The Graduate - Charles Webb 1963 *

Having not seen the film for a very long time, I thought I would try reading the book of this 'pivotal story defining the sixties.'
A quarter of a way in and I wasn't too impressed by anything the book had to say, and it became an absolute chore to have to finish it (despite it only being small).
All in all, I can't tell what this author is trying to get at. Does he think he is capturing the sixties? Does he know he is probably one of the worst authors I have ever read? Does he even know how to formulate a sentence?
For such a well known book, I was desperately surprised and let down at how poorly it was written, both grammatically and regarding the prose. What struck me was how immature it came across, as though the author had never written anything before and was just playing around with sentences and ideas in a torrent mess.
The story is pretty ridiculous anyway, and I still don't really understand how the film was a 'defining moment' in movie history.
If my advice is needed, I would say to steer clear from both the book and the film (although if I really had to choose I would say that the film was a tad better).

Started 4th November
Finished 12th November

Amsterdam - Ian McEwan 1998 **

One of the worst and most depressing books I have read in a long time. 'Amsterdam' means nothing, accomplishes nothing, and finishes like the author forgot to round it all off. It was sloppily written and completely uninteresting. Boring would be an understatement. The novel supposedly centres on the relationships between certain people when they gather at the funeral of an old friend, but within the first ten pages or so, we have left this story, and gone off into bizarre and dull segments surrounding each character and their awful lives. The book becomes nothing to do with the central character, and more just a random collection of 'snapshots' about some horrible people with no resolution whatsoever. Dreadful book.

Started 26th May
Finished 27th May