DNF -- Did Not Finish

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

This is something I hate and try to avoid as much as possible but, sometimes (and for reasons that we largely cannot explain), certain books or stories just don't click with us and we simply have to drop them.

What are some examples of this sort of thing that you have experienced yourself and why did they happen?

I personally recall having to abandon the first book on the "Outlander" series -- it just lost me after having done a pretty spectacular job of it, and I still think about the parts that really worked... But taken as a whole? I just couldn't digest it.

What about you? Do you regret closing the book or do you think it was just the right call?

 

[ciro64]

I stopped reading the Movie Making Nerd half way through... but for no reason in particular. I was actually enjoying it.

 

[χKai]

Sometimes if something is particularly cringe or disregarding of other's rights and/or lives, it will make me stop so that I can go unleash my rage in a healthier outlet instead of.. Well.
I'll leave it that to your imagination.

 

[Deleted member 612095]

I have always managed to read everything but I also had to force myself sometimes because it's a shame when you start something and don't finish it.

 

[trickybus]

Books I read for leisure I tend to finish as I know what I like—history, fantasy/fiction, and especially historical fiction. The earliest exception to that was Charles Dickens' Great Expectations because I picked that one up way before I had the vocabulary to get through it without stopping to look up every other word. Can't say I regret it because while it's considered a classic, it runs contrary to my literary tastes.

Nearly all of the books I ended up putting down were mandatory reads that were either too dry or written by loonies. In high school, I suffered all the way through Atlas Shrugged until I got to John Galt's speech near the end. I looked ahead to discover that his speech was several, droning pages long and tapped out right there. No regrets.

Grapes of Wrath was a mandatory read that bored me to tears. I wouldn't be able to summarize it for you because I think my mind black-holed it for my sanity.

 

[PSVitaForever]

I borrowed "Harry Potter" books from a friend; I read them "just because", I weren't really interested but you were hearing about HP everywhere, so...
I used to read very fast so I went through at least the first three books in a few weeks, after that I had no desire to keep on and also I could not remember anything about what I had read, probably I wasn't interested at all in the characters, their story, the setting, everything.
I never wished to watch HP movies as well: I watched some minutes once, when it was on TV and I was scrolling through channels, but I felt no interest. So, no regrets and no desire to read them again.

Also, I can't really explain why I like or don't like something, it's a question that I find very difficult to give a good and long answer.

 

[Teordek]

Sometimes if something is particularly cringe

This was me with Napoleon Dynamite. Its particular style of humor really just made me uncomfortable more than anything else.

 

[χKai]

This was me with Napoleon Dynamite. Its particular style of humor really just made me uncomfortable more than anything else.

Oh you sweet summer child.
I mean far worse cringe than that!

 

[Teordek]

Oh you sweet summer child.
I mean far worse cringe than that!

You right, but I'm thinking about more conventionally popular stuff that people actually like tbh. Anyone can nope out of a basement showing of Feeders.

 

[WallachiaResident98]

This is something I hate and try to avoid as much as possible but, sometimes (and for reasons that we largely cannot explain), certain books or stories just don't click with us and we simply have to drop them.

What are some examples of this sort of thing that you have experienced yourself and why did they happen?

I personally recall having to abandon the first book on the "Outlander" series -- it just lost me after having done a pretty spectacular work of it, and I still think about the parts that really worked... But taken as a whole? I just couldn't digest it.

What about you? Do you regret closing the book or do you think it was just the right call?

Parasite Eve, there's a boss in a warehouse if I remember right, and I could not for love nor money defeat it, it kicked my ass hard enough for it to hurt.

I was enjoying the story, it had it's hooks in me, and seeing the ending of the parasite eve movie made me want to see it through, the gameplay was engaging, the uniqueness of the combat system made this a perfect game. But that jerkass of a boss stomped on the brakes of my hypetrain.

I may change this, however. But I think I lack the mental fortitude.

 

[fake-kun]

I can't pick a singular example because 99% of books I read end up unfinished.

 

[Sleepstate]

I often stop playing games for long lengths of time but do eventually come back to finish them eventually i feel the only case of DNF i really have are the Shantae games and even then i do get to the very end but just never get past the final boss (i could rant for a while about what i dislike about the boss design in most shantae games but another time)

 

[RanmyakuIchi's icon RanmyakuIchi RanmyakuIchi]

I generally keep a policy with media that if I'm not enjoying something, I'll drop it and move on. There's just way too many things I want to play, watch, read, listen to, or overwise experience to spend hours on something I'm not having a rewarding time with.

 

[JackNoir413]

this happened to me only thrice.
one time i bought a copy of the knight in rusty armor. but i didnt notice the edition i bought was actually a rewrite by a rabbi with a lot of juice speak. obviously i read like 3 pages and decided to throw it in the trash. the original story is pretty good tho!

the other two cases were two books as well. one about the first railroad in my country(which should've been interesting but really the author sucked at getting to the point) and a book of sci fi stories called the cyberiad which was just boring to me.

normally this doesnt happen to me but these cases were just impossible to see through the end.

 

[diapered]

Grapes of Wrath was a mandatory read that bored me to tears. I wouldn't be able to summarize it for you because I think my mind black-holed it for my sanity.

That is crazy you mention that one because that is probably the only book I never finished. And I love Steinbeck: canary row is one of my favorites. Anyone itt, go read canary row if you haven't! But yea, I gave up on grapes, I was bored out of my mind and as an adult I have even less patience now, so I probably never will read it >_<

Nearly all of the books I ended up putting down were mandatory reads that were either too dry or written by loonies. In high school, I suffered all the way through Atlas Shrugged until I got to John Galt's speech near the end. I looked ahead to discover that his speech was several, droning pages long and tapped out right there. No regrets.

That sucks you had lots of mandatory reading in hs. I had a little, but mostly my teachers coordinated a list from the AP literature reqs and just let me read what I wanted from that and had to write essays on what I was reading. Yea, Rand never stood out to me as an author worth reading... And grapes was my own choice, it wasn't required, so I just picked something else when I gave up. I also never read moby dick because seemed too long, but I like Billly Budd, so Melville is a good writer, imo.

 

[Zerohour2k12]

I didn't drop em', more like I forgot to take em' with me when we moved was Da Vinci Code and Fright Night.

 

[trickybus]

Parasite Eve, there's a boss in a warehouse if I remember right, and I could not for love nor money defeat it, it kicked my ass hard enough for it to hurt.

The Giant Enemy Crab boss! It's not required to beat the game; it's just an optional sub-boss that drops a rocket launcher. Mr. Crab is actually really easy to cheese, you just have to find out where the safe zones are.

However, if you're going for the true ending, Giant Enemy Crab appears in the Chrysler Building, so he becomes mandatory in that context..

Post automatically merged: Jun 22, 2025

That sucks you had lots of mandatory reading in hs. I had a little, but mostly my teachers coordinated a list from the AP literature reqs and just let me read what I wanted from that and had to write essays on what I was reading.

That would have been lovely! I think my hs teachers built their curriculum around specific novels so I was shit out of luck in that department.

I did get a really cool literature teacher in my senior year, though! She assigned several works from Gabriel García Márquez—a Colombian writer that specialized in magical realism, a genre I grew a fascination with because of it's unique handling of the supernatural—and Native Son alongside a short story from Richard Wright. Native Son is absolutely fascinating with how its narrative handles racial discrimination in 1940's America. It's highly controversial due to the portrayal of the protagonist, Bigger Thomas, but I do think it accomplishes exactly what the author intended because it's such a engaging read and topic of discussion.

 

[_Lorenzo_]

It's kind of a bad thing to admit, but most of the books I’ve ended up abandoning were ones recommended to me by friends or family.
Ulysses by Joyce, Les Misérables by Hugo, books on sociology/psychology, or uninspiring political stuff…

 

[Morgana Veil]

It's kind of a bad thing to admit, but most of the books I’ve ended up abandoning were ones recommended to me by friends or family.
Ulysses by Joyce, Les Misérables by Hugo, books on sociology/psychology, or uninspiring political stuff…

I hear ya, people I know have tried to shove more religious rhetoric and text down my throat than a hooker with male anatomy at a BJ contest.

I don't mind suggestions or recommendations about things to read, but it's very asinine to outright suggest or offer things when you know the person has absolutely no interest in them.
Whether it's political, religious, or the weird sticky mag's under your friend's mattress.

 

[_Lorenzo_]

I hear ya, people I know have tried to shove more religious rhetoric and text down my throat than a hooker with male anatomy at a BJ contest.

I don't mind suggestions or recommendations about things to read, but it's very asinine to outright suggest or offer things when you know the person has absolutely no interest in them.
Whether it's political, religious, or the weird sticky mag's under your friend's mattress.

I wouldn’t be so categorical and explicit, but I’d say I mostly agree…

 

[Morgana Veil]

I wouldn’t be so categorical and explicit, but I’d say I mostly agree…

Well I suppose I could have been more eloquent with the wording but my point still stands.
Sorry, that's just how I talk in real life

 

[_Lorenzo_]

Well I suppose I could have been more eloquent with the wording but my point still stands.
Sorry, that's just how I talk in real life

No problem, each of us is free to express ourselves as we see fit.

 

[Graw]

Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series. It was pretty much just a poor man's wheel of time used as a medium for the author's poorly disguised rape fetish.

George Martin's song of ice and fire. It was pretty much just a soap opera about rich people and I couldn't stand any of the characters. I made it part way through the third book and just gave up.

The wheel of time. I read it back just after the eleventh book came out and I can't be bothered to go back and reread them all now that the series is finished.

The malazan book of the fallen series. I dropped it at the 5th book I think because it was getting pretty stupid. It had some Dragonball z level power scaling issues and became like some kind fantasy super hero comic with all the characters having ridiculous powers and the storyline becoming over the top.

 

[Sir Auriel of Lionel]

Honestly too many romance books that I care to remember. I'm not a fan of romance but I was trying and failing to broaden my horizons but hey I now have authors on my DNR list.

Borne from Jeff VanderMeer was a bit esoteric for my brain to handle at the time but I still want to give it a try again since the bestiary in the back intrigued me from the start.

Roadside Picnic - Arkady and Boris Strugatsky on the other hand I shut down fast. Sometimes I can read asshole or unscrupulous leads this was not one of those times I was engaged to continue, could not care and returned to library.

 

[Cuestionador]

I read the Brothers Karamazov two times and always can't past the half of the second book (i have a cheap 4 book edition published by a newspaper of my country). Maybe it's time to try for a third time and see what happens, i enjoyed many works of Dostoievsky like Crime and Punishment and The Player.