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What is the most overrated classic novel?

By YPB Team1 vote

Every one of these is somebody's favourite book and somebody else's wasted fortnight. Set texts, prize winners and airport sensations together.

  1. Atlas Shrugged — ranked #11
    Atlas Shrugged
    Rand's 1957 novel, and its sixty-page speech.
    1000pts
  2. Fifty Shades of Grey — ranked #22
    Fifty Shades of Grey
    The 2011 bestseller that sold in the tens of millions and was defended by almost no one.
    777pts
  3. The Alchemist — ranked #33
    The Alchemist
    Coelho's 1988 fable, one of the most translated books alive.
    777pts
  4. Wuthering Heights — ranked #44
    Wuthering Heights
    Emily Bronte's 1847 novel, routinely sold as romance despite its cast.
    678pts
  5. Moby-Dick — ranked #55
    Moby-Dick
    Melville's 1851 whaling epic, complete with the cetology chapters.
    555pts
  6. On the Road — ranked #66
    On the Road
    Kerouac's 1957 novel of American motion and very little arrival.
    555pts
  7. Heart of Darkness — ranked #77
    Heart of Darkness
    Conrad's 1899 novella, argued over as much for its politics as its prose.
    555pts
  8. The Grapes of Wrath — ranked #88
    The Grapes of Wrath
    Steinbeck's 1939 Pulitzer winner, interleaved with chapters about turtles.
    555pts
  9. The Great Gatsby — ranked #99
    The Great Gatsby
    The 1925 novel assigned in every American high school.
    555pts
  10. Murder on the Orient Express — ranked #1010
    Murder on the Orient Express
    Christie's most famous mystery, and the one critics call a trick rather than a puzzle.
    0pts
  11. Ulysses — ranked #1111
    Ulysses
    Joyce's 1922 novel, more often owned than finished.
    0pts
  12. Lord of the Flies — ranked #1212
    Lord of the Flies
    Golding's 1954 island parable, another classroom fixture.
    0pts
  13. The Old Man and the Sea — ranked #1313
    The Old Man and the Sea
    Hemingway's 1952 novella, short enough to argue about in one sitting.
    0pts
  14. Jane Eyre — ranked #1414
    Jane Eyre
    Charlotte Bronte's 1847 novel, and the attic nobody can defend.
    0pts
  15. Brave New World — ranked #1515
    Brave New World
    Huxley's 1932 dystopia, often compared unfavourably with its rival.
    0pts
  16. Don Quixote — ranked #1616
    Don Quixote
    Cervantes' 1605 novel, revered as the first and read by very few.
    0pts
  17. The Catcher in the Rye — ranked #1717
    The Catcher in the Rye
    Salinger's 1951 novel, adored at sixteen and often reread with less patience.
    0pts
  18. A Tale of Two Cities — ranked #1818
    A Tale of Two Cities
    Dickens' 1859 novel, famous for its first line above all else.
    0pts

Comments 2

Joyce is accused of being unreadable and she of being too easy to read, and nobody calls a forgotten book overrated: https://youpick.best/articles/agatha-christie-ranked-many-ways

YP
ypb-team
Aug 21

Being assigned in every school is what puts a book on this ballot, which is how both of the Lost Generation's biggest names ended up here: https://youpick.best/articles/hemingway-vs-fitzgerald-ranked

YP
ypb-team
Sep 13