Wednesday, July 25, 2007

The Worst Book I Ever Read

When I travel, I am paranoid about running out of reading material. Especially on a trip like the one we just took where we are out in the bush with little night life. So, rather than chucking it after the first 25 pages or so, I read the entire hideous mess that is The Kite Runner.

Holy Crap, where do I begin? First, it is a first person account of a great writer written by a crap writer. Example: "All my life had been spent in the company of men, but tonight I would learn what it is like to lie with a woman". In the words of one of my heroes (John McEnroe), you cannot be serious!!

Second, every single plot advancement is done by means of a virtually impossible, melodramatic, coincidence. I am not joking. Every single one. For example, the protagonist's life goes awry when he fails to prevent his servant/friend/half-brother from getting buggered by a blond haired, blue-eyed, Afghani neo-nazi boy who has just happened to trap his friend alone somewhere in Kabul on the most important day of the protagonist's life. And when the protagonist returns to Kabul to rescue the son of said friend, the head Talibani in charge is the SAME NEO-NAZI guy. And HE'S BUGGERING THE BUGGEREES SON!!!!! Its really quite mind boggling.

This book has over 1900 customer reviews on Amazon with a 4.5 out of 5 star rating. I just don't see how that is possible.

4 comments:

akon said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

There's worse. For your consideration: The Bone People.

Anonymous said...

This was the Duke freshman book two years ago...if you say anything against the book, you would get criticized for "insensitivity".

Simon Spero said...

http://www.librarything.com/unsuggester/832

UnSuggestions for The kite runner by Khaled Hosseini

7,224 members (32 more popular); 167 reviews; average rating 4.27 stars. Members with the book have have a total of 1,928,767 books in their libraries (see good suggestions).

1. The supremacy of God in preaching by John Piper (expected 29.9, found 0; unsuggestions)
2. Humility : true greatness by C.J. Mahaney (expected 23.9, found 0; unsuggestions)
3. A textual commentary on the Greek New Testament; a companion volume to the United Bible Societies' Greek New Testament by Bruce Manning Metzger (expected 23, found 0; unsuggestions)
4. Nine marks of a healthy church by Mark Dever (expected 23, found 0; unsuggestions)
5. 777 and other Qabalistic writings of Aleister Crowley : including Gematria & Sepher sephiroth by Aleister Crowley (expected 22.6, found 0; unsuggestions)
6. Grace unknown : the heart of Reformed theology by R. C. Sproul (expected 22.3, found 0; unsuggestions)
7. Competent to counsel : introduction to nouthetic counseling by Jay Edward Adams (expected 21.5, found 0; unsuggestions)
8. The peacemaker : a biblical guide to resolving personal conflict by Ken Sande (expected 20.2, found 0; unsuggestions)
9. The deliberate church : building your ministry on the gospel by Mark Dever (expected 20, found 0; unsuggestions)
10. Swamp Thing Vol. 2: Love and Death by Alan Moore (expected 19.7, found 0; unsuggestions)
11. Essential truths of the Christian faith by R. C. Sproul (expected 19.5, found 0; unsuggestions)
12. The gagging of God : Christianity confronts pluralism by D. A. Carson (expected 19.4, found 0; unsuggestions)
13. Call of Cthulhu : fantasy roleplaying in the worlds of H.P. Lovecraft by Sandy Petersen (expected 18.8, found 0; unsuggestions)