reacting to 1 star reviews of CLASSIC books

just because a book is a classic, doesn't mean everyone thinks it's good...
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FAQs:
😭 what happened to your intro? it got copyrighted ://///
🤠 how old are you? 25!
📆 when is your birthday? 18th october 1998 (libra)
🎓 where did you go to university? i studied english at durham!
🔎 where do you live? new york city
💼 what is your job? book critic
🎥 what do you film with? lumix gh5 + canon g7x
👾 what do you use to edit? final cut pro
📫 how do I contact you? [e-mail] or social media!
video chapters:
00:00 introduction
02:14 Crime and Punishment
03:36 Pride and Prejudice
04:18 The Great Gatsby
04:37 The Catcher in the Rye
05:18 Ulysses
06:38 The Inferno
07:05 [ad] Squarespace
07:57 The Handmaid’s Tale
08:11 The Little Prince
08:25 The Colour Purple
08:59 1984
09:15 Othello
09:27 The Odyssey
10:42 Wuthering Heights
11:21 Tess of the D’Ubervilles
12:22 Romeo and Juliet
12:43 outroduction.
sub count:
📊 1,369,220

[@wesley-qw1bs]

"too much crime and not enough punishment" he got sent to a penal colony in siberia⁉️⁉️⁉️

[@dyip-vb1wl]

Ppl be saying anything to try to be “funny and quirky“ 😂

[@strawberryorange3755]

I think they meant that he murdered 2 people and only got 8 years of penal servitude.

[@bluecannibaleyes]

The vast majority of the book takes place before the punishment, though, so the crime to punishment ratio is rather lopsided. He doesn’t confess and get punished until the very end of the book. The book is more like a little bit of crime, a little bit of punishment, and hundreds of pages of brooding about it in between. And I’m saying this as someone who liked Crime and Punishment. The guy had a point. 😅

[@DostoJR77]

@@bluecannibaleyes The "punishment" of the book has nothing to with a legal punishment lmao. How do you like it and not understand the most basic concept of the book?

[@gohtcheez]

@@bluecannibaleyesthe “brooding” IS the punishment … he literally spends the entire book in emotional and physical torment as a result of his actions ?!!!???

[@m.vilaxo]

now the opposite: reacting to 5 star reviews of books you gave 1 star 🫶🏻

[@RhiannonT01]

yes!!!

[@sylvaindore3190]

Very good comment!

[@KarlieStarrSings]

Me with any Colleen Hoover book

[@xtinakeren5575]

Yessssss

[@sashhhaa4874]

Yessss

[@lieved530]

My favorite one star review I've seen is one of Moby Dick that said reading the book was like getting cornered at a party by someone who wouldn't shut up about everything to do with whales, and when you lied and said you had to pee, they followed you into the bathroom and peered over the edge of the stall while continuing to blather on about whales. That review convinced me to buy the book.

[@KarlieStarrSings]

Isn't that the review where it starts off with a quote from The Simpsons??😂

[@lieved530]

@@KarlieStarrSings It isn't actually, but I just went to Goodreads to find the Simpsons one and that's a pretty good one too lmao

[@ninakrishnamurthy6674]

To be fair, I’ve read Moby Dick. Only half the book is actual plot; the rest is whaling trivia. I love classic literature, BTW; I just didn’t love Moby Dick

[@Theomite]

This is the greatest defense of _Moby-Dick_ I have ever read.

[@SR-zp4je]

Currently reading Moby Dick, mostly because of that one scene in Star Trek First Contact, and can confirm, that is exactly what it’s like.

[@greatestcalamity6886]

“needs more smut” followed by jack saying “IS NOTHING SACRED” is soooo funny

[@js66613]

It's also a bit funny coming from him after he mentioned having plenty of books that were just women's ramblings with some sex in the middle.

[@alesamaa]

“just a bunch of people going to each other’s houses” hahahaha that made me cackle

[@sassycatz4470]

It's true, but that's what they did for entertainment.

[@heather9130]

That's what makes it such a cozy read to me! I want to relax on a settee and hear all the latest gossip.

[@bartholomew887]

SAME

[@disab4649]

Literary genius is writing a book about a bunch och people going to each other's houses and making me care this much about it.

[@k49821]

Literally all of Jane Austen's books tho 😂

[@carolb.3500]

saying THE ODYSSEY is generic and a "disgrace to the fantasy genre" when it is The Parent of adventure/fantasy books is WILDDDDD if you think it's generic, it's because you've read a ton of books that are the heirs of the odyssey's legacy

[@58angieb]

Exactly!! what you just said! 😊

[@carolb.3500]

@@58angieb it’s basically what Jack said about “On the road” too!! you may not like it, but it influenced many books that followed it

[@daydreamingaboutbooks]

The Odyssey and the Iliad are so old that it was revolutionary to have that complex of characters! Writing is not the same today as it used to be

[@aloudjane137]

omg yes come for the odyssey and I will come for you!

[@freakytostadacartoon]

That is like saying that beowulf is a cliché.

[@musicandloveismylive]

"Goodreads looks like it was designed in 2006" And it hasn't been updated ever since.

[@ShinyAvalon]

Honestly, I like simple formats. What bothers me about Goodreads is the toxicity of the users, not the way it looks. It does what it's meant to do; that's all I ask from a site.

[@zeltzamer4010]

@@ShinyAvalonI always thought it was the exact opposite of simple. It takes like at least five clicks to do anything.

[@ShinyAvalon]

@@zeltzamer4010 - There are simpler setups, but I can generally find things in two or three clicks, which doesn't seem bad to me. I've defiitely seen worse.

[@cheyennebarton]

“huge spoilers on the first page” that’s the POINT JENNIFER

[@Aegean_Native]

"a book that was written 4000 years ago and is considered the pioneer of novels doesnt have the pacing, plot lines and fanfic-like dialogues im used to read from coleen hoover and booktok books, so its bad and you should not read it"

[@SM-ky6pb]

I haven't even read The Odyssey yet but when I saw the review "it's a disgrace to fantasy novels" my jaw dropped cause wdym disgrace?? They're talking about it as if it's a modern book and not a book written centuries ago

[@mariyamak]

Their teacher sold it to them wrong. They tried to make into a like a modern fantasy novel, so they expected something like the YA fantasies they have read and so, of course, the kid didn't find it to be that. Teacher's fault maybe.

[@awholenewworld5796]

Funny enough, the romance genre wasn't a thing when the Odyssey was born. It called an 'epic poem' so it doesn't abide by modern narrative rules​@@SM-ky6pb

[@meikusje]

That Wuthering Heights review shows exactly how the romance and dark romance trends are messing with people('s expectations). Wuthering Heights is NOT a romance story, and their love absolutely does NOT redeem Heathcliff and Catherine. The whole story is basically a cautionary tale against obsessive and toxic love. Heathcliff is incredibly abusive, there is NOTHING romantic about this story. Just because it features people who say they are in love does NOT make it a romance, and there is no happy end or any sort of redemption.

[@cassie2055]

thank you !!

[@solairefan5420]

I love Wuthering Heights ESPECIALLY because all of the characters are so flawed. Funnily enough by hating them you basically take part in the cycle of suffering and resentment plaguing the lives of everyone in the book. I would argue the novel has a "happy" ending because (spoilers) Catherine and Hareton manage to break the cycle and put an end to the tragedy of Wuthering Heights once and for all.

[@windy8544]

never read that but like a week ago i've seen a thread discussing why lolita is a bad romance book and i'm so confused

[@purplelily7764]

@@windy8544that’s insane. Do people not realize that some books exist to say something and not just entertain someone?

[@LynnHermione]

Holy moralizing batman. Its a story. If people think its romantic its romantic

[@aaaacarolina]

months ago a girl in brazilian bookstagram commented "does it contain smut?" on a post about Les Miserables and I won't shut up about it, y'all are late to the party

[@elysianemily]

she had to have said that as a joke because ain't no way 😭

[@aaaacarolina]

@@elysianemily I wish😭 Nothing in the context made it look like a joke

[@nanskugirl1762]

tropification has given us all brainrot lmaoooo

[@rachel5399]

Could not agree more! "Enemies to lovers," "friends to lovers," "grumpy x sunshine," "spicy," SHUT UP PLEASE

[@ShinyAvalon]

Nonsense. Knowing names for things in stories does _not_ keep you from enjoying them. The issue is that young people don't understand the "Seinfeld Isn't Funny" trope enough to give the trope-codifiers slack for being so early. They look at the Wright Brothers' plane and complain about the lack of in-flight WiFi.

[@nanskugirl1762]

@@ShinyAvalon I didnt say it ruins the book personally. To me its more annoying when books are only mentioned because of what tropes are in it, but then you dont know anything else about it. I picked up Cruel Prince because I saw so many videos saying it enemies to lovers, expecting it was going to be a lot more romance focused but it wasnt. Tropes arent bad, but the way BookTok depends on them is rotting out brains and we dont actually talk about books for their actual plots. (i havent watched any Seinfeld so idk what that means hahaha)

[@ShinyAvalon]

@@nanskugirl1762 - I think, then, that it's more that you don't like the shallow way BookTok treats books in general.

[@nanskugirl1762]

@@ShinyAvalon sure, and i think my comment still expresses that feeling?

[@purplelily7764]

“Not enough smut” in a review on Romeo and Juliet is literally so funny.

[@seelistenlearnm7859]

I think one of the things about ‘red flag’ books is that it matters WHY you like. More than the fact that you do like it.

[@mariyamak]

Right? I agree with Jack that Catcher in the Rye is a great depiction of teenage angst, but wouldn't want to touch an adult man who identifies - in his current adult life - with Holden Caulfield with a 10-foot pole

[@mrsadfacepancake4338]

@@mariyamak this is exactly how i feel about adult men and rick and morty. like, enjoy the show, but the second you start feeling like you identify with rick and not seeing why that is a problem??? i would not like to associate with you Or lolita. read lolita, it's a fine book, but if you're reading it as a romance and not basically a horror, i am afraid of you (true story, knew a guy who was 18 reading lolita outside my classroom when i was 12. he memorized my mom's license plate and tried to show me a picture of himself in his underwear)

[@mariyamak]

@@mrsadfacepancake4338 That is hella creepy. I hope your parent(s) or another adult reported him. Sorry you went through that! If anyone reads Lolita as a romance and "enjoys" it, straight off to some sort of confinement. But there are those who read Lolita as a romance and are mad at/dosgusted at Nabokov. That's just stupidity

[@LynnHermione]

People dont owe you an explantion of their likes

[@jackdonohue7893]

@@LynnHermionethat seems quite defensive

[@rosesrosesroses]

No but I was so confused at that person calling the Odyssey a fantasy book like it’s supposed to be a crown of thorn of roses or something

[@rat-xo7mj]

I'M CRYING FRRR

[@rat-xo7mj]

Rhys talmin and Odysseus (or whatever their names are)

[@vanessagatsby803]

When you talked about not liking a classic but still appreciating its value I was precisely thinking about "On the Road"! I really enjoyed in-class discussions about it but hated reading every single page.

[@Youknowwhoyounopoo]

I have found my people!

[@officialblimp]

i feel like some of these one star reviews were just people trying to be witty with one-liners like others do on letterboxd as a means to get likes and views. it’s never a full analysis on why they disliked it. i wonder if they actually took the time to read the book or came in with an open mind (because i see some of booktok find it trendy to hate on classics and only crave books that contain romance and spice). that being said, i know art is subjective and people are allowed to dislike a book that i might really enjoy, so therefore people are of course allowed to have different opinions on books

[@nafsikaisbored]

I'm so sorry I take Jane Austen criticm very seriously ... y'all will start coughing in three days

[@accordingtokarenb1360]

Same!

[@58angieb]

They're incompetent readers! 😊

[@nafsikaisbored]

I'm such a snob that I know what book I won't like and if I spend money on something I think I'll like and I end up not enjoying it I'm gaslighting myself into thinking it's my new favourite book . An Aquarius is never wrong and I ain't made of money either

[@athenaapostolidou1750]

Damn, feels like I just found my twin😂 i do exactly the same to myself and only a couple of times has this system failed me (I don't like to talk about it🙄) need i even say I'm an Aquarius too? 😂

[@jointhejincult5425]

Library?

[@nafsikaisbored]

@@jointhejincult5425 ''I'm such a snob'' is my opening phrase lmao . But truly I love owning a book because I usually re-read them and I think its more convenient if I own them

[@nafsikaisbored]

@@athenaapostolidou1750 I fear it may also be the fact that we're greeks .

[@athenaapostolidou1750]

@@nafsikaisbored ομγ τώρα το συνειδητοποίησα αχαχαχαχα σοκκ

[@datmelonblob]

the person complaining abt needing more smut... i read this for english and the teacher pointed out all the freaky bits in the story while going thru it XDDD

[@TheEmeraldSword86]

The "not having to like classics" thing applies to me, but with movies. And I agree 100%.

[@aventine95]

The comment about bringing Joyce back to life just to kill him again is honestly very valid

[@michaelaporro7039]

This man does not sleep

[@melissaalbrecht6399]

Our master has summoned us again

[@maddiherrmann]

nobody should be able to disrespect janey like that.

[@anvee3901]

like that's my wife you're talking about..

[@rokayaenafielmetni5232]

THIS NEEEEEDS to be a series

[@jbriaz]

Jack has returned from his hiatus of like two days! I'm saved!

[@JF-qf4oq]

My kid read R&J in 8th grade and the class had to also watch scenes from the classic Zeffirelli film and Gnomeo and Juliet. Kid RANTED about the gnome version for DAYS. 🤣

[@schoo9256]

What was his argument?

[@sadiebrown4353]

Goodreads is savage fr. It’s so fun to read sm tho. Especially ones on famous ya like divergent and the selection

[@patax144]

I had to read Crime and Punishment for school and make a presentation on the characters, I couldn't finish it at the time, maybe because I was trying to read out of my grandma's old copy or because it was for school, but I ended up making like a comparison chart between that book and the count of montecristo, and got a good grade still. Same happened with 1984 in which I had to write an essay for a class called english culture, couldn't finish the book in time, so I made my essay instead about a documentary I saw on dictatorships and totalitarian governments on Netflix, related it to some concepts of the book of what I had managed to read, got a 99,2 out of 100.

[@ninakrishnamurthy6674]

To Kill a Mockingbird was the first book I ever had to read in school that I genuinely loved. I used to separate “reading for fun” and “reading for school” into two diametrically opposed camps because the classic books I had to read in school were SO. DULL! To Kill a Mockingbird shocked me with how much I enjoyed it. I have since reread a lot of classics I had to read in high school and enjoyed them much more as an adult, particularly Shakespeare. To be honest, I feel like a lot of the literature that gets taught in high school (again, Shakespeare stands out; he’s raunchy as Hell!) aren’t really suited for teenagers.

[@carefulangel13]

I’m beginning to think that Jack is secretly obsessed and runs the Spanish Love Deception fan club 🤔

[@swaraapednekar8176]

I read a review of The Metamorphosis that said , "Any day you wake up as a cockroach is a s**t day"

[@eileen9898]

"I used to have a brain, now I have a graveyard of memes" - I can't 😂

[@imperfectanimal57]

This is your friendly reminder to reread The Master and Margarita. My favorite book. Thank you :).😊

[@milicadiy]

Yeah! It's such a great book ❤

[@platonsergiu9454]

Well, it's official. This is my go to feel good place on youtube. I love how Jack manages to be so entertaining in his videos and so delightful. The man has tons of charisma and sounds like he knows what he's talking about. Honestly listening to him, especially when he presents the books he loves, makes my reading appetite grow. Keep doing the good work sir!

[@beatriceanobah6388]

LOLLLL: "writing it was a crime and reading it was a punishment!!" best book putdown Eva

[@melissalincourt7261]

I could have watched this for another hour lol Please make more of these 1 star review readings!

[@atinyofficial]

One of the hardest things i learned in my uni english classes was that you don’t have to like a book but you should still try to find the Point of it and its significance not only in the story itself but also in historical context and impact. That’s not to say it doesn’t get FUCKING BORING though. Because it does

[@Omnilegent_22]

Please can you do a part two? I’m such a fan of your videos! 👍

[@PokhrajRoy.]

“Now I have this graveyard of memes rattling around in my skull.” HAHAHAHA TRUER WORDS

[@bibliomania158]

What a special gem.... 2 videos in 1 week!!! Keep them coming, Jack! ❤️😁

[@Diushok]

I love how you normalize people's diverse reading opinions. I really appreciate that, Jack! ❤

[@lilybrown4180]

The Colour Purple review was giving sexism. Can a mother not raise a child and simultaneously put her efforts into something else, like writing one of the world's greatest books?

[@Pandazillaaa]

Apparently according to the author herself not since in one of her books she literally had a character murder her baby and acted like it was justified because the character was forced to drop out in the 1960s or something as an African American.

[@NjIceTea]

Great video! More people need to give classics a try imo. Lots of misconceptions and fear surrounding books that could change peoples life

[@NothingNew-MarksVersion-]

How does this man get handsomer and handsomer every single video?!?

[@officialblimp]

i’m honestly so glad i jumped ship from goodreads and got onto storygraph

[@etsukiikanaa]

recently I reread Emma by jane Austen because I was still haunted by my Literary stylistics teacher telling us how Emma is a beautifully written character that You can never understand until you master your major. I got my master's degree in Literature and Civilization and gave the book a second chance, I shall be dead if the character Emma have no hater. Edit: I understand y'all in the replies, but my teacher couldn't accept my critic to Emma's character and she insisted that her character is perfect and serves a purpose. For me her character has flaws that need to be corrected and disliked. + I enjoyed the comments, thank u for being nice.

[@aventine95]

Emma can, quite frankly, suck my arse 😂 The book is definitely well written, the character is not the one 😅

[@sakurabunnn_]

Yessss but for me I think the point of the story was that emma actually is such a flawed character and we were supposed to feel that way and that Mr. knightley, the only one who is openly critical of Emma which nobody including Emma is, is kinda like the voice of reason or the voice of the reader

[@tungstenmouse]

That's a really weird take by your teacher. Austen clearly wrote Emma to be disliked. It's the whole plot of the book. She's not the worst but is definitely unlikeable.

[@xJillie]

i’ve found that people either love Emma or hate her, and there is no in between. I personally love her and it’s my favorite Austen, but I get it lol

[@abs6384pumpkin]

I think the point isn’t to love Emma blindly, but to understand her character as a flawed human being- like all of us.

[@thattinyfox]

I just finished reading the catcher in rye and really enjoy it. Could not understand the reviews saying that Holden was just a brat, I thought he was just a very sad and depressed teenager struggling to process trauma. Anyways. Loved this video!

[@ClaraCB5]

I have a theory that people who dislike the Catcher in the Rye completely missed the fact that he is a traumatised teenager. I love this book and will defend it until I die!

[@bluecannibaleyes]

I would ask you to explain what the point was, why it didn’t have a plot, and why he smoked so many cigs, but I don’t have $5 to bribe you with. Then again, it is one I need to reread, as I read it back when I was a teenager. But I remember hating it back when I was an angsty depressed/emo teenager, so I never understand why so many people love it.

[@tysonn4736]

@@bluecannibaleyes Maybe because Holden is also an angsty depressed/emo teenager?

[@bluecannibaleyes]

@@tysonn4736 Well, that’s my point. People who were angsty teenagers always say that made him relatable to them as a teen, but I was kind of an angsty emo kid as a teen and I couldn’t relate to him at all. So I don’t ‘get’ it.

[@tysonn4736]

@@bluecannibaleyes Sometimes a mirror being held up is embarrassing instead of authenticating. Sounds like it was embarrassing, in your case.

[@nataliesvt]

going through a rough and new patch of my life right now and you and your channel and your cute background music makes it better. thanks jack

[@samihajahanridi2785]

The enemies to lover joke was epic 😭

[@stschubs]

this might be my fav book, the way you read those reviews *chefs kiss*

[@e.c.ritter]

I read Moby Dick in 7th grade. I love reading classics, but that one will not be reread anytime soon. And yet, however hard classics may be to read, we read them and love them because their stories portray human nature in all of its messiness, and that is something that doesn't change even as millennia pass. It will always resonate with people and make them feel less alone.

[@alexjames7144]

Moby dick is mainly bad because like 80% of it is an encyclopedia of whale references and blatantly wrong facts about whales. I can change him. Honestly think it would be massively improved just by editing it to around 15-20% of it's original size and it would only improve. It wouldn't lose anything of value, the only reason the bad whale facts are there is because at the time reading was frivolous and silly unless it had educational value, it's not like it's an artistic choice. Genuinely most classics, I think, would be made genuinely far better with some heavy editing. Editors weren't as big of a thing at the time and they didn't have the benefit of proper literary education so it's no suprise they're all overwritten. Anyone nowadays that said books are always better if you don't have an editor would call you an idiot (and rightly so) so I don't think it should be controversial to say that classical literature would be improved by some good editing.

[@ninakrishnamurthy6674]

@@alexjames7144 I agree with you about Moby Dick, but I don’t agree that most classics would be improved by heavy editing. Jane Austin, Treasure Island, Dracula; these are all classics that I have read (in the same month as Moby Dick) and loved. They don’t need heavy editing; they’re exactly as long as they need to be. Hell, Dracula is recent enough that it actually reads more like a modern novel. I’d argue that it feels more modern than LOTR despite being 50 years older, though that may just be because of the epistolary format. (Not hating on LOTR, by the way; I just think that Bram Stoker’s writing style was ahead of its time) In Moby Dick, the story literally just STOPS for several chapters at a time of outdated whaling trivia. Which is a shame, because the actual plot is quite riveting in my opinion.

[@alexjames7144]

@@ninakrishnamurthy6674 I don't think that every pre-1900 novel is absolutely terrible or needs to be edited to death. But they could all still have been improved by some editing. Jane Austen I will agree was very ahead of her time and doesn't need heavy revisions. Dracula I'd disagree on, but that's purely a stylistic problem. The format is only chosen because it was a popular way of telling a story at the time, but it's quite clear that you inherently undercut the suspense of a story by having it told via letters, by definition implying that at the very least the protagonists survived the adventure. Telling any story in retrospect does usually limit the suspense as the ordeal is already over at the point of being told. It's not the worst example of it though, Wuthering Heights is terrible for this and the russian doll of narrative voices gets very tedious and ruins any tension. I still enjoyed Dracula but I feel like it could have been far better if told via first person narration rather than via letters written after the fact.

[@ninakrishnamurthy6674]

@@alexjames7144 Oh, I vehemently disagree on Dracula: the characters are writing the letters and journal entries DURING the story, so it doesn’t undercut the suspense at all for me. And when I say that Dracula feels very modern, it’s not JUST the epistolary format. It’s also the language used, the narrative style. I don’t really know how else to explain it. But when I read Dracula, it was the last book I read of a three-month long classic novel kick I was on, and it felt so much more similar to something that would be published today that it felt genuinely refreshing, and that may have colored my perspective on it

[@pastacoffeeandbooks]

favourite booktuber ✅ favourite comedian ✅✅

[@officialblimp]

nick carraway’s realization towards the end of the book: 4:26

[@ninakrishnamurthy6674]

True LOL😂

[@paulzrulz]

I tell myself that all this content from Jack this week is cuz it’s my birthday week 🥰

[@Showtunediva]

Happy Birthday!

[@CedricVermeire]

On the road is so much more than its context. It's so raw, melodic and poetic. Guess it's a matter of taste, but it's right there at the top of my favourite books of all time. Still, appreciate your dedication to the world of literature in all its forms. Kind regards from a fellow '98 baby.

[@chocolateoreo6489]

We love the more uploads from Jack recently❤

[@emmal7510]

There are worst things that can happen to booktok lists than completely random books making their way onto them.

[@jenniferfranklin9960]

These are hilarious! You have to do more of these kind of videos! 😂😂😂

[@ariguzman9598]

I love the constant video posting❤❤❤

[@celinegrant1338]

Please make this a series! 🫶🏻🫶🏻

[@amaliavasiliu9955]

Please do another!!!!! I loved every second of this video 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻

[@reachchill]

I’m convinced that anyone who calls the Odyssey boring hasn’t actually read it

[@lphy198]

Jack saying "is nothing sacred ?" Killed me 😂😂😂😂

[@isaidwhatisaid12]

your commentary this video had me actually chuckling

[@cheekyfish1233]

Jack I love your videos, they feel like a warm cup of tea in bed on a Sunday afternoon whilst its raining outside

[@jansmith1925]

Entertaining as usual! Love you!

[@bon3999]

this feels like watching your descent into insanity and it's got me chuckling every other sentence

[@sifonating2352]

Tbh, this is me with kafka’s metamorphosis

[@alexjames7144]

Pre 20th century, books were written in a time where very few people were writers, literary education was dogshit, only rich people could get published, editors weren't really a thing and a lot of the writing was paid for by volume (yes I'm looking at you Dickens). Classics books being staggeringly overwritten, simplistic to a fault/ overcomplicated, often contain popular writing conventions just for the sake of it that actively work against the novel and almost always in desperate need of a brutal editor should not be shocking. Some of them are impressive considering the constraints, doesn't mean they're actually good. I maintain that 99% of classics would get absolutely torn to shreds by modern day critics if they were written for the first time and nobody can convince me I'm wrong.

[@aventine95]

Great Expectations would absolutely get destroyed if released today, it has so many irrelevant pages it could easily be half the length and lose nothing.

[@alexjames7144]

@@aventine95 Exactly, like I understand that Dickens was trying to change public attitudes by adding in random rants about being kind to the poor and not abusing kids but its so insufferable it makes me want to open a factory just to abuse child labour out of spite. Like I'm sorry but if your social messaging is so long winded and annoying that people who agree with you want to go back in time and punch you in the face, it's bad writing. That being said, I loved bleak house. It was very long but it had reasons to be and gave some social messages through story and context rather than just squishing an essay in between two scenes for not reason.

[@bluecannibaleyes]

Sorry but you can’t ever convince me that Colleen Hoover is a better writer than Dickens. Sure, books were long winded back then, and I get that modern audiences don’t like that, but that doesn’t make them ‘bad’. It’s just a stylistic thing that most modern readers don’t like. Things need to be dumbed down for the modern audience because people are dumber and have shorter attention spans now. And let’s be serious, modern critics are trash. Of course they’d tear classics to shreds, but that doesn’t mean that said classics are actually ‘bad’ just because a modern critic thinks so.

[@alexjames7144]

@@bluecannibaleyes I literally never claimed that contemporary literature is all good. I actually think the overall quality of all contemporary literature produced now is probably lower by sheer volume of bad self published work. The best time for average quality of literature was probably around the mid to late 20th century, when more people had access to writing but the market wasn't as flooded with low effort contributions. People are blatantly not more stupid, they're actually more intelligent than they've ever been, education is more widespread and higher quality, more people can and do read and IQ scores have been going up consistently for decades. Your weird elitism doesn't hold up to even minor scrutiny. It's not merely a stylistic choice that is no longer common, the pacing is bad by any modern standards and if you're going to pretend that people are less capable of criticising the pacing of a novel in modern day I'm going to laugh at you because that's just embarrassing. Take Dickens, the rambling nature of his novels wasn't even a stylistic choice, it was because he was paid by volume. You can't pretend that long windedness was some genius literary technique when we know quite obviously that it was only long winded so he could pay his bills. They didn't have the same editing processes as they do now, and they could have done with it. Unless you're also going to pretend that editing makes books worse and not better? I'd be very excited to see that attempt. Most classics have serious structural and framing flaws and contrary to your implications most of them are also following along with the popular tropes and framing devices of the time, many of which blatantly just make the story worse.

[@bluecannibaleyes]

​@@alexjames7144 I agree with your first paragraph overall, but what you’re saying now kind of contradicts what you said earlier. “Your weird elitism doesn't hold up to even minor scrutiny. ” None of your claims hold up to minor scrutiny. What on earth are you smoking/reading? You haven’t looked at IQ scores in the last two decades, have you? Literacy rates have dropped drastically in recent years. There’s absolutely no proof that people are more intelligent now than they were 100 or 200 years ago. And a LOT of evidence that indicates they were generally smarter than we are now. You claim is nothing but chronological snobbery. The first 21 presidents of the US were fluent in Latin. Half of them were fluent in Ancient Greek at the same time. The last president we had that was fluent in a foreign language was FDR, who was fluent in French. Sure, education has perhaps become more widespread since the 19th century, but I’d argue that the quality has NOT gone up. If anything, the quality has gone way down. And so have the IQ levels. By modern standards. That’s the problem, you’re judging things written hundreds of years ago by modern standards. It’s not really fair to judge it that way. Contrary to popular belief, Dickens was actually NOT paid by the word. He was paid by the installment. So no, he didn’t just put more words down just to make more money. And since it was first published as a serial, it’s not exactly fair to judge, say, David Copperfield by the standards of a modern novel, because it originally wasn’t a novel, let alone a modern one. Also, plenty of authors back then were NOT paid like that and still wrote similarly. It was indeed a popular style back then that has since gone out of fashion. And your hatred of long windedness doesn’t change the fact that readers in his time were clearly able to understand and even enjoy complex language better than modern readers seem to understand it. That kind of indicates they likely did have a higher reading level than your average reader today. There’s a reason that most elementary students aren’t reading Dickens outside of the content; most aren’t on a high enough reading level to understand it. Your argument on editing is an odd argument that seems to be making a lot of assumptions about my stance. Editing isn’t JUST about cutting things out, anyway. And sure, like I said, it’s the style now to dumb everything down and cut things out because people have too short of attention span for lots of big words, but that doesn’t automatically mean that how we do things now is better. It’s just different. It’s still a change in style over time regardless of the reasons behind it. Popular writing styles and the industry standard of what’s considered ‘good writing’ change over time, but at the end of the day, there is still always going to be a large degree of personal preference. Writing is an art, after all. If you don’t like Dickens, you don’t have to read him, you know.

[@EmyN]

Omg I was just waiting for a new video from you! I summoned this

[@wei2gori]

omg i watched this, i had literally just finished reading on the road and did not get the hype. your intro got me HOOKED.

[@laurachapman6776]

Love it! Do more of these videos please!

[@CarisiCreates]

I don’t care for Shakespeare. Midsummer’s night is the only one I care for.

[@nikkiallen3799]

PLEASE read 5 star reviews of the books you rated 1 star 😭😭🙏✨

[@moonlightdreamer4523]

I will be honest, I am not a huge fan of classic novels. Most of them have words and phrases that go over my head and I get frustrated with my lack of understanding. However, there have been a few rare classics I read for school that I enjoyed. I think the thing people don't realize about classics is that you don't have to inherently like them because they're classics. You don't enjoy every modern book you read, why should you expect differently of the classics. They are classics because they withstood the test of time, not because everyone enjoyed them. But I do think that everyone should give at least one or two of the classics a try. Pick ones that have interesting sounding plots. Ones that are maybe similar to your preferences in modern books. You might be surprised and end up enjoying them. My favorite classics are the fairytale collections such as the Brothers Grimm or Hans Christian Anderson collections. There's something about classic fairytales that I just really love. Even if I don't always understand the language used in them.

[@Maybethistime15]

I once found a 1* review of Moby Dick that said “this book contains the most tedious descriptions of whales and whaling guaranteed to bore you to tears unless you are the most pedantic whale fanatic alive” and honestly I agree

[@justanotherwriter-ms5rl]

1:32 i like goodreads because of the "old" vibes it gives off. i feel like it makes it seem like a place where the complicated depressed-ness of the internet has not touched, though a MAJORITY (not entirety) of the book community online kinda ruins it

[@enola8800]

never stop this it’s so funny

[@laurenschenck5355]

I love Jane Austen so much ❤😊❤

[@sakurabunnn_]

Sameeee what is your favorite book by her and why?💗

[@ninakrishnamurthy6674]

@@sakurabunnn_I’ve only read Pride and Prejudice, but I absolutely love it. I need to read her other novels!

[@leehillshire5154]

I had a book end up in the toilet once. It was set on the counter as I was washing my hands, and as I turned to grab the towel I knocked it in. I enjoyed the book though, and it still stands on my shelves as the book that survived the toilet. 🤣

[@marenhumblebee2736]

I like that filming angle😊

[@ScarletReillys]

2:41 these booktok gooners are CRAZY 💀

[@JahricLago]

Someone asked me here for Filipino book recommendations: -Some People Need Killing by Patricia Evangelista -Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay -Tall Story by Candy Gourlay - Bone Talk by Candy Gourlay -Dreamland by Jahric Lago and Cheska Mateo 🥰🥰🥰😍😍

[@genericplantlife]

Would like to add: The Quiet Ones by Glenn Diaz. I'm reading it right now and could not put it down.

[@Kailovesfrogs333]

We need a part 2

[@seelistenlearnm7859]

Man I felt so bad that I hated Kerouac, I feel better now.

[@letsHugElefanten]

yess love this

[@rurubelle2920]

Jack describing Haruki Murakami's writing: "THE BOOBS WALKED INTO THE ROOM... THE NIPPLE WINKED AT ME." Pretty accurate tho. 🤣🤣🤣

[@gwennmarie4715]

Okay but for real, the person who questioned if they read Gatsby wrong makes me feel so seen. I have a literature degree and I am a teacher and like I get it but I don’t GET it…

[@bluecannibaleyes]

Same. I never understood why people love that book so much. Granted, I read it way back in high school, but I remember thinking it was just a bunch of rich people without jobs going to parties all the time (which isn’t something I like or can relate to at all). And I absolutely couldn’t stand Daisy and didn’t see what Gatsby saw in her.

[@58angieb]

TGG-a morality tale-the destructive,vacuous, never-ending pursuit of happiness,in the guise of 'The American Dream', & how when achieved it doesn't satisfy,the happiness is temporary, &,when it comes down to it,signifies nothing of any real value. Transient/Ethereal.? Materialistically Gatsby has it all, except the one 'thing' he really wants: Daisy. It's all 'froth'. That's what I took from reading TGG.

[@58angieb]

TGG-a morality tale-the destructive,vacuous, never-ending pursuit of happiness,in the guise of 'The American Dream', & how when achieved it doesn't satisfy,the happiness is temporary, &,when it comes down to it,signifies nothing of any real value. Transient/Ethereal.? Materialistically Gatsby has it all, except the one 'thing' he really wants: Daisy. It's all 'froth'. That's what I took from reading TGG.

[@sidemenlol]

What’s the obsession with s3x in book nowadays

[@natalias8009]

The editing on this is killing me great work

[@ChaekOnMonica]

I agree with some of these (or at least I did when I was forced to read them in school) BUT I remember loving Catcher in the Rye so much and everyone in my class hated it and didn’t understand why I loved it - so I ended up going home and writing a rant/essay about what the book means and why it was so good, and my teacher made me recite it in front of the class because she was so glad someone “got” it 😅 But The Odyssey was ☠️ and I agree it was like wading in quicksand 😂

[@bluecannibaleyes]

I didn't ‘get’ Catcher in the Rye but I kind of had a similar experience with The Scarlet Letter. It’s one of my favorite books of all time and everyone else in my class hated it intensely. I think I was the only person who even read it. To each their own, people will always have their own personal tastes. 😅

[@Showtunediva]

I agree with the first review of Wurthering Heights completely.

[@Toughmittens]

Ok but that little prince review about trampling the flower made me laugh out loud and I still think it’s one of the best books ever written.

[@PaulaJaramillo26]

this video is an energy boost!

[@plutus2559]

Bad and boring was my opinion too when being forced to read classics in my early teens. I didn't have the knowledge of the context they were written in or the life experience to really relate to the characters and events. Today I love the classics.

[@BookDevs]

“This is a book that was supposedly written in three weeks. And it shows.” 😂

[@joyrowancasey788]

6:47 .....Red? As in OSP Red since that's basically a quote from their video on the Inferno? More likely someone posing as them but ohmygod that's hilarious

[@pollyrg97]

As someone who has read far too many of these books, these reviews are both hilarious and accurate!