Line #201 Narm/Literature


1	->''"One would have to have a heart of stone to read the death of little Nell without dissolving into tears... of laughter."''
2	-->-- '''Creator/OscarWilde''', mocking Creator/CharlesDickens' ''Literature/TheOldCuriosityShop''
3
4	It's harder to ''see'' a {{Narm}} moment when reading a book, but you'll know it when it hits you.
5
6	----
7	The following examples have their own pages:
8	[[index]]
9	* ''Narm/BlackJewels''
10	* ''Narm/HarryPotter''
11	* ''Narm/TheHungerGames''
12	* ''Narm/TheLordOfTheRings''
13	* ''Narm/TheTwilightSaga''
14	[[/index]]
15	----
16	* In the ''Literature/BaldursGate'' novelisation, a lot of people have difficulty taking the protagonist Abdel Adrian seriously, because he's written as if he's supposed to be impressive, but he's also really dumb and un-heroic. This culminates in a scene where he screams out his angst so epically that the text takes time to describe how various creatures far away and even the gods themselves take notice.
17	* ''Literature/ACourtOfThornsAndRoses'':
18	** Some of the sex scenes throughout the series can slip into being unintentionally funny and ridiculous rather than sexy, due to the use of over-the-top metaphors and behaviours to describe the sex and/or straight-up bizarre stuff happening during the sex. Specific moments include Feyre's vagina glowing and Rhysand climaxing so hard a nearby mountain-top shatters.
19	** The Inner Circle's utter horror over how much Nesta spent at a bar ("500 gold marks") can become this considering that in the same chapter, it's stated that Feyre and Rhysand have ''five'' houses ''and'' just finished renovating a gargantuan riverside mansion. The description of Feyre crying into her scrambled eggs about it doesn't help due to the unintentional melodrama.
20	* The ''Dragon Temple Saga'' by Janine Cross could have been critically acclaimed for delving into the effects of colonization against a less advanced culture and creating a fantasy version of Southeast Asia -- a place rarely looked at in fantasy tales. Instead this series became infamous for oral sex by dragons and a parade of male slaves with constant hard-ons from dragon venom exposure ("their jutting venom cocks stood straight in the air").
21	* ''Literature/TheLegendOfRahAndTheMuggles'' is mathematically designed to not be taken seriously. This is a story aimed at 9- to 12-year-olds, with Teletubby-like characters who are descended from eugenics targets in a post-apocalyptic world. No, this is not a parody. In fact, the author takes every moment she can [[{{Anvilicious}} to shove down her deep messages]] on eminent domain laws, the United Nations, political corruption and communism, in a book where characters baby talk and the villain is a schoolyard bully. [[Anime/TheAnimatrix The Second Renaissance]] this ain't. Worse was the lawsuit she threw against ''Franchise/HarryPotter'', in which she tried to portray this as the more mature series...
22	* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'' ([[{{Pun}} Narm-ia?]]) has several of these:
23	** One of the best is after Puddleglum's [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome awesome]] ShutUpHannibal in ''Literature/TheSilverChair''. What do the others do? Do they stand in awed silence? Come up with their own arguments? Draw their swords? No, they say this:
24	-->Oh, hurrah! Good old Puddleglum!
25	** The old BBC radio adaptation of ''Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe'' was generally a [[PragmaticAdaptation rather good adaptation for the new medium, with solid voice acting and plenty of good original lines.]] However, it does include a ham-tastic line from Jadis:
26	--->'''The White Witch:''' We shall ''kill'' the Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve, and their pet lion Aslan, and ''re-establish my rule... [[PunctuatedForEmphasis in NARNIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!]]''
27	* ''Literature/TheHouseOfNight'':
28	** Near the beginning of ''Chosen'', shortly after Zoey gets a present from her boyfriend, Heath, saying she doesn't like gifts that combine her birthday and Christmas, comes this from the stereotypical gay guy of the group:
29	--> "I like snow globes," Jack said softly, looking like he was about to cry. "The snowy part makes me happy."
30	** A lot of the dialogue in ''Dragon's Oath'' rhymes unnecessarily. So you get sentences like this:
31	-->"You have cut my heart with your sword,\
32	Bryan Dragon Lankford!"
33	* [[TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms RA Salvatore]]:
34	** In ''Exile'' (book two of ''Literature/TheDarkElfTrilogy'') there's this, which MakesSenseInContext but it's still funny:
35	---> "Who are you? You are not my father!"\
36	"No. I am your... mother!"
37	* ''Literature/InheritanceCycle'':
38	** In ''Eldest'', Eragon [[spoiler:is transformed into a half-elf, half-human, calls himself a "princeling," and is]] "more beautiful than any man, more rugged than any elf". Clearly Paolini wanted his readers to be in awe, but this is over the top.
39	** Most of the opening scene is very narmy, such as "the Urgals shrank back, motionless," (so how did they shrink back without moving) and Durza's ridiculous order to the Urgals: "Stop whoever is coming... or die." (Just so the audience knows this [[SarcasmMode incredibly complex character]] is evil).
40	** The first line of ''Eldest'', currently among the page quotes for MeaninglessMeaningfulWords: "The songs of the dead are the lamentations of the living." Yes, Eragon, [[ShapedLikeItself that's pretty much]] ''exactly'' [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment what the songs of the dead are]].
41	** The scene in ''Brisingr'' in which Roran stands dramatically [[AtopAMountainOfCorpses on top of a 20-foot-tall stack of the bodies of 193 men he had defeated]]. His only stated regret was that there were not enough foes for an even two hundred. While this may suggest [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation even worse disturbing sociopathy than Eragon's]] while not gelling with how he's been characterized before, the scene imagined was so ludicrous that it was hilarious.
42	** On the one hand, ''Brisingr'' is less of a ripoff of other works and more original on Paolini's part. On the other hand, some of his original ideas are a little bizarre, such as that furry elf who's irresistible to women...
43	** Long, untranslated pieces of either the Ancient Language or that noise the Dwarves make.
44	** Almost any of the verse Paolini includes in the Cycle - he confines himself to free verse with almost no metre or indeed poetic attributes of any kind. For example, there's the scene in ''Eldest'' in which Eragon reads his poem to the elves. Judging by the praise they heap on him, we're meant to be awe-inspired. Unfortunately, the poem is not the lyrical opus the elves praise it as, but an atrociously written, borderline EmoTeen's love poem. There is neither rhyme nor meter, and it refers to eyes as 'enigmatic pools'.
45	** In ''Brisingr'', Eragon involuntarily kills two birds and a snake to replenish his magic reserves, and "dies three times". We're clearly meant to be touched by his sensitivity. This falls somewhat flat if you realise that this comes ''after'' he's slaughtered hundreds of the villain's soldiers without so much as batting an eyelid. [[AccidentalInnuendo It's even worse]] if you're familiar with [[TheModestOrgasm a certain French euphemism]].
46	** There is a scene in which the sight of a bee saves Eragon from the brink of death.
47	** At the end of "The City of Sorrows", Roran mentally tells Eragon to "hurry, or I swear I'll haunt you from the grave." While this is not a serious threat on Roan's part, it's clearly meant to be a serious moment showing us the dire situation they find themselves in... but it's such a useless, laughable threat that Roran looks like a wimp. "Just in case feeling overwhelming amounts of anguish/guilt for failing to keep the world from falling to the permanent rule of a horrible, inhuman dictator, letting your liegelord be tortured almost to death, losing the schoolboy-crush-esque love of your life, aren't enough... your cousin is also going to return from the dead as a spook in wherever you live in the ensuing dystopia."
48	** Galbatorix was never the most original and compelling villain ever written, but ''dear lord'', is his dialogue in ''Inheritance'' clichéd. One wonders how can anyone read such three-dimensional lines such as “I shall kill [these kids I pulled out of nowhere] if you dare attack me again... In fact, if you displease me excessively, I shall kill them anyway” without imagining him twirling his mustache.
49	** [[MegatonPunch Eragon kills a random enemy soldier by punching him so hard that he goes flying into the ceiling.]]
50	* The amount of {{Narm}} in ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'' can depend heavily on your political background, but some of it is pretty undeniable. If you're inclined to see it as such, it's heavy throughout the whole series (even his ''dedication page'' in [[http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?showtopic=10558&st=80&p=387035&#entry387035 the first book]]). A collection of Narms can be found [[http://sandstormreviews.blogspot.com/2006/08/goodkind-parodies.html here]].
51	** The one thing everyone can agree on is that the evil chicken that cackled is hilarious. It's so narmy that many readers believed it was ''intentional'' parody until Kahlan is face to face with it and then you realize that no, Goodkind genuinely thought he was writing something scary.
52	** The name Nicholas the Slide. It sounds like an anthropomorphic playground apparatus, not a soul-stealing wizard.
53	** The Sword of Truth is literally a sword with 'truth' written on it.
54	** An infamous typo from one edition of ''Faith of the Fallen'': "He raised his anus, commanding silence."
55	* ''Literature/OfMiceAndMen''
56	** The ending contains a scene utterly uncharacteristic of the rest of the book. Lennie has a mental breakdown and is roundly chastised by a giant, hallucinatory bunny (which speaks in Lennie's voice). The scene is omitted from many play and movie adaptations of the book.
57	** If read aloud a certain way, "I like beans with ketchup!" becomes hilarious.
58	%%* The ending of Ben Elton's ''Literature/ChartThrob''. Very disappointing in its narm.
59	* The first chapter of ''The Ill-Made Mute'' has constant PurpleProse. But how can you dislike a book where one of the traditional songs of her fantasy world is a rephrase of "Stairway To Heaven"? And another is Cream's "White Room"?
60	* ''Literature/BattlefieldEarth'' is loaded with Narm. Johnnie and the Scots find the Marine Corp base, and they find all the weapons that were from 2000 in '''''[[strike:[[RagnarokProofing near-perfect condition]]]]''''' [[InWorkingOrder repairable condition]]. This is a thousand years AfterTheEnd of high-tech human civilization!
61	* ''Literature/LittleMen'':
62	** Nat's first night at Plumfield, when Demi goes into his room and winds up telling him the entire life of Christ as a bedtime story.
63	** The {{Glurge}}-tastic coverage given to the boys at Plumfield with disabilities, physical or mental.
64	--->"God don't care; for my soul is straight if my back isn't," sobbed Dick to his tormentor on that occasion; and, by cherishing this idea, the Bhaers soon led him to believe that people also loved his soul, and did not mind his body, except to pity and help him to bear it.
65	:: Patronizing tone aside, the best part is that "led him to believe" unintentionally implies [[LiesToChildren that it isn't even true]]. (And would you believe Dick and Billy [[BuryYourDisabled both get killed off]] between ''Little Men'' and ''Jo's Boys''?)
66	* ''Jo's Boys'' goes into great detail about how wonderful Amy and Laurie's wedded bliss has been, including expounding at length on their perfect daughter. ''Little Men'' has an entire chapter about how angelic Bess is and what a good influence she is on the boys, who for some reason are all desperate to impress a four-year-old.
67	* The line [[spoiler: "Ftaires! We haue found ftaires!"]] in ''Literature/HouseOfLeaves'' is [[NarmCharm both scary and]] {{Narm}}ful at the same time. It is genuinely chilling when you realise what's just happened, but... [[spoiler: ftaires]]! Of course, if you don't realize what just happened, then it looks like Zampano wasn't making any sense again...
68	* ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'' has one during Cao Cao's escape from his defeat at the Battle of Red Cliff. After running a bit, he stops and laughs, noting that his rival Zhuge Liang can't be that smart or he'd have placed an ambush right at that spot. Cue ambush. After he and the remnants of his army escape, the exact same thing then happens twice more.
69	* In ''Theatre/AManForAllSeasons''. Margaret's comeback to her father's saying something typically DeadpanSnarker-like (if that can be said of Thomas More) was something along the lines of 'You're very gay.' She meant cheery and glad, [[HaveAGayOldTime but...]]
70	* Quite possibly the most infamous Narm moment in all of literature:
71	--> ItWasADarkAndStormyNight.
72	* Creator/OscarWilde isn't immune to this. ''Literature/TheHappyPrince'' involves a bird and a [[TakenForGranite prince-turned-statue]] who is crying over being a statue. Most of Wilde's children's stories contain Narm and soppy morals. Most Victorian moral stories for children do. Wilde's work CrossesTheLineTwice -- you have to barrel through the narm and then double back and start crying like a baby.
73	* ''Literature/WildCards'' has its share of narm, but in particular this line:
74	--> "C.C. Ryder's very real nightmare was that she would again become a living subway car formed from nothing save hate".
75	* ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lottery_Rose The Lottery Rose]]'' features a climactic scene where a young mentally handicapped boy is drowned when he goes out to the lake to feed the ducks unsupervised, is overwhelmed when they quickly form a demanding mob and falls in. At least, that's what the author intended; as written, it's very easy to get the impression that he dies merely from the ducks' attack, which doesn't exactly inspire gasps of horror. Special mention for the use of the phrase "Their hungry quacking" for creepy build-up.
76	* ''Theatre/AStreetcarNamedDesire'' has a scene when Stella talks about how her abusive husband, on their wedding night, smashed all the light fittings in the hotel room with her slipper. The sheer ''randomness'' of that action, combined with a slipper being the silliest weapon ever, makes it hilarious.
77	--> '''STEEEEEEELLLLLLLAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'''
78	* Creator/AEHousman:
79	** Translation-induced {{Narm}} is brilliantly parodied in "Fragment of a Greek Tragedy":
80	--> '''ERIPHYLE (within)''': O, I am smitten with a hatchet's jaw;\
81	And that in deed and not in word alone.\
82	'''CHORUS''': I thought I heard a sound within the house\
83	Unlike the voice of one that jumps for joy.\
84	'''ERIPHYLE''': He splits my skull, not in a friendly way,\
85	Once more: he purposes to kill me dead.\
86	'''CHORUS''': I would not be reputed rash, but yet\
87	I doubt if all be gay within the house.\
88	'''ERIPHYLE''': O! O! another stroke! that makes the third.\
89	He stabs me to the heart against my wish.\
90	'''CHORUS''': If that be so, thy state of health is poor;\
91	But thine arithmetic is quite correct.
92	* ''Literature/WarriorCats'':
93	** This exchange. Just saying "stop it!" would have been much easier:
94	-->"Defend yourself! Or I swear by [=StarClan=] I'll kill you!"
95	-->"Then you're a fool, and stupid too!"
96	-->"You musn't keep doing that!"
97	-->[[http://foxlover12.deviantart.com/art/Leafpool-EVIL-BERRIES-120761007 "These berries are evil!"]]
98	* This line from Music/MileyCyrus's memoir, ''Miles to Go'':
99	--> "I clutched my grilled cheese sandwich like it was the hand of my best friend."
100	* LJ Smith's ''Literature/TheVampireDiaries'':
101	--> [[spoiler: Tyler]]: "I'm the big bad..."\
102	Meredith: "Jerk!"
103	:: :"Jerk"? Seriously? The guy's a sociopath and a murderer who's trying to [[spoiler: rape one of your best friends]], and "Jerk" is the worst insult you can come up with?
104	* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'':
105	** Stannis Baratheon delivering a private eulogy for [[spoiler:his deceased brother Renly]], which is made narmish when he says something like, "I'll go to my grave thinking of [[spoiler:my brother's peach]]." ItMakesSenseInContext, but even so...
106	** The multiple uses of "half a hundred" as the number of times something gory happens (the little Targaryen princess was stabbed half a hundred times, someone's daughter was raped by half a hundred men during the bread riots, etc.) makes it less impressive and more [[DrinkingGame "take a sip!"]]
107	** The overuse of the phrase "breaking their fast" to describe characters... well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin having breakfast]]. Can't they just be described as "eating?"
108	** The repeated references to Ygritte having "hair of fire" or "flame." Once or twice, it's a decent poetic description of red hair. After that...
109	** ''Many'' of the names are hard to take seriously, especially the ones that are just real English names with one letter off. Tristifer? Jaremy? Endrew? ''Yohn''? Even Drogo if you remember that that was Frodo's dad's name in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''; just picture him as a hobbit and he becomes a lot less formidable.
110	** "He was not wrong." It's a great phrase, subtly but neatly different from "he was right," good for showing the point-of-view of a character who makes guarded judgements... but when EVERY DARN CHARACTER starts using it as a replacement for "he was right" EVERY TIME, it just makes you picture a writer smiling about what a cool phrase he's using.
111	** Martin is ''really'' enamoured of the words "jape" and "mummer". I mean ''really really''. And then when ''A Feast for Crows'' comes around, whenever a character addresses their uncle, they call them [[InherentlyFunnyWords "nuncle"]]. And they do it often when that word never came up before. It's like Martin found a word-a-day calendar from the 16th Century and intends to get as much mileage out of it as he can.
112	** The slaveholding cities have to be the most over-the-top, PlanetOfHats culture depicted in the books (okay, second after the Dothraki). They hit every "decadent Eastern FantasyCounterpartCulture" trope there is. The description of the Unsullied's training includes a version of a well-known urban legend told about various militaries: that on their first day, they're all given puppies to bond with, and then after a year they have to kill them. That's narmful enough, but this is told to Dany immediately ''after'' it's explained how another part of their training is to go to the slave market with a coin, find a baby in its mother's arms, and kill it in front of her, the cherry on top being that the baby's owner rather than the mother gets the coin. The slaver telling Dany this considers the puppy story the more impressive one. Do you think he might be a bad guy?
113	** ''Everyone'' uses the phrase "bend the knee" as a substitute for "swear fealty". It's at its worst with the wildlings, where they frequently finish speeches by dramatically proclaiming that they won't bend their knees rather than refusing to submit to the will of others. Apparently, the north makes poets of everyone.
114	* In ''The Good Guy,'' a novel by Creator/DeanKoontz, there's a fantastic line that completely breaks the flow of the scenario. A killer is stalking the two main characters. Seeing the killer's car outside waiting for them causes this line (referring to the male hero) to be typed:
115	--> "He wished he were a buttered muffin."
116	* A minor example, but Creator/TamoraPierce's [[Literature/TortallUniverse Beka Cooper]] books have the police force, who were called "Dogs" enough that they embraced the nickname, think of themselves as Dogs, call their newbies Puppies and their holding pens "kennels", have to clarify "four-legged dogs" for actual canines, so on. Fine. But sometimes, they go too far. There's a mention of "The Growl", when a large number of Dogs in a tavern together get personal about a case - a few start growling, then more and more, and then all of the ones in the tavern are growling and it terrifies any non-Dog. But that sounds ridiculous. It sounds like a bunch of tough-looking uniformed adults going "Grrr!" together.
117	* ''Literature/CircleOfMagic''
118	** The books have many scenes where some mean adult insinuates that the kids aren't awesome in every way and they then prove their skills in a way that renders the adult reeling and speechless. There are so many of these scenes that they collectively become Narmy, and some of them are cheesy. The worst is that one in ''Will of the Empress'' when Briar fights the nobleman.
119	** In ''Cold Fire'', four words: black powder boom dust.
120	** Hey, did you know that "kid" can mean "child" as well as "baby goat"? Maybe in addition to CallASmeerpARabbit and CallARabbitASmeerp we should have a trope for "Call a Rabbit a Rabbit but Keep Explaining It in Every Book for Some Reason As If That's Your Audience's Only Hope of Understanding a Term They've All Used Their Whole Lives." It's an especially odd choice because it's not like Pierce doesn't use plenty of slang words that really are archaic and obscure without feeling the need to define them (at least outside the glossary).
121	* ''Literature/TheFirm''. Mitch [=McDeere=] has just narrowly avoided getting gunned down in his own office, and is on the run from the boys in the firm. It's a tense scene. [[BeigeProse Lots of short sentences. Like this one.]] He jumps from the building. He runs like hell. He turns down the street. He stops to check behind him. He eats an apple.
122	* ''She Said Yes''. The whole book is riddled with hindsight-based "insight" from the subject's parents (the book's authors) about [[FauxSymbolism how every little thing she did was part of an elaborate path towards the end of her life]], repeatedly describing in [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic overblown]] verbosity the girl's "[[FelonyMisdemeanor shocking]]" lifestyle, which almost any other parent or teenager--or anyone who's seen stories about truly shocking teenage behavior--would recognize as normal adolescence. The only '''real''' gravitas comes from [[ForegoneConclusion knowing the ending in advance]] (it's the biography of a girl who died in the Columbine High School shootings). It's worth noting that [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassie_Bernall Cassie Bernall]] ''[[BeamMeUpScotty wasn't]]'' the one who said yes according to the official investigation...
123	* ''Literature/LatawnyaTheNaughtyHorseLearnsToSayNoToDrugs'' is made of this. It becomes impossible to absorb the moral of the story when it's full of smoking and drinking horses of the non-anthropomorphic variety. The intended {{Tearjerker}} moment involving an OD'd horse lying dead with a joint by his mouth is the icing on the cake. This is probably the truest, most glorious example of literary Narm on this page.
124	* There is a supposedly BasedOnATrueStory novel (but since it's by ''Literature/GoAskAlice'' writer Beatrice Sparks, don't count on it!) about a girl who died from AIDS which she caught when her boyfriend raped her. The tagline is something along the lines of "[[ScareEmStraight She thought she had found love... and she lost her life to AIDS]]." But the true Narm is in the title (cue scary music): ''It Happened to Nancy''. So it can happen to you!
125	* ''Literature/{{Dracula}}''
126	** The scene where Dracula attacks Mina. This scene reads like attempted rape but is brought down by four factors: 1) that Harker is unconscious in the corner with a red face and the description of him sounds as if he's drunk; 2) when the men break the door down Van Helsing goes flying across the floor; and 3) Dr Seward completely kills the moment when he likens the scene in his narration to "a child forcing a kitten's nose into a saucer of milk to compel it to drink." Way to kill the mood, Seward.
127	** There is also the scene of Dracula climbing down a wall upside down. This is terrifying until you realize what gravity would do to Dracula's clothing and cape.
128	* Susan Beth Pfeffer's ''the dead and the gone'' is about what happens when an asteroid hits the moon and puts in in a closer orbit to Earth. The main character's sister helps her school grow a vegetable garden for more food. Unfortunately, thanks to volcanic winter, the frost hits in August. Upon seeing her garden destroyed, the sister cries plaintively, "MY STRIIIIIING BEAAAAAAANS!"
129	* Creator/HPLovecraft -- great writer but, ye gods, it is hard to take some of those stories as seriously as you're supposed to. [[ValuesDissonance There's just too much blatant racism.]] The Narm is most evident whenever his characters GoMadFromTheRevelation: [[PurpleProse magnanimously verbose]] [[LargeHam melodramatic ranting]] with lots of the [[SesquipedalianLoquaciousness longest words he could find in the thesaurus]]. And what did fish ever do to Creator/HPLovecraft anyway?
130	** "Literature/TheRatsInTheWalls". The story itself is as eerie and, well, Lovecraftian as any; but it seems like every other paragraph has the main character talking about his beloved cat Niggerman. Lovecraft actually had a cat with that name at the time of that story's writing. Yeah...
131	** Similarly, the cat in "In Cold Blood" is called Boobs.
132	** What was apparently meant to be a WhamLine at the end of "Medusa's Coil." What horrifying revelation could top Marceline being a priestess of Cthulhu with killer PrehensileHair? Well...
133	--->"No wonder she owned a link with that old witch-woman Sophonisba--for, though in deceitfully slight proportion, Marceline was a negress."
134	** Some of Lovecraft's names were [[InherentlyFunnyWords hilarious]]. ''Literature/TheWhispererInDarkness'' had the potential to be absolutely terrifying, but the phrase "Fungi from Yuggoth" ''sounds'' amusing.
135	** If you know actual Arabic, the AsLongAsItSoundsForeign name of Abdul Alhazred is actually [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment redundant]]. "Abdul" means "Servant/Slave of the". So if "Hazred" meant anything besides being a misspelling of "Hazard", than "Abdul Alhazred" would mean "Slave of the Hazardous." Anything that has two definite articles comes off a little Narmy.
136	** "Literature/TheCaseOfCharlesDexterWard" features a character (in the midst of recollecting an otherwise very tense raid on a sorcerer's house of horrors) attempting to... transcribe a roar:
137	--->Waaaahrrrrr. R'waaahrrr.
138	** The fact that some of Lovecraft's narrators are determined to keep writing in their journals [[ApocalypticLog even as they're being attacked and killed by cosmic horrors,]] such as the final line of ''Literature/{{Dagon}}'':
139	--->"The end is near. I hear a noise at the door, as of some immense slippery body lumbering against it. It shall not find me. God, that hand! The window! The window!"
140	** "The Horror at Red Hook" has the narrator, Malone, describing in horror how the man he thinks is an EvilSorcerer and cult leader is growing in his powers of BlackMagic because he... leaves his house more, looses weight, gets a haircut, buys new clothes, and finds a girlfriend. It sounds like Malone is hating a lonely old man for getting a makeover and turning his life around.
141	* [[http://community.livejournal.com/batman_lulz/710811.html This]] Franchise/{{Batman}} children's book is chock-full of narmy goodness. Highlights include the line 'Batman! This is no time for dessert!' and the Joker stealing a kid's bicycle and riding around on it.
142	* The ''Literature/AlexRider'' novel ''Point Blank'':
143	** The villain's plot is called Project Gemini. There was a famous RealLife space program called [[UsefulNotes/{{NASA}} Project Gemini]] back in the 1960s. So, this novel has lines like these:
144	--> "We cannot allow you to leave, you know too much about Project Gemini."
145	** And we wonder why the American space program has stalled out.
146	---> "I've discovered your whole operation. I know all about Project Gemini!"
147	* No one has quite yet worked out what possessed Gabriel García Márquez to use the phrase "wormy guava grove of love" in ''Literature/OneHundredYearsOfSolitude''. Though it might be the translator's fault: the original reads "agusanado [meaning worm-eaten] guayabal de amor".
148	* The book ''Film/NotesOnAScandal'' gives us the classic line "Miss, miss, can I come in you miss?" whilst [[HotForStudent Bathsheba and Steven]] are having sex for the first time. This is an interesting case: the line was meant to be unnatural, emphasizing Stephen's awkwardness in their relationship and the formalities between teacher and student, but the line came across as funny rather than {{Squick}}y.
149	* ''The Ruins'' is a creepy book in which a group of tourists end up trapped on a hill with a man-eating plant. For most of the book, the plant is scary, especially when it's revealed that the plant is sentient and enjoys screwing with them. Then it starts speaking in German.
150	* From the Dutch novella ''Onmacht'':
151	--> "In een genadeloze opeenvolging valt haar huwelijk uit elkaar. De sokken maken het definitief." (In a merciless consecution her marriage falls to pieces. The socks make it final.)
152	:: ItMakesSenseInContext, but even then it sounds ridiculous.
153	* Stephen King's ''Literature/{{It}}''
154	** The scene at the very end of the book where 12-year-old Beverly has to help her six 12-year-old friends escape the sewers. Her method: they [[spoiler:have sex]]. It was meant as a growing-up ritual. Apparently, defeating an EldritchAbomination doesn't count.
155	** Less controversial but just as narmy is the repeated line "they float!" or any permutation of it. This is meant to be frightening.
156	** For that matter, the evil human characters are just so over-the-top they become silly. Tom Rogan is a murderous misogynistic nightmare, Henry Bowers, the school bully, is a murderous sociopath, etc.
157	* The death of Anji's boyfriend Dave in the Series/DoctorWho Literature/EighthDoctorAdventures novel ''Escape Velocity'', a lousy installment in an otherwise [[SugarWiki/GushingAboutShowsYouLike great series]]:
158	-->Dave's eyes flickered open for one last time and he saw the rockets on the base of the Planet Hopper fire into life. What a view! he thought, and then died as the flames from the engines reached the bus which then exploded.
159	* ''Literature/{{Redwall}}'':
160	** Mariel in ''Mariel of Redwall'' is the High Queen of Mood Swings. After a mean old squirrel refuses to travel with her:
161	-->For the first time, Storm felt alone and unwanted. She walked off out of the squirrel's bower into the surrounding trees, swinging her rope. "Me and Gullwhacker don't need anybeast. We're all right." Five seconds later, she's back, and [[AngstWhatAngst everything's fine]]. She does this sort of thing repeatedly.
162	** The line "Sports, playing... what's all that mean?" You've got ''amnesia'', woman, you didn't just crawl out from under a rock! Then there's Treerose and her obsession with being an AttentionWhore until she [[CharacterDevelopment grows up a bit.]]
163	** The series as a whole has ''so damn much'' AccidentalInnuendo that one starts to wonder if it was in fact less than accidental.
164	* In the Creator/AlanDeanFoster SpaceOpera ''The End of the Matter'' (part of the ''Literature/HumanxCommonwealth'' series), the heroes encounter a primitive race of sapients on the planet Alaspin called the Otoids. Much is made of the fact that the Otoids... [[EyeScream remove the eyes of those they kill]] and that ''no one knows why they do this!'' Oooooh! Scary! Cue inner monologues of characters grimly musing to themselves, "What do the Otoids do with dead men's eyes?" But... there are few things that the Otoids can do with those eyes that could be more shocking that their killing people and then taking the eyes in the first place. The {{canon}}ical reason the Otoids have is not one of those things.
165	* The first six ''Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet'' films had extremely rare hardcover {{novelization}}s. These books appear to have been written for [[MisaimedMarketing very young readers.]] Horror + MoralGuardians [[TheEighties '80s-style]] = Narm.
166	* ''Literature/TheSagaOfSevenSuns''. The AIs are called Compies. The Gypsy-in-Space Roamers call their enemy, Basil Wenceslas, "The Big Goose." This is like a transplanted bedtime story. And the entire series hinges on ElementalRockPaperScissors.
167	* Ten pages or so into Creator/WilliamRForstchen's CosyCatastrophe novel ''One Second After'', the reader learns that one of the rugged widower hero's two adorable girls is [[spoiler:diabetic]]. From then on, you know ''exactly'' [[DeathByNewberyMedal what must happen]], but it takes the ''entire'' novel to get there. When it does, Forstchen has to [[spoiler:kill the family dog immediately after]].
168	* Literature/TheSagaOfDarrenShan gives us one of its vampire varieties named "Vampaneze". No. It's not a parody. And they're the scary, evil vampires! You'd think an author would spend more than 5 minutes thinking up a name for the race of a major villain, but here we go!
169	* The Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse book ''Fatal Alliance'' gives us this wonderful part after a Jedi Padawan saves a Sith Apprentice's life, from her point of view: "The Jedi had saved her, and she wrenched herself from him, even as she felt a twinge of gratitude. Surely he hadn't done it out of the vile goodness of his heart!" Yes. ''Vile goodness''. Just in case you didn't know that the Sith were evil with a capital E...[[note]]She's {{tsundere}}, so to speak, and hating the fact that she had to be rescued by a 'good guy' when Sith usually consider themselves AboveGoodAndEvil.[[/note]]
170	* ''Literature/AConnecticutYankeeInKingArthursCourt'' has a "Great Illustrated Classics" version, which is basically a condensed kids' version. There's a scene towards the end of the book where [[spoiler:Merlin sneaks into the cave where Morgan's forces have made their last stand, disguised as a woman, to place an enchantment of Morgan. Despite being in a dress, when we see him, he very clearly has a long, thick beard.]]
171	* ''Literature/TransformersExodus'' has one. Orion Pax (Optimus) looks out at the Skyline and decides that he wants to rebel against the rigid caste society of Cybertron... so that he can go to an amusement park.
172	* ''Literature/TessOfTheDUrbervilles'' is genuinely tragic, but... [[spoiler:when her illegitimate rape baby falls fatally ill and Tess's abusive father won't allow a clergyman in to baptize him, so Tess does it herself, and then reveals that she never got around to naming him, and then decides to christen him SORROW, complete with melodramatic capital letters, just as he dies]]... well, that's laying it on a little thick.
173	* Although Dave Wolverton's proclivity for referring to testicles almost exclusively as "walnuts" throughout ''Literature/TheRunelords'', the narmiest part of the series is the short review written by Creator/OrsonScottCard included at the beginning of each novel, which is a little bit too emotional to take seriously.
174	* The [[WhamEpisode final chapter]] of the eleventh ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya'' novel is truly ''epic'' Narm. Fujiwara's conversation with [[spoiler: Mikuru]] during the former's VillainousBreakdown has both characters sound like they are in a SoapOpera. It's kind of hard to take the words, [[spoiler: "I don't want to lose you again, [[LongLostSibling Onee-san!]]"]] seriously when it's [[SmugSnake Fujiwara]] saying them. And it doesn't help that there is a ''very'' melodramatic illustration for this scene which looks like it was taken out of a {{Shoujo\|Demographic}} manga.
175	* While ''Literature/TheLovelyBones'' generally has very good prose, it's hard to take this line seriously:
176	--->She asked for coffee and toast in a restaurant and buttered it with tears.
177	* Literature/SisterhoodSeries by Creator/FernMichaels:
178	** Some of the conversations between Jack and Harry fall victim to this because Jack called Harry "you big silly!" A number of reviewers reported having laughed at lines like that, because they know for a fact that men do not talk to each other like that in RealLife.
179	** The series is heavy on {{Melodrama}}, which has led to {{Narm}} a few times. For example, Kathryn's rant about how the law works for the criminal in ''Fast Track'' is hard to take seriously, because they are in the U.S.A., and the law is certainly not supposed to work for the criminal there!
180	** In the book ''Under The Radar'', the men receive some National Guard outfits. Ted Robinson, a 30-something year-old man and reporter, calls it a "speckled" outfit. At least one reviewer found that part rather difficult to swallow!
181	* In ''Literature/TheOdyssey'', men break down crying over and over again. It's not so bad when it's Telemakhos, considering he's only on the cusp of manhood and he only does it once or twice per book, but Book 10 features Odysseus and/or his crew breaking down every other paragraph. Eventually, the crying stops being dramatic and turns into this.
182	* ''Literature/ThePerksOfBeingAWallflower'' has a particularly narmful passage in which, at the start of one of his letters, Charlie describes his newly discovered ability to masturbate. And yes, this is one of the times he uses "Wow!" in a completely serious manner.
183	* ''Literature/MobyDick'' includes this gem. "Squeeze! squeeze! squeeze! All the morning long; I squeezed that sperm till I myself almost melted into it; I squeezed that sperm till a strange sort of insanity came over me; and I found myself unwittingly squeezing my co-laborers' hands in it, mistaking their hands for the gentle globules." A severe case of HaveAGayOldTime - even worse than the book's actual title.
184	* The last ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'' book has an in-universe example. Holly, Artemis, and Butler end up being pursued and nearly eaten alive by a horde of giant crickets. After they barely manage to escape, Butler announces that they have "lost the crickets." He wasn't trying to be funny, but Holly can't stop herself from laughing at his comment, and says even he can't make that line sound tough.
185	* In the first book of ''Literature/LeftBehind'', the series' [[TheAntichrist Antichrist]] figure makes a speech to the UsefulNotes/UnitedNations that we are [[ShowDontTell explicitly told]] is "powerful" and "moving," enough for the delegates to stand up cheering and to put humanity under his spell for his New World Order. The speech, however, reads like a schoolchild giving a class report on the UN, during which he lists every member state of the United Nations in alphabetical order... [[MundaneMadeAwesome dramatically]]. The Slacktivist, [[http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2007/01/19/lb-boutros-boutros-carpathia-2/ critiquing this scene]] in his blog, challenges the reader to do this without laughing. Arguably, the point of the scene is to show that the Antichrist is using mind control on those listening, so that they applaud something any normal person ''would'' laugh at. The problem is that even if this were true, the text ''still'' gives the impression the authors meant the speech to be a good one. When a blog commenter[[labelnote:who?]]Calum Cameron in the Slacktivist link above[[/labelnote]] can write a more convincing version off the top of their head, you know something's gone wrong.
186	* ''Literature/TheEyeOfArgon'' is made in its entirety of pure, distilled, highly concentrated {{Narm}}. Imagine PurpleProse combined with DelusionsOfEloquence and all the worst [[HeroicFantasy Sword And Sorcery]] clichés you can think of, and you'll barely have scratched the surface. Suffice to say, it's a common parlor game at SF conventions to see who can read it aloud the longest before breaking up into fits of laughter.
187	* ''Literature/WingsOfFire'':
188	** The series, unfortunately, has protagonists the ([[XenoFiction equivalent]]) age of young children, which means that any serious feeling [[TheChosenOne the]] [[CivilWar plot]] generates is evaporated when you hear how ridiculously they talk and think. It goes right through 'ironic sarcasm' to 'seriously annoying.'
189	-->"[=IceWings=]! Yes!" Clay said. "That sounds like a great plan. Let's do that. No [[BuffySpeak mysterious dragon-killing things]] in the Ice Kingdom. Right? What are those animals they have up there? Penguins? I bet I could beat a penguin or two in battle. Couldn't I? How big are they? Maybe just one penguin."
190	-->''[...]''
191	-->"See?" Glory said to Clay and Starflight. "Even Sunny is acting braver than you scaredy-scavengers."
192	** Queen Moorhen. It has a character named ''Queen Moorhen'' in it! And no, this is not an insulting nickname or an alias- it's her actual name, and everyone talks about her so seriously, no one ever points out how stupid it is for a ''dragon'' to be named ''Moorhen.'' And it means you get narration like this.
193	--> So if Queen Moorhen of the [=MudWings=] found them in her territory, [[SarcasmMode she]] ''[[SarcasmMode probably]]'' [[SarcasmMode wasn't going to give them tea and send them on their way.]]
194	* ''Literature/IslandInTheSeaOfTime'' has a scene in which TheQuisling Pamela Lisketter and her dimwitted brother raid the library in order to kidnap Martha Cofflin. Marian Alston happens to be there and naturally tries to intervene, and just to put the scare into the two idiots, she decides to slip into her native Georgia accent. The unfortunate results make her sound more like Pogo Possum than a [[ScaryBlackMan scary black woman]].
195	* ''War and Democide Never Again'': In the last chapter, John gets rid of all of Joy's belongings after [[spoiler:he kills her]]. But as it turns out, he forgets about her toothbrush, meaning that he sees it when he wakes up the day afterward, leading to this hilarious line in his InternalMonologue:
196	--> '''John:''' ''Her toothbrush!'' Joy! ''Joooy!'' The sledgehammer of stark realization finally smashed into me. I’D [[spoiler:KILLED JOY!]]
197	%%** [[http://impishidea.com/spork/war-and-democide-never-again-spork-part-36-final O bathos, thy name is Rudolph Rummel!]]
198	* ''Literature/AtFirstGlance'':
199	** The ludicrous AlternateCalendar. Instead of being normal and calling a day a day, the book [[InsistentTerminology insists on calling it]] an "epoch". That in itself is Narm, but wait, there's more! Nine epochs make up one "cycle", four cycles make up one "apogee" and fifteen apogees make up one... [[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign zapato]]. Yes, really. The book's equivalent to a year has a name that means "shoe", for God's sake...
200	** The book also tells about an evil prince that rapes the heroine. Unfortunately, his name is Jafar, which may make you think of the funny antagonist from ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}''.
201	* ''Keys to the Repository'', by Melissa Cruz:
202	** The protagonist's {{Wangst}} about being fostered is just a ''bit'' hard to take seriously. (It's a valid point, sure, but the narration makes it sound like the worst thing in the world!)
203	-->So what? Schuyler thought, running a hairbrush through her dark hair before pulling it back into a ponytail. So what if [[BigManOnCampus he'd]] given her a book and key? She was still miserable. She was still living with ''[[TheBeautifulElite them]]'' and not her grandfather. Ever since she'd arrived, she had been made to feel as welcome as Literature/JaneEyre at Gateshead with her rich cousins. She was lucky [[AlphaBitch Mimi]] hadn't locked her in the closet yet.
204	** Schuyler's later whining about always being alone is also this- the character [[InformedLoner seems to have forgotten]] that [[ChildhoodFriend Oliver]] even exists. Which is odd, given that they've [[SarcasmMode only]] spent their whole lives together and know everything about each other.
205	* Stephen King's ''{{Literature/Carrie}}'', when Carrie finally rebels against Margaret by screaming:
206	--> '''"YOU SUCK!"''
207	* ''Literature/TyrannosaurCanyon'' has a moment when the sociopath TheDragon, menacing a woman he fully intends to rape, removes his shirt to show his tattoo: a Tyrannosaurus Rex that covers his back. He expounds that tyrannosaurs were devastating apex predators, but dinosaur fascination is commonly associated with grade-school boys, not threatening villains. The situation doesn't improve as he flexes to make the beast move.
208	* In ''Literature/AClockworkOrange'', there's an in-universe example, when Alex starts reading P. Alexander's manifesto aloud and both he and his friends get the giggles.
209	* ''Literature/TheFaultInOurStars'':
210	%% A common criticism about the dialogue, which is flowery and grandiose. Others like it for the same reasons.
211	%% Their date in Amsterdam is very...romanticized, possibly owing to the author's own love for the city.
212	** When strangers yell "beautiful couple is beautiful" at the main characters. "[adjective] [noun] is [same adjective]" is an old [[MemeticMutation meme]].
213	** Some readers thought the throng of people applauding after Hazel and Augustus make out in the Anne Frank house was a bit much.
214	* ''Literature/MaradoniaSaga'':
215	** It's hard to take the villain, Apollyon, seriously. He has a "Club of Evil" that believes in teamwork, sings "Mother Earth songs" and keeps unicorns as pets.
216	** Alana Terrence's death. After being haunted by Sutornia and Cassandra, she runs out the door screaming, hoping to find relief and peace in her soul. Her friends run after her, see headlights approaching and scream at her, but she says “I have reached the end of my road. There is no return for me!” and gets hit by a car. This is accompanied by the written sound effect "BOOM".
217	* In ''Literature/ColdDays'', book 14 of ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'', Harry and Murphy have a very serious discussion about Harry [[spoiler: taking up the mantle of the Winter Knight]] and his relationship with Molly. Harry then mentions the possibility of him going "Darth Dresden". Now, it's perfectly in character for Harry to make gratuitous pop culture references...but it COMPLETELY kills the mood... which is also pretty in character for Harry if we're being honest.
218	* A lenghty passage in ''Literature/NeverSendFlowers'' is dedicated to how Literature/JamesBond is not in [[Ride/DisneyThemeParks Disneyland]] just in the name of duty ([[spoiler:protecting Princess Diana from serial killer]]), but also to preserve the theme park's innocence, as he has become fond of the place since he took one of his many girlfriends there. This coming from hardcase spy like Bond is rather silly.
219	* Herodotus ''Literature/TheHistories'' can easily come across as this to the average geologist. It is just absolutely hilarious for them to see his theories on how to explain certain natural phenomena since some of them would seem to be InsaneTrollLogic for them. This becomes even more painfully hilarious if he is showing the correct theory, only to say that it is false. It really takes more effort to make geologists think differently.
220	* Literature/LesMiserables is truly great, but the description of Javert's appearance (looking like the dog-son of a wolf) makes him sound a bit like a werewolf, which is pretty funny. [[PlatonicWritingRomanticReading There are other cases where Hugo chooses poorly-thought-out descriptions,]] creating (most likely unintentional) romantic subtext between Valjean and Javert, which results in [[{{Narm}} N'arm]].
221	* Radio/RushLimbaugh now has a series of books out for children. [[http://www.rushrevere.com Yes, really]] -- it's about an AuthorAvatar named Rush Revere, who goes back in time to show kids how wonderfully exceptional American historical figures were (instead of, you know, just regular people). Besides the hilarious premise, the over-the-top dialogue and Rush's face (with only one facial expression, no matter what the situation) photoshopped onto a cartoony figure turn these books into a perfect trifecta of {{Narm}}.
222	* There's this book called ''Simple Abundance'', by Sarah Ban Breathnach. It's supposed to be deep and spiritual, but instead it's laugh-out-loud funny. One of the daily devotions is titled "Kitchen Mysticism." Enough said.
223	* The books of Creator/AmandaMckittrickRos are sheer Narm. Just read the below passage from the ridiculously named "Delina Delaney:"
224	-->Have you ever visited that portion of Erin's plot that offers its sympathetic soil for the minute survey and scrutinous examination of those in political power, whose decision has wisely been the means before now of converting the stern and prejudiced, and reaching the hand of slight aid to share its strength in augmenting its agricultural richness?
225	* ''Literature/TheInfernalDevices'' sometimes goes a little overboard describing how [[TallDarkAndSnarky totally sexy and witty]] Will is. Apparently his eyes are the [[PurpleProse specific blue of the sky in Hell]]. Um... okay?
226	* In ''[[Literature/TalesOfTheOtori Brilliance of the Moon]]'' an EvilOverlord is holding Kaede prisoner. To mess with her mind, he gives her a ''dildo''. Yes. A dildo (which the narrative helpfully informs us is "[[PurpleProse carved from reddish silky wood [...] and perfect in every detail]]"). And after unwrapping the 'gift', Kaede starts sobbing with despair. Sure, it's supposed to symbolize that her husband is dead, and be a cruel joke on the villain's part, and everything...but come on. It's a sex toy. How could anyone find ''that'' dramatic?
227	* In Cheryl Brooks's ''Slave'', she describes a character's penis as "sporting a corona complete with a serrated edge that looked as though it had been crimped with a piecrust". This would be a typical example of MillsAndBoonProse, except that it's not occurring during a sex scene. Yes, the author expected us to take a piecrust simile seriously.
228	* ''Literature/DragonsLexiconTriumvirate'':
229	** The writing is full of PurpleProse, MeaninglessMeaningfulWords and SesquipedalianLoquaciousness. Case in point:
230	--> ''Upon the Mesozoic verdure, the sun cast its dawn light, giving life to the hovering woodland realm in the form pf photosynthetic vitality that sparkled betwixt the morning arbor.''
231	** After quite a bit of Purple Prose, we get [[SophisticatedAsHell this gem]]:
232	--> ''Dennagon trudged through the grass, [[BeigeProse his noggin aching]].''
233	** This is how Dennagon reacts when he's surprised:
234	--> ''[[BringMeMyBrownPants Dennagon felt like taking a dump.]] Luckily, he hadn’t any fecal matter left [[ArtisticLicenseBiology in his stomach]].''[[note]]Fecal matter is stored in the large intestine, not the stomach.[[/note]]
235	** There are a lot of points where the author tries to make Dennagon seem intelligent by reciting, learning, and musing over scientific facts. A lot of the times (and every time these facts are actually discussed) these smart people facts are high or lower school physics and Dennagon contemplating or just learning them makes him look like a dumbass. Like this gem.
236	-->''"Interesting,” muttered Dennagon to himself, “The force of gravity is 9.8 meters per second squared on this planet, but not in space. I wonder if ‘space’ actually exists.”''[[note]]This is the ''acceleration'' of an object near the Earth's surface, not ''force''. The force of gravity throughout space varies according to the mass of and distance from celestial bodies.[[/note]]
237	* A Swedish crime novel has the Narmy title ''Ole Dole Död'', which translates to something like "Eeny Meeny Miny Murder."
238	* There is actually a Creator/RexStout novella called "Eeny Meeny Murder Mo".
239	* In Calvino's ''The Distance of the Moon'', a beautiful woman is described thusly; "[She had] armpits as dark and mysterious as sea urchins".
240	%%* In the Tu Fu poem ''Visiting Tsan'', the narrator walks sadly through "manured fields", crying. Manure is literally cow poo.
241	%%* ''Tales of Muscle and Blood'' describes a soldier's corpse:
242	%%-->''...his large cock thick yet lifeless as it lay resting against his body, never again to pleasure or be pleasured.''
243	* The Contemporary English Version (of Literature/TheBible)'s translation of [[Literature/TheFourGospels Mark 5:9]] (traditionally translated as "My name is [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Legion]], for we are many") takes that verse and turns it from ominous and chilling to juvenile and silly. How does this edition render the demon's boast? "My name is [[FailOSuckyName Lots]], because there are lots of demons in me."
244	%% The death of Little Nell in Creator/CharlesDickens' ''Literature/TheOldCuriosityShop'' has been mocked for decades afterwards for its PurpleProse. Creator/OscarWilde commented back in the 1800s that "one must have a heart of stone to read the death of little Nell without [[{{Narm}} laughing]]" and as recently as 2005 the pop sci-fi romp ''Series/DoctorWho'' mocked the scene by having the protagonist call Little Nell's death hilarious to Dickens' face.
245	* ''Literature/{{Caliphate}}'': Pat Buckman's election motto was "''We will make those motherfuckers pay''" [[labelnote:Context]]referring to a terrorist attack in American soil which the government lacked the will or interest to retaliate, which Buckman builds his presidential campaign on[[/labelnote]]. Keep in mind, this book was [[HilariousInHindsight written in 2008 long before "Make America Great Again"]], but even on its own its very hard to take seriously in real life.
246	* The novel ''A Leap into the Dark'' has very serious subject matter (an abused wife escapes from her husband), but the author doesn't seem to trust that readers will sympathize with the heroine, and therefore resorts to telling us every three paragraphs how beautiful and pure she is.
247	-->''Tired from a hard day’s work, Sati was quite exhausted and was in [sic] deep sleep.\
248	Bharat, her husband could not stand such a sight of his wife enjoying [[PurpleProse a much-needed respite from the rigours of life]].''
249	* In [=LoversSpeak=]'s anthology ''Heart on the Line'', a crow is described:
250	-->I thought it made the clouds\
251	The lines of poop it left behind.
252	* Literature/AsILayDying: The famous [[ItMakesSenseInContext “My mother is a fish”]] line becomes a ''whole'' lot funnier when it reminds you of Literature/TheShadowOverInnsmouth.
253	* In ''[[Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar Beyond]]'', a character [[https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/10890246-it-s-always-a-thousand-years-in-stories-even-if-it shills]] historians as having saved more lives than ''doctors''. The narrative agrees with this. In the same speech, he claims that [[StopHavingFunGuys tropes make people stupid]], and dismisses the vast majority of humans as "obedient morons". Is this an {{Aesop}} or the senile rants of a GrumpyOldMan?
254	* The climax of ''Literature/TheMister'', which involves Anatoli (Alessia's evil ex) holding everyone at gunpoint; Alessia dramatically puts herself between Maxim and Anatoli, Alessia's dad grabs a shotgun when Anatoli threatens his daughter, and everyone starts to panic when Anatoli aims his gun at Alessia's dad and pulls the trigger. Any drama is thoroughly diminished given that Alessia ''knows and announces to everyone'' that she previously removed the bullets, so the scene quickly descends into unintentional comedy with everyone freaking out and apparently forgetting the gun is unloaded every time Anatoli aims at someone.
255	* [[https://web.archive.org/web/20161025045126/http://www.chick.com/catalog/books/vampire.asp This excerpt]] of the book ''Lucifer Dethroned'' from [[ComicBook/ChickTracts Jack Chick]]'s homepage. Forget being ex-gay; this guy's an ex-Cthulhu-worshipping ex-vampire.
256	--> "I needed blood! While other sinful men craved women’s bodies, I was only interested in their necks or femoral arteries"
257	* ''Literature/UglyLove'': Some readers had a hard time taking the scene where [[spoiler:Miles and Rachel's baby dies in a car crash]] completely seriously, because just moments before [[spoiler:the crash]] Miles and Rachel are making jokes about the size of [[spoiler:their baby's]] testicles, of all things. It's intended to be a case of SoHappyTogether, but it's so bizarre and off-colour that the resulting MoodWhiplash ended up as just funny rather than effectively dramatic for some readers. It's infamous to the point that "We laugh at [[spoiler:our son's]] big balls" has become one of the book's most well-known lines.

Context Narm / Literature