Unpopular Opinions Thread

[847badgerfan]

I take buses and trains whenever possible.

[Cincydawg]

We took the train to and from the airport this trip.  Despite all the negative stories, it works fine in my experience.  There are "black people" on the train which I suspect for some means you're about to be robbed.

[MikeDeTiger]

Because I'm indulgent, I just went and reread my review of War and Peace. I'm happy with it (p.5 of the books thread, if you want to indulge me).

I don't recall it so I must have missed it when you wrote it, but I read it just now.  You got an audible chuckle out of me a couple of times.  I may have a couple of different takeaways of Tolstoy's overall bent, but I think you did an excellent job of conveying the terrifying slog that tree-waste of a book is.  

Incidentally, that mini-series I mentioned also did as good of a job as that medium could do, I think, to capture how Everybody.  Thinks.  A lot.  And.  Has.  Emotions.  

(and that's not a compliment)

[betarhoalphadelta]

But yeah, his contemporary Dostoevsky has way more interesting reads.  If you're looking for a 19th century Russian novelist, skip LT and go straight to FD. 

On the other hand, I really liked Crime and Punishment.  It had a plot, an actual story arc, and while the characters weren't particularly relatable to me, I could at least see something universal in them.

Agreed on Crime and Punishment. I wouldn't say "really liked", but it was an entertaining read. I'd suggest that perhaps a lot of the lack of relatability might be a cross-cultural and cross-temporal thing... The protagonist suffered from shame, and that's something that modern Americans seem to have lost the concept of 
 

I agree that Dostyevsky (sp?) was more compelling. I liked Crime and Punishment, though it was also a bit of a slog.

If there's one thing I wouldn't call it, it would be a "slog"...

Atlas Shrugged is a slog. Unlike War and Peace, it's got a full story arc--it's just about 600 pages too long. Rand didn't know the difference between writing a philosophical treatise and a novel. And her depth of characters was... At the cardboard cutout level. 

Crime and Punishment in comparison to either was a short, and IMHO relatively fast-paced, story. 

[Cincydawg]

Atlas Shrugged was "OK" if one skips over the long speechifying.

[utee94]

I'd suggest that perhaps a lot of the lack of relatability might be a cross-cultural and cross-temporal thing... The protagonist suffered from shame, and that's something that modern Americans seem to have lost the concept of

Well he also killed a couple of folks just to see if he could get away with it, so it's possible that he was unrelatable for me, for that reason...

[betarhoalphadelta]

Atlas Shrugged was "OK" if one skips over the long speechifying.

If you do that, you miss all the philosophical underpinning of the novel. At that point, you've read ~1100 pages and all you have are shittily-developed cardboard cutout characters and the basic idea of producers and moochers/looters without the understanding behind it. 

Rand's problem is that as she got older, her books got longer, and longer, and longer... But not better. 

Anthem was a good and short book. Lighter on philosophy but an easier read. The Fountainhead was starting to get long, but it seemed like the character interplay was better, and she at least seemed to get to the point. Atlas was just... A tome. The sort of thing that as a writer she thought "this is going to be THE book that I get to put EVERYTHING in--the magnum opus." And then the actual writing quality ended up IMHO being secondary to the message. 

Heinlein was different. He was certainly more in the libertarian mindset as a writer, and that [and the philosophy behind it] came through in his books. But he could actually write. The philosophy underpinned the work, instead of the work being a vehicle for the philosophy. 

Well he also killed a couple of folks just to see if he could get away with it, so it's possible that he was unrelatable for me, for that reason...

Well, there's that. 

[utee94]

I think Heinlein was more Individualist, than Libertarian.

I actually disliked his more philosophical works because of it.  Stranger In A Strange Land was a wildly masturbatory over indulgence in self, and it really turned me off his writings for a good long while.

[Cincydawg]

I'm in the process of finishing up my trilogy, a fantasy series.  I was pondering where to go with it on the flight home.  A great thing about being a wannabe author is that YOU are large and in charge.  I have the protagonist who has been, um, interested in the attractive young princess who has been entirely professional with him throughout.

Maybe there should be a book 4.

Probably not.

I let it sit a few months and then went back and reread what I had and with a few spiffs thought it decent.

[betarhoalphadelta]

I think Heinlein was more Individualist, than Libertarian.

I actually disliked his more philosophical works because of it.  Stranger In A Strange Land was a wildly masturbatory over indulgence in self, and it really turned me off his writings for a good long while.

Well if we boil it down... Ayn Rand and Robert Heinlein did have one similarity in their writings...

...a weird fixation on alternative sexual practices 

[SFBadger96]

See also the Girl With the Dragon Tatoo series...

[FearlessF]

perverts!

[Riffraft]

Ok well...the LOTR triology is mediocre and extremely repetitive. They adventure, some non-human group that is suspicious of humans decides to help because the evil threatens them, too; the protagonists face almost certain ruin in a climactic battle at the hands of stampeding hords of evil, then a savior comes from far away and turns the tide of the fight. Frodo suffers and struggles along his path, but always manages to escape certain doom. Eventually Frodo destroys the ring. The end.

I have read lotr probably 30 times.  I have read everything fiction that Tolkien has written and a bit of his non-fiction.  I love his writing, world building.  His short stories are great. I love "leaf by niggle"   he would probably deny it but a good allegory of his writing and life. 

[MikeDeTiger]

I have read lotr probably 30 times.  I have read everything fiction that Tolkien has written and a bit of his non-fiction.  I love his writing, world building.  His short stories are great. I love "leaf by niggle"  he would probably deny it but a good allegory of his writing and life.

I like his supplemental works and his letters, which delve into the history of Middle Earth.  It's crazy how much effort he put into world-building over the years.  He never stopped, in fact.  He kept developing Middle Earth well after the publication of his LOTR novels.  His creation myth and history of the First and Second Ages would make fantastic books (or films) if someone could do it right.