If you enjoy reading, chances are you’ve come across your fair share of bad books. It can be a book that you pick yourself or something someone recommends to you. Sometimes, a recommendation is so off that you start looking at the person who suggested it differently. 

That’s exactly what happened to today’s OP. Her boyfriend suggested a book he loved, but on the second page, she started doubting his judgment – the book was overly sexist and misogynistic. Let’s just say that after this recommendation, their relationship didn’t last very long.

More info: Reddit

Sometimes a recommended book is so bad, you start looking at the person who made the suggestion in a whole different light

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A man gifted his girlfriend a book he loved for her to read while she was spending time away

Image credits: GunnarLong2000 / Reddit (not the actual photo)

It was a book called “A Spell for Chameleon,” and it terrified the woman from its first pages

Image credits: Aaaand_Dead / Reddit (not the actual photo)

The storyline of the book wasn’t scary, but what terrified her was how sexist, misogynistic, and poorly written it was

Image credits: lazychickbum

Image credits: freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)

She couldn’t believe that her educated and respectful boyfriend liked such a book

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When she asked him about it, he explained that he’d read it over a decade earlier and hadn’t remembered the details of its sexism, which calmed her down a bit

Image credits: lazychickbum

Image credits: teksomolika / Freepik (not the actual photo)

8 years later, the woman posted an update about it – turns out the relationship wasn’t a good fit and they broke up around a month after the original post

Image credits: lazychickbum

Now, she is happily married to someone, who likely doesn’t idealize sexist books

The OP met her boyfriend, who was 12 years older, while they were each studying for their master’s degree. At first, they were friends, then slowly they became more than that, and before the woman left the state for a summer internship, they were a couple.

Before the original poster left for the internship, the boyfriend gave her a book. It was “A Spell for Chameleon” by Piers Anthony. This book is a fantasy novel published in 1977 and is the first book of the “Xanth.” In 1978, it won the best novel of the year at the August Derleth Awards. 

The OP would full-heartedly disagree with such an award. In her eyes, this book is an abomination. Her disgust with it started two pages in, as she thought the writing was ridiculous, especially when it was about women. 

She tried explaining her doubts to her boyfriend, but he made a deal that if she read it, he would read the Harry Potter books she loved so much. So, she agreed and gave “A Spell for Chameleon” a second chance. 

Yet, she still hated it. In fact, she called it one of the most sexist and misogynistic texts she had ever read. Overall, the book was poorly written – with spoon-fed, obvious symbolism; fantasy creatures and concepts that add nothing to the plot; an unlikeable protagonist; and so on. 

Despite the award for best novel from over 40 years ago, the original poster isn’t the only one who sees this book as an atrocity. There are quite a few like-minded people in the Goodreads review section. Here, this one calls out the same literary sins as the OP did – poor writing, sexism, and misogyny. Even the author Jason Heller once described this book as “the sad, misogynistic fantasy of Xanth.” Doesn’t sound appealing, does it? 

Image credits: Timur Weber / Pexels (not the actual photo)

That’s why the OP kept wondering how she should break the news to her boyfriend that she couldn’t stand this book – and even his promise to read Harry Potter was not going to help it. She didn’t want to upset him, as apparently it was a work he enjoyed, which she couldn’t wrap her head around.

This man was respectful, educated, and identified as a feminist, but loved such a book. She didn’t want to hurt him but wanted him to understand why the book was problematic. 

Both the OP and people in the comments wondered if it had been a while since the man had read the book and therefore maybe he didn’t remember its sexism. After all, the human brain is wired to forget certain things that it consumes, to “save space.” And it turned out to be true for this case – it had been at least a decade since he had read the book and he wasn’t able to remember the small details, which calmed the woman down. 

But the story doesn’t end here. 8 years later, the OP posted another update, explaining how the story ended. Naturally, since so much time has passed, she is in a whole chapter of her life – happily married, but not to the guy mentioned before. 

That relationship crumbled after around a month after the post appeared on Reddit. She received an opportunity to live and study abroad, and since it was clear he didn’t want anything too serious, she called the relationship off. And then suddenly he wanted it to work – he kept contacting her for over a year after the breakup, viewed her profile on LinkedIn, and so on. 

As the woman said – online folks’ intuition about him not being the right fit for her came true. Thankfully, she dodged a bullet in time. Writing an update gave her a chance to take a trip down memory lane, helping her to appreciate just how valuable the happy relationship she has now is.

Have you read “A Spell for Chameleon”? What were your thoughts on it?

People in the comments shared their experiences with the same book –how they read it during childhood and didn’t notice how bad it was until they read it as adults

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