Instruct: Classify the given review as either positive or negative.
Query: A real disappointment

Given the stellar reviews and awards this book has won, I was expecting something superb. It was truly average. Pedestrian. Workmanlike. Perhaps for its time, 35 years ago, it was cutting edge. But we have to judge it by the present, given the plodding nature of the writing.The author is no stylist. It came off as something written by a very talented teenager. That isn't saying a lot.Alas, most books I read, I would never read again. This one, I'm sorry I spent the time in the first place. It's not bad. It's just not what everyone led me to hope for. The bar is set too high, and so the rating must be harsher.J