probably a bad sign right there. When I'm reading a book, I really shouldn't be thinking about the author.

Finally, I must admit: I can't handle embarassment, literally can't stand it, so if something embarassing happens to one of the characters, I tend to put the book down. It won't necessarily make me drop it entirely, but it takes some willpower for me to power through that embarassing part.

 

[CupofJoe]

Apart from the nebulous [such as I don't like the authors style] what I don't like and will make me stop reading are superhuman characters [supra-human is okay]. If someone is the ultimate warrior and an amazing lover - make them a lousy cook, unbearably arrogant or give them BO, anything to let have them a flaw.

 

[Benjamin Clayborne]

In retrospect, I think the main thing that puts me off books is when nothing bad ever really happens, and all challenges are overcome with minimal effort. I know I've enjoyed a book when I feel like the protagonist is actually in danger. When I notice that I'm not concerned, or that I don't care what happens to the protagonist, it's not doing its job.

 

[grimreaper]

I tend to put a book down either when nothing interesting or worthwhile seems to happen for sometime , when the protagonists seem to be winning too easily or , conversely, when the protagonists start suffering too much without any kind of redemption and the villains keep winning(that's what made me put down martin's asoiaf series after book 3).
Oh, and I also find paper thin, 1 or 2-D characters to be very irritating , though I might not always put a book down because of that.

 

[pmmg]

When I was younger, I hated reading. I never read anything I was assigned in school, and did my book reports based on only half a chapter I would read. As I got older, I also did not like reading. When I did read, it was usually something thick and dense, like a book to certify in MCSE, or SQL databases. Occasionally I would read something, but it was not ever anything I sought out to enjoy.

As I got older, I decided to read all those books I skipped when I was younger, and enjoyed all of them but one. Now I read about 50% fantasy (and usually people here, or I find on the internet), and 50% classics. I dont really like the fantasy as much, but its kind of like homework for me.

I am an avid movie goer, and see just about everything, but movies have become so thick with 'the message' I think I may stop. Its rare I see a movie now I dont find myself bored in (my word for it is CGI boring), or feeling like I should just leave, and I have started to leave if its just not delivering for me. It dont take much anymore to get me to leave a movie, and it never took much to get me to quit a book. I dont really read to enjoy, but more to learn. I have enjoyed, and like it when I do, but its still not my thing. I am not really a reader. I would rather create.

Anyway, I will drop a book for many reasons. If I dont become engaged, if its too much thick dense blocky paragraphs, if it making me go Bullsh*t, if it seems to forget its purpose and wanders off, if I am not entertained or feel like I am learning anything...A hundred reasons. The only thing I try hard to stick with is one I am reviewing. Cause I know its a service to those who are craving the feedback.

 

[hammert]

bad happy end

 

[pmmg]

Youd give up on a book if the end is bad?

 

[Gospodin]

Pace - This was my issue with Lord Foul's Bane, not the infamous incident close to the beginning of the book. I've read the trilogy - I know where it goes - I understand what that early event is setting up. But, dude - you give me that and then basically nothing else happens for the rest of the first book. It's barely more than a travelogue after that. That was the unforgivable part for me, not the thing that happens early on.

Abandoning the chosen structure - If your book is in rotating 3rd limited and in the very first scene where you present her, you tell me that Arya Stark detests everything about the highborn lady line she’s expected to toe, don’t give me page-long clothing descriptions from her narrative POV because you already told me she’d sooner pull out her fingernails than care about any of that, so why is she reporting it? It’s fan service, it breaks the character’s POV, and it bugs.

 

[Finchbearer]

I have a big DNF pile - turn offs are unbelievable characters, annoying characters that are meant to be main characters, books that are trying too hard to be intellectual or clever, trend oriented books, YA vampire romance books, there’s only one version of a vampire, and he’s scary af, overly depressing books - oh the list goes on.

Notable books on my hate list are Normal People, The Discomfort of Evening, The Bell Jar, Coraline…

 

[Gurkhal]

Bad writing technique is it for me. I've put down books where the author's grasp on the writing stuff very good.

Other than that its mostly boring characters. The characters can be all kinds of dark, grey or good. But they can't be boring.

 

[EscapismwithEverly]

Characters are a big one. If they are supposed to be older but their thoughts are childish, (Fourth wing). Or they don't have any agency and are bland mary sue's.

 

[Jackarandajam]

These are the earliest reasons:


1. Author vicarious: if I smell that it's a thinly-veiled personal fantasy, I'M OUT, whether that's an over-fixation on world building minutiae, even psuedo-sexual fetish realization, or that special kind of vague facelessness and universal likeability that author insert MCs have.
2. Sentence structure: if I can't get into the flow of the text I just can't read it. If I'm constantly tripping over piles of adverbs or getting pushed out by dialogue that's difficult to interpret for any number of reasons I can't go on.
3. Flow: If things aren't laid out in order, my mental image gets exhausted trying to piece the scenes together. Like if two people have a conversation for two pages, I can't be made to care enough to pay attention if I don't know who they are, what they look like, or why they're talking about it yet. Immersive writing is common, good immersive writing is rare.
4. Pleasantville openings: if chapter one, or chapters 1-5, is pure chill, I may not make it through. If the author doesnt promise me early they're not going to spend long periods of the book wasting my time, I worry I may be stuck with an author who is just dorking around in their world for fun and not prioritizing the plot, and I came for a story.

 

[Jackarandajam]

I typically finish popular books, just because although I can't stand powering through a book I don't enjoy, I have a stronger dislike for the
"Oh I know exactly the part you're talking about, you have to keep reading it gets way better"
conversations.
So when I start a book that makes me go off on a 15 minute internal rant by page three, I usually just tell fans of it "no, I haven't read it, I'm still rereading Finnegans Wake and I really don't have time but I'm glad you enjoyed it."

None of this applies to critique reading.

(EDIT: redacted off-topic rant)

 

[Finchbearer]

Although I do wish fledgling writers as a whole spend more time studying the crafting of words and sentences. It's well understood that you have to study anatomy to draw people, no matter how excited you are about the clothes you're going to put them in. Art mediums all have loads of rote basics that aren't nearly as fun as the personalization of them, but are necessary groundwork.

I think this is an interesting viewpoint. I don’t think it’s wrong to assume that in order to be proficient at something creative, that you also need to be good at using the medium. However, I do think that there is an essential spark of creativity that cannot be taught. The ability to think in abstract terms or to capture something intangible. In essence, I think someone can be a great technical proficient, know all the grammar, all the rules, and the writing still fall flat because it’s missing that something that can’t really be learned. Technical proficiency on the other hand can be learned and honed as a writer improves their ability to say what they want to say, how they want to say it.

 

[Jackarandajam]

I think this is an interesting viewpoint. I don’t think it’s wrong to assume that in order to be proficient at something creative, that you also need to be good at using the medium. However, I do think that there is an essential spark of creativity that cannot be taught. The ability to think in abstract terms or to capture something intangible. In essence, I think someone can be a great technical proficient, know all the grammar, all the rules, and the writing still fall flat because it’s missing that something that can’t really be learned. Technical proficiency on the other hand can be learned and honed as a writer improves their ability to say what they want to say, how they want to say it.

I'm sorry, I deleted that whole side rant apparently while you were responding to it, I thought it was too off-topic for the thread.
I don't disagree with you though. Maybe I'll start a separate thread for it

 

[Ned Marcus]

Boredom, poor writing, going in a direction I'm not interested in going are obvious reasons. For the most part, I'd never buy these books but give up on them when browsing. After I buy a book, I'll usually try to push on for a few more chapters, even when bored. Some books, like Dune Messiah, have slow starts but become brilliant later. If a book is loved by many people, I'll push on a bit further than I otherwise would just in case I'm missing something.

In practice, I don't often give up on books I've bought.

 

[chongjasmine]

I give up on a book if I find it boring.

 

[LittleOwlbear]

Insufferable main characters is the only reason really.

I rarely think a book is boring or anything, and I don't care too much about a great writing style, aka a poetic or flowery writing style. The style should provide a fluent reading experience.

But annoying main characters and romances make it hard to get through.

 

[Robowen]

I don't think I've actually given up on a book before, but man did I get close, funnily enough with a David Gemmell book. I think it was Legend or one from that series. It wasn't even anything to do with the story, just a really annoying habit in the writing style, and I can't for the life of me remember what it was.

 

[Gurkhal]

Comically one-sided fights or incompetent villains is a big "no" for me. I recall throwing the Belgariad across the room for this reason when I was young. I found Harry Potter to be a much better read than the Belgariad and the Malloreon. Although the Malloreon was a great improvement over the Belgariad, as I recall it.