Reacting to 1 STAR reviews of my favourite classics ⭐ | Emily Brontë, Virginia Woolf & Thomas Hardy

A video where books are compared to both Twilight and fish fingers... Goodreads is a very strange place ⭐ Warning - swear words are used and rarely by the reviewers. You can follow me on Goodreads here: / claire_fenby
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[@KDbooks]

“Of course it shows it’s age because it’s a Victorian Novel” truer words have ne’er been spoken

[@Claire_Fenby]

There were so many reviews that just said ‘too old’ 🤦‍♀️

[@KDbooks]

Claire Fenby I hate it when my 18th century classics aren’t contemporary enough 😫

[@WhatVictoriaRead]

‘Jane Austen wasn’t a Victorian!’ is the alternative title for this video 😂 loved this, it was so fun!

[@clarissas5651]

You’re actually so hilarious. This was great! More please 💁‍♀️

[@lasaves3207]

I appreciate Virginia Woolf for her writing, in spite of not really enjoying her novels. I think she was/is literally one of the best writers ever in my opinion. Wuthering Heights is everything. The darkness. The moors. Just yes.

[@Claire_Fenby]

100% with you on Wuthering Heights!

[@BookishTexan]

The dance scene in the newest adaptation of _Emma_ was so amazing. I think I was blushing a little when it was over. I didnt like _Wuthering Heights_ . I would fight those people about _Howard's End_ though. I didn't like Tess the first time I read it, but hearing those reviews actually makes me want to reread it.

[@glendabourne4295]

I don't get why characters have to be "likeable" in fact, I usually find them more realistic if they're unlikable. Brideshead Revisted is a great novel, I love the dark academia vibes of it! Have you seen the mini series of the novel staring Jeremy Ions?

[@karolineleandro7841]

This video saved my sunday! Thank you so much for the laughs. You are amazing, Claire 💛

[@lindaharrison3240]

The Picture of Dorian Gray was published in 1890, but if you read it now, it reads like it was written last week. The book, like its title character, has not aged. A true classic.

[@thedrolldiaries]

Ohmygosh this video was thoroughly entertaining - thank you so much for the much-needed laugh! How you had the patience to read those reviews, I will never know ... although I think you may have inspired me to read a few 1-star reviews myself. I love so many of the classic novels - yes, they require focus and determination and even a broader understanding of the time period in which they were written - but they are so worth the effort! (I think I might join you in the Middlemarchalong, even though I just read Middlemarch last year.)

[@bookishl8373]

Love this video! Some of my favourite classics are Jane Eyre (also agree about the Bertha comment), I Capture the Castle and The Bell Jar but I think I’m too nervous to look up one star reviews of them! 😅🙈

[@daisyrotkappchen3149]

Love this video idea! You should do a part two!

[@MaryE171]

I loved this video! Such a unique idea, and some very hilarious reviews in here. :P

[@Al-iz2zt]

Please do more videos like this! This was just great, and was the laughs I needed! ♥️🥰

[@emilyhoner4069]

This was great 😂 Thanks for making me laugh for about 15 minutes straight!

[@FusionStudioUK]

Oh my God.....this is such an amazing video, really cheered me up (and made me feel a bit less bad about my own 1* reviews). Those reviews of Tess remind me of the boys in my A Level English class...nothing has changed in 20 years eh?

[@maudhaugland5822]

Loved this video, so entertaining! My favorites are Pride and Prejudice and Rebecca 💛

[@panikiczcock2891]

I loved the Emma movie because I always want to see ALL the yearning and pining lol I seem to be completely disinterested in romance without that.

[@atembleq]

Loved the video, very good idea! Hope you make more :)

[@kikimekiki1]

the letters to the fictional female characters omg!

[@cmsigns8042]

loved it! I really like how the video made!

[@resa_reads]

I loved this so much! The sass...! :)

[@JevaisaNY]

Thank you!! 😂 I love your channel Claire. I love Mrs Dalloway.

[@Nina-cx1lk]

Ah I loved this 😂 Completely agree with your annoyance when people say they didn't like the characters. Another one which gets me (although it more applies to contemporary books): people hating a book because 'nothing happened' 🤦🏻‍♀️

[@VeraHeidkamp]

How did I miss this video? It's awesome!

[@Fortheloveofclassics]

Haha, this was so much fun. Emma is actually my least favorite Austen 📖 I would love to reread it though. Haha, balls are sexy. *not those ones* 🤭🤭

[@jenniferarnold7156]

I think this is my favourite video you have made! I often discuss with family and friends how I read one star reviews of my favourite books and get so frustrated 😂 it's like some people feel it is purely their review that gives a book worth. As an English Literature graduate, I love to hate characters! 😁 To me, that is the sign of a good book. More often than not, these one star reviewers have just... missed the point. But I guess that is their loss. Again... Great video!

[@WhereTheresAQuill]

I love the sass in this video. Well done.

[@nhopec]

loved this video!

[@Mati87]

4:38 *knock knock* IT'S THE TWILIGHT POLICE OPEN UP

[@eleanorjanewalker]

Favourite classic... Howard’s End! X

[@beingandtreeing2979]

I really need to try "Emma" as a cure for insomnia ... I mean, either I can finally fall asleep or I enjoy a book, it's a win-win. :D Especially the comparison to trashy magazines made me really wanna read it! So far I've only read "Northanger Abbey" by Jane Austen but I really wanna read more of her books! It actually happens quite often that negative reviews make me want to read a book more, rather than less. As a fan of bad reviews, I loved your video!! BUT: when I say I love bad reviews I explicitly exclude those horrible letters to Tess!! 🤬 And those weird missionary reviews ... I assume the fish stick person might be a German native speaker, because that's the literal translation of our "Fischstäbchen" :) Last but not least: I loooove the tiny dinosaur behind you! 😍

[@gaildoughty6799]

But I love Brideshead! Surely not a fish stick. More of a beautiful and delicious chocolate cake with something seriously wrong in the middle. Oh. Wait. That’s the character arcs. I loved this video! Thanks for posting it.

[@Claire_Fenby]

I mean I love fish fingers so maybe it's a beautifully cooked one? haha Also love the cake comparison - lots of troubling elements to Brideshead.

[@annalisitsyna7741]

Hi! I really loved how your reacted to these reviews, especially the "what is wrong with that" :) "Emma" is also one of my favourite Jane Austen books. The 2009 adaptation became my favourite. How is "Pride and Prejudice" like "Twilight"?! Except for the popularity. Not that there is anything wrong with "Twilight". "Garbage" - yeah, right. If something is "too convoluted" that could (not always) just mean that you don't understand it. There is depth of characters and a plot! Sorry, I am getting more angry than you did (awesome of you to keep your composure and civility, again). "Dr.Jekyll ..." is very psychological and interesting! Love it as well.

[@gogo_lopez]

I'll truly never understand people who need a protagonist to be a good person in order to perceive them as a well-written, interesting character. They're missing out on so many great books

[@Claire_Fenby]

I completely agree! I love morally grey and sometimes just god awful characters

[@MyLocsareREAL]

Claire I laughed out loud at this video..it was very entertaining to hear the negative comments of a lot of these classics...oh one of my Favorite classics is “Vanity Fair” by William Makepeace Thackeray so now I’m going to Goodreads too read the negative comments about it...🤨😊

[@Claire_Fenby]

I’m so glad you enjoyed it as it was a lot of fun to film! I still need to read Vanity Fair but think I will love it - another long book on my TBR 📚

[@ileanaaaaa]

This was very fun to see but I think you are very brave to go on that dark journey hahah... I would be so pissed off because most one star reviews on classics are just stupid. Like you said, I don't understand the "I didn't like the characters" argument... Like, that is it? or that they are crap because they didn't enjoy it? My favourites are anything by Jane Austen and Tolstoy and there is a lot of people who really hate them but oh well... I'm glad that there are way more people who do love them.

[@miriam-ep1jq]

This was hilarious. More of this please!! :)

[@actual-spinster]

this is so great lol i agree w so much of what you say!!! especially when you were talking about the sexual tension!! altho i am not a fan of the great gatsby !

[@CoynieReads]

I am concerned for the last reviewer; who has been cooking them fish fingers so badly and so often that it immediately springs to mind for a metaphor? 😂#notallfishfingers

[@BlackkCobra]

Isn’t Jane Austen more regency period than Georgian?

[@Claire_Fenby]

Regency is a sub period of the Georgian era as the Georgian era includes the regency of George IV. I only use the term Georgian as it includes the wider context of Eighteenth Century literature which inspired Austen ☺️📖

[@veramilena6306]

Brilliant :D

[@Claire_Fenby]

Thank you!

[@1siddynickhead]

This was fun! But as someone who went in to Wuthering Heights hoping to love it coz I love Jane Eyre, I can't help but agree with the bad reviews coz how on earth is that level of toxicity considered romantic? Loved the writing style and the pacing but yeah, cheered when both Cathy and Heathcliff died.

[@ileanaaaaa]

1siddynickhead agree. I saw it as what not to do in a relationship kind of thing 😆 but I still loved it. Love the writing and it is also interesting to read about people making terrible mistakes and decisions because that is life too... but definitely not romantic, just tragic...

[@Claire_Fenby]

Yeah I would never view it as a romance novel but rather a story of obsession, jealousy and death. Also not 100% sure about Jane Eyre either... I mean he keeps his wife in the attic haha

[@1siddynickhead]

@@Claire_Fenby haha yes!. Reading Wide Sargasso Sea made me see Bertha and Rochester in a whole new light for sure!

[@1siddynickhead]

@@ileanaaaaa yup! Life's full of mistakes and crazies for sure! Nelly was the voice of reason for me. She's the real heroine of the book!

[@deanafaye1064]

Also, the Victorian period begins and ends during the reign of Queen Victoria, a time when Austen was well gone before that.

[@Claire_Fenby]

Deana Faye Yes, I feel like the name Victoria is a hint there 😂

[@champagneproblemz7386]

*not those ones* 😂😂😂😂

[@inanimatecarbongod]

I don't necessarily need to like the characters in a book but I don't enjoy actively hating them. When I read Zola's Therese Raquin, I was relieved when the main characters all died cos they were all so godawful and boring. Same with Gatsby, whose Great American Novel status is something I find entirely baffling. Although at least it didn't make me turn to Jesus, it wasn't THAT bad.

[@danaelamond6888]

Wow. Those Tess reviews. Just wow.

[@Claire_Fenby]

Oh and they were the better ones...

[@bonChic20]

Ugh, goodreads? Dumpsite for second-rate opinions. Good opinions are expensive. I love, love Emma.