Most overrated writer?

Hemingway has much more compelling work than Kerouac

The most underrated author of the last hundred years is Stanley Martin Lieber aka Stan Lee

"War and Peace" is extremely readable, not at all boring, and is deservedly considered one of the greatest novels of all-time. I don't know about some of you people.

I really hated Ulysses by James Joyce.

Is Highly Readable wrote:

"War and Peace" is extremely readable, not at all boring, and is deservedly considered one of the greatest novels of all-time. I don't know about some of you people.

What's to know? Most of the people who post on this site are shallow, immature, self-absorbed 20-somethings. That's all you need to know, and that explains it.

William Faulkner. Not that his writing is overrated-- I've studied him closely and, as a native Southerner, admire almost every word. But the elevation of him to Southern God-hood is unfortunate, for humans fall from grace who seem hubristic.

Flannery O'Connor. Her aggressive Catholicism is objectionable. Her latent racism is offensive. If she was a genius, couldn't she see the terrible injustices and cruelty of her culture, which treated black people in ways her family benefitted from? She wrote a few great short stories and one overwrought novelette. Not enough for the current worship of her.

James Joyce. Again, great writer. But, why write novels (which is an act of reaching out, to connect socially to the world) that are so abstruse that nobody now reads them? And please, don't give me the "but he wanted you to have to work hard to understand him" old song and dance. Portrait of the artist is the one that is a great book that is accessible.

European. wrote:

I really hated Ulysses by James Joyce.

As bad as it is, Finnegan’s Wake is infinitely worse

I’ve read one Stephen King book: Lisey’s Story. It’s around 700 pages long. I got so sick of it, I gave up around 650. That says something. I’m not much of a writer, so I’ll let you figure out what.

Ayn Rand is a great choice for overrated. Simple complaint of an employee not involved in leadership drawn out into many small-minded novels

I do not like reading Steinbeck or Jane Austen's work.

A lot of new age writers who make up slight tweaks to the world and drag them out like they found extraordinary substance by playing word games and tricks end up impressing people more than I think they warrant.

Stagger Lee wrote:

Flannery O'Conner. Or possibly Tolstoy. Wow, that cat is long-winded.

I've only read Anna Karenina but man that book was good. Even though it is long it felt too short. Once I got into it the pages flew by to the point where at the end I purposely slowed down because I didn't want it to be over

Songsta wrote:

Hemingway. Never understood the hype.

This is my vote too.

Cormac McCarthy

paul krugman. guy is a total hack.

malcom gladwell

and last but not least, michael lewis. guy has the same approach to almost every "story", its almost comical

Perhaps "overrated" is a bit of a stretch, but Dan Brown! I found The Da Vinci Code to be a truly awful book.

sammie axe wrote:

Fiction mostly sucks.

A great non fiction writer is 100x more impressive. Researching the subject, using actual facts, analysis and distillation, writing clearly, keeping it tight, and making the subject interesting. That’s legit.

Fiction is literally just making s#it up.

I guess you don't really like movies or TV much either. Come to think of it, most music/musical lyrics is just making s#it up as well.