What are the Deadly Sins that will make you stop reading a book?
I decided to take a hiatus from writing to catch up on my reading. Went book shopping, got a bunch of books from different genres. But whether or not I actually finish a book has been hit or miss. About half of them I make it to end, but the other half, I feel burned out when I’m barely a quarter of the way through. The result is several partially-read book taking up space on my shelf and kindle library.
And I’ve started to notice a pattern in the books I don’t’ like, leading to the development of my list of deadly sins. This is not a comprehensive list, but if I encounter any off these things, I put the book down and go find another.
--Protagonist centered morality. This is more common with female protagonists for some reason. The protagonist is good, we are told they are good, and whatever they want or however they behave is the right thing to do. They can do things that would be considered obnoxious or even evil if another character did it, and I can tell from the narration that I am expected to agree with the protagonist no matter what.
Example: Protagonist is a witness to a murder. Her mother tells her that she should stay home until it is time to testify in court, for her safety. Protagonist-girl won’t listen, so she leaves home several times before the court date. One of these trips ends with her being attacked, and a friend being stabbed. Protagonist feels no guilt over this at all, nor does she question her decisions that led to this outcome. In fact, not two chapters later, she goes out in public again. When more shenanigans occurred without her learning her lesson, I quit reading. I was expected to empathize with her because the book was written from her perspective, and she really wanted to go visit people.
--Idiot characters. This is when characters don’t see a very clear sign of trouble, or blatantly ignore it, and then act surprised when something bad happens to them.
Example: One character in a group is an obvious lying psychopath. Despite this, everyone seems to ignore the obvious warning signs and make excuses for this character, until he ends up flying off the handle and getting several people killed. Everyone is shocked, despite the fact that he may as well have worn a hat with a red flag on it.
--Bad moral lessons. This is when a story gets preachy about a moral lesson that, if actually applied in real life, would make our world a worse place.
The most common is “Faith trumps knowledge.” Sure, we didn’t have any good reason to believe this insane and risky plan would work, but this sweet, innocent child had “faith” that it would work out, and who can argue with that? In real life, believing in faith and not evidence is how you end up with witch trials.
Another one is the “If you kill the bad guy, you’ll be just as evil as he is!” This makes some sense if the hero is a cop who has the bad guy at his mercy and can safely capture him to stand trial. It makes no sense in a more primitive fantasy or science fiction setting. In real life, sometimes the most moral option is to just kill the guy.
And lastly, “Love can overcome anything and it’s all that matters.” A terrible lesson. I’ve seen love in real life fail to overcome one partner’s reckless credit card spending. It can’t be that powerful.
So what are your super pet-peeve tropes that make you fling away a book in disgust? And do you ever go back to those books later just to see how they ended? Or do you let them languish in dishonor at the bottom of a storage bin where they belong?
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