In my quest to add new material to my library, I came across some books that were so terrible, I couldn't get past the first page. How these books managed to get published still remains a mystery to me.

The only explanation for this type of writing is that the writers were purposefully trying to make a caricature of literature, because I don't know how anyone can be confident enough to write and publish this twaddle.

I will continue to update this thread as I discover more badly written books.

The first book I'll make mention of is the book titled: I do not come to you by chance by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani.

I really had high hopes for this book and expected it to be a worthwhile read, but I was extremely disappointed.

When reading books, I really don't care about the story as much as I care about the writing, particularly the prose. If a book is well written, I'll read it, regardless of the plot.

This book by Adaobi Tricia was just so bad, I was already cringing at the first page. It's obvious the writer was trying to be creative with words and infuse some metaphors and personification into her prose, but her execution was a failure.

In her opening sentence she writes:

"My taste buds had been hearing the sound of my mother's cooking and my stomach had started talking."

In another paragraph she writes:

"The piece of meat looked up at me and laughed. I would have laughed back but there was nothing to laugh about in this situation."

I mean, come on! Really? How does a piece of meat laugh? How can taste buds hear? The whole point of personification as a figure of speech is to attribute human actions to something non-human or abstract. So what exactly is she doing?

The first chapter of this book is replete with this sort of cringy word-play. I don't know about the other chapters because I couldn't make it through the first. Also, the prose is just disjointed and clunky, as if it wasn't polished by an editor. You notice a series of monotonous similar sounding sentences that make for a very dull read.

This Chimamanda wannabe should find another job. She certainly doesn't have the talent for writing.

Juxtapose the nonsense up there with the opening chapter from the book: Half of a Yellow Sun written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Notice how she weaves figures of speech into her writing, but does it in a way that is creative, compelling, and graceful. Her prose flows effortlessly.

This is how to write.

......

The piece of meal looked up to me and laugh is so off-putting.
I agree with you on this one

For some reason I liked it. You knew what she was doing and still complained. My problem with books is the patience required to finish them, I'd rather browse the Internet. The book you criticised will entertain a Caucasian looking to read something less formal than he/she is used to. One man's poison is another's meat in this case.

There is nothing special to writing. In this day and age where almost everyone types comments online we are all capable of creating literature.