Adults don’t tend to reread children’s books although I sure remember some of them like Sendak — I am old enough I believe to have had it read to me (Where the Wild Things Are) when it was a new book.
So I mean books read even as a young adult or even after college that you recall liking but were disappointed in rereading years later.
I suspect a few things:
1. Stories become dated and really good stories get copied so years later, the novelty is gone.
2. Maybe overestimating how much you enjoyed it — I recall being surprised as a little kid that something could be less fun the second time.
3. Maybe you have changed, certainly I enjoy different foods, etc.
by relesabe
6 Comments
You are more likely to find some stories “problematic” rereading as an adult. Changes everything if that happens.
Storm light Archives.
It just feels so needlessly long.
It. Just. Keeps. Going. For hundreds and hundreds of pages
I think a lot of it is 3. I’ve changed, my attitudes have changed. The books in question – Wuthering Heights, Pride and Prejudice, and Jane Eyre. I loved these as a teen and saw them as romantic. I reread them often. Now I see the men in them as insufferable and generally don’t enjoy them.
Frankenstein- loved it in high school, so I reread it. >!Too much of the plot was dependent on characters fainting/getting sick at the right times. Also, we are supposed to feel bad for the monster when he’s threatening to kill Victor’s friends and family.!<
Siddhartha- loved it in high school, felt spiritual. The father-son dynamic seemed more selfish this time around. MC seemed more impatient or frivolous as well, moving from one thing to another.
Lord of the flies- I remembered liking it a lot in school, the writing just seemed a bit childish/young.
Antigone and oedipus Rex – I liked oedipus at colonus a lot more so these kind of fell flat.
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn- it was fine, just another comparison one. I liked Tom Sawyer’s adventures far more than those of Huck, getting to see into Tom’s mind, his reasoning and guilt for doing certain mischief. Huck Finn includes Tom being pretty mean and different from his character in his book too.
Anthem- loved it in school, didn’t do it for me again.
The odyssey- the Iliad was far better imo on the reread.
Books that did not disappoint: Fahrenheit 451, Harry Potter series, series of unfortunate events, great gatsby (I had forgotten some of the plot so it was good to find out again), pride and prejudice 5 stars again, the scarlet letter and crucible I like more on the reread (disliked in school for being boring), slaughterhouse-five (still was unsure what to think of it after but I enjoyed reading it again), Night, the catcher in the rye, to kill a mockingbird, the pearl, brave new world, the metamorphosis, animal farm, the Iliad.
*The Children of Green Knowe* by Lucy M. Boston.
As a kid, it was pure magic – a lonely boy discovering a place and people that feel like home, and the secrets of the manor gradually unfurling as he gains its trust. I adored it. As an adult rereading it, what hit me was the sense of an author clinging to an imagined version of the past, venerating this idea of the manorial estate with the benevolent master and happy servants who all know their place – holding it all with such an intense longing that she neglects to see the beauty in her contemporary world. It all felt grotesque and a bit sad.
Boston’s books were some of my favourites as a kid, there was such a sense of wonder to them, but sadly as an adult they just don’t hit the same. So I’m keeping the books, but probably won’t be rereading any more of them.
Twilight, the vampire diaries, the vampire academy, should I continue or did I make a point here.