Stupid blurbs

[Mouse]

Has anybody read a book where the blurb on the back of the cover has given away what's happening/going to happen in the book?

I'm reading Jane Slayre at the mo, it's a re-working of Jane Eyre but with vampires. The blurb on the back says that there's a werewolf in the attic and also says who it is. Yet I'm now on page 165 and the reader is still supposed to be wondering who and what it is that's so strange in the house?!

Why would the blurb tell me? Why?

So, any other examples of blurb madness? This can't be the only book which does it!

 

[Rand]

Regrettably, yes. I'm at the point where, if I know the author's work and generally like it, I don't read those things anymore.

The worst that I remember was from a book whose title evades me at the moment, quasi-historical treatment about some startling archeological discoveries. IIRC, the book was around 450 pages long, and the cover blurb revealed what was supposed to be the major plot twisting discovery - which was made on around page 400, and not even hinted at before that. Worse still, that drivel made it seem like the whole book was about this particular discovery and the furor caused by it, while in fact it was a rather routine pseudo-thriller type story with this one single revelation near the end.

 

[Mouse]

Tis silliness! I can't think of any more at the mo, but I'm sure I've got another on my shelf...

 

[Vertigo]

Can we include cover art in this - SF cover art can be fantastic - but it also has a history of being just dreadful. I read the Lost Fleet books by Jack Campbell. Every cover showed showed a man in serious battle armour totting some heavy duty futuristic guns and looking like a thoroughly rugged Starship Trooper type. Same character depicted on each cover so presumably the hero of stories. Whilst in fact the hero was commanding a fleet of spaceships, never once (until the last book) stepping outside his flagship and never once IIRC so much as picking up a gun. Totally misrepresents the books. In fact they looked so corny and cliched that I almost never read the books which were actually quite good.

 

[TheBean]

HAHAHA I can't think of any at the moment but that's funny. I don't think I've ever come across it. Guess I will start looking now!

 

[K. Riehl]

I avoid blurbs in general. I once turned 20 different sf/fantasy paperbacks around to read the blurbs and I found:

7 linking the story to Tolkien
9 mentioning Heinlein
6 referring to Ender's Game
4 to Twilight
2 to Dresden
2 to Kim Harrison
and 1 to, of all things, the Da Vinci Code

It's getting to Hollywood huckster proportions out there

 

[clovis-man]

Many years ago I read a short story in an SF magazine. Might have been Galaxy, If, Astounding, etc. Can't remember.

What was memorable was the blurb. It just said that it was impossible to write a blurb for the story without giving it away. As I recall, it was true.

 

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

Such things do so happen many times.


I think the blurb that remains with me, or at least the back cover mistake that most remains with me, is what was written on the hardcover editions of Being A Green Mother. "Brilliant Conclusion To An Epic Series".


Mr. Jacob had gone on to write three more volumes of IoI....



I generally avoid back covers of books for this very reason. I prefer to be surprised when I reach a book's end-surprised in either the manner that I was actually right, or when such a twist occurs that I could have never expected it.



Or else I could go back to reading books like the Cat in the Hat or the Pokey Little Puppy.

 

[Mouse]

Craziness.

Talking about covers, Vertigo, I wonder if anybody was ever disappointed reading The Ballantine Books version of The Lord of the Rings when they realised there was no flamingoes in it?

(best pic I can find of it: Lord of the Rings 1965)

 

[Vertigo]

Has to be said those are probably three of the worst covers for LOR that I have seen!

 

[mosaix]

I avoid like the plague any book whose blurb contains the word 'journey'. As in One woman's journey from a childhood of misery etc...

 

[Vertigo]

Probably a good guideline M but unfortunately I suspect there's many a good book that has it in their blurb (eg. LOR maybe) however probably not in the context you have outlined. Must admit as soon as I start seeing anything that smacks of "voyage of self-discovery" type of thing I run a mile.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

As for giving the plot away ... well, the author usually gets a sneak preview of what the back cover copy is going to look like, and the little excerpt thing at the beginning, more for his or her information than offered for approval, I think, nevertheless, it does give the writer a chance to protest before the book comes out.

For my first book there was a line that was going to give away something I wanted to come as a surprise to readers, I asked my editor if it could be changed, and it was changed. Some publishers might not be so obliging. I doubt mine would have been obliging if I had asked them to change more than a few words.

 

[kurzon]

An Elizabeth Moon novel was ruined for me because the blurb took us up to events 2/3 into the novel. Seriously annoying.

 

[Overread]

I generally don't bother with blurbs any more - I tend to find that (esp with fantasy) that most blurbs have that special talent to make the book sound like its going to be rather a childish adventure story with silly things happening inside. And yes I do hate it when the blurb reveals some major turning point in the book to the potential reader - in my view a blurb should only be written based on the first 50 or so pages of the story - that way we get that enticement to read without the horror of major plot devices being given away (

 

[Clansman]

I don't read blurbs anymore, either. I used to, before I discovered the Chrons, Goodreads, and other such sights. Now, I find people with similar tastes and who have a proven track record of good advice, and they have invariably read stuff that I haven't, and liked it, and also warn me off stuff that I wouldn't like. I try and do the same.

 

[Connavar]

I dont read blurbs because too many have given away plot developments that happens near the end. Also usually they like to tell too much about what the book is about from page 1 to near the end. Not just a short recap to get you excited.

Its not good for new authors to because of blurb spoilers i cant just try a book because it sounded good. I have to look up the writer first,reviews to see what the book is like.

Impulse buys,impulse trying new authors forget about that thanks to stupid blurbs by publishers,writers.

 

[Vertigo]

I don't read blurbs anymore, either. I used to, before I discovered the Chrons, Goodreads, and other such sights. Now, I find people with similar tastes and who have a proven track record of good advice, and they have invariably read stuff that I haven't, and liked it, and also warn me off stuff that I wouldn't like. I try and do the same.

That's an interesting one Clansman and made me think as soon as I read it. Since joining Chrons I now have a scarily big TBR list and have bought quite a number of books including authors I've not read before but haven't read any of the blurbs. Whereas before I would almost invariably have read them first.

Talk about trust!

 

[Fried Egg]

Talking about "stupid" blurbs, the one on the front of a book I'm currently reading ("Jhereg" by Steven Brust") comes to mind:

A young man bound for adventure needs a fairthful reptile companion!.

I can't imagine anyone picking up a book on the strength of that...

 

[Allegra]

Must admit as soon as I start seeing anything that smacks of "voyage of self-discovery" type of thing I run a mile.

You should be thankful at least they warned you first!

Interesting thread, Mouse. Like most of you I also can't be bothered with blurbs. Mostly because either the books are written by the authors I like, or I already knew more than the blurbs can tell.