Thread: Brilliant/Awful Writing

I was hoping that any of you could give me an idea about any short story/poem/book or basically any writing you thought had just great writing and books/poems/short stories or anything that had really, really bad writing. It would help me out a lot. I'm sure that something is burning in your mind to unleash. I would really appreciate it.

Bad writing? The Golden Compass. I gave up reading that book. The story is decent enough, but the writing was aweful.

Great writing? Lovecraft.

"The Great Gatsby" is a compact novel of brilliant writing.

If you'd prefer a short story that includes in its narrative many great ideas I'd recommend Ernest Hemingway's short story, "The Snows of Kilimanjaro," which can be found in the short story collection of the same name.

If you're looking for more of a conversational tone in writing, try Junot Diaz's short story collection, "Drown."

A novel much longer than Great Gatsby - and one that was a finalist for the Man Booker Award- is David Mitchell's "Number9Dream," one of my personal favorite novels. The writing is, to say the least, trippy, but tap dances in all directions without stumbling once.

These are all examples I can recall of superb writing. Hope one of them suits what you're looking for.


EDIT: For bad writing, pick up a suspense novel. That or Twilight.

I'm glad that some thought that that book had great writing. I love the Great Gatsby and people look at me like I'm stupid for liking it because it's a "classic".
I liked the Golden Compass. I guess I am a hit or miss kind of reader.
I've read Twilight. I can't believe that so many people like it. I'm 21 and I think that it's immature writing. I don't understand the love of the series, but to each his own.

There really is no nice way to put it: if one thinks Gatsby is bad, said one must be an idiot.

EDIT: I meant the writing. If someone thinks the writing is bad, they're an idiot. If their gripe is with the plot, characterization, whatever, then that's their beef.

Glad I'm not an idiot.

I don't even know that Gatsby book and have no idea what it's about or who wrote it...

Originally Posted by WriterDude

I don't even know that Gatsby book and have no idea what it's about or who wrote it...

It's one of the most highly regarded novels from an American writer; if you skim through a few of those absurd "100 greatest books of all time" lists, you'll see Gatsby pop up in the top ten for most of them.

I'm not sure of its fame outside America (you're from...uh, somewhere not America, right?) but it is a very good book. I'd suggest you go look it up at your library and give it a read.

EDIT: Part of its brilliance outside the obvious prose is how much Fitzgerald manages to put in it in so short a book. The novel is shorter than what you'd expect of a classic (in my school, you're made to believe anything with such a label is a gargantuan tome) and can be read in a day if you're free. I don't mean to say long means bad, but if you can cut out the excess and drive straight to the point, then do so, and in Gatsby, Fitzgerlad does.

The novel truly does deserve the eminence it has.

It's called The Great Gatsby and it's written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It was a requirement in high school AP English Lit for me.

Writerdude: Read Gatsby! It's one of the greatest novels ever written. Even Fitzgerald's editor had barely anything to say when he received the manuscript. An editor with nothing to say! Just think about how good the book must be.

I've never heard of anyone not liking Gatsby. That's insane. There's nothing not to like.

On topic, check out Kafka and Camus. They're both foreign writers (German and French, respectively) but their stories and styles are amazing even through the translations.

Oh, and Steppenwolf.

It's a shame Fitzgerald never wrote anything near Gatsby's level. I remember reading Tender is the Night and enjoying it, but it never quite reached the same exuberance of life.

Gatsby was Fitzgerald's greatest achievement and also his grave. Bum bum buuuuuuum.

In terms of style, I think the best American writer alive today is Bill Bryson, and the best British one is Terry Pratchett. Although that may tell you more about Non Serviam than it does about good style, because I've selected for readability and humour.

The only work of Pratchett's I've read is the anti-christ book he co-wrote with Gaiman, and I don't know if it's Pratchett or Gaiman or both, but someone is just completely ripping of Douglas Adams' style.