From time to time, I know we all come across books we don’t care for. They can’t all be awesome, right? I can usually find a couple of redeeming factors in a book, even if I end up hating it. These books? One of which I actually own? I don’t even want to donate it to the library because that would mean inflicting it on some poor unknowing soul. That bad.
Shall we?
Hot Water Music by Charles Bukowski [review]
What it is: A collection of about 40 short stories
Major offenses: Several stories were racist or homophobic. ALL were misogynistic. The whole “drunk dude beating up women and using them for sex, but it’s okay because he’s a struggling writer who had an abusive relationship with his father” thing is total B.S.
Additional commentary: Bukowski sucks. Never again.
Malinche by Laura Esquivel [review]
What it is: A form of revisionist historical fiction in which Malintzin falls in love with Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés.
Major offenses: Disjointed and completely devoid of reality. Requires reader to believe that a slave would immediately fall madly in love with her captor after being raped by him.
Additional commentary: Esquivel should know better.
LowboyWhat it is: A novel about a schizophrenic teen who escapes from the mental healthy facility where he lives and goes in search of a girl named Emily Wallace. He thinks the world is ending and that only he has the power to stop it.
Major offenses: Disgustingly ableist towards people with mental health problems. It’s also poorly written.
Additional commentary: It was on several “best of” lists last year. That disturbs me.
I’ll probably be posting my favorite fiction of 2010 sometime towards the end of next week. I always wait until the last minute in case I read something really, really awesome in the final days of the year! (That, and I’m a procrastinator.)
Feminist Texican Reads 
I didn’t like Malinche either, but in general find Esquivel (and how much people love her) to be maddening.
Oh my. These all sound absolutely horrid. Really really really horrid. I will certainly be avoiding them!
Malinche sounds the worst! Thanks for posting this list. I have no plans to read any of these books.
Thanks for the warnings! Lowboy sounds like something I might have picked up based on the premise, and then been very angry after reading it.