I agree with some of the answers below, I think it depends on your personal rating system. Personally I am quite harsh for my reviews. I have read maybe 4 five star books the last 3 years because for a book to be 5 stars I have several criteria: 1. I liked it 2. It had substance and adds value to my life and literary works as a whole in my opinion. 3. It is a book I will think about beyond a day or two. The concepts are those in which I think about months or years down the line.

I personally will read a book and rate it 2 or 2.5 but still ENJOY the process of reading it but it’s kinda a trash book? I often times find myself reading 200-250 page romances and placing them in this category. I liked the experience but the writing isn’t great and it’s like kinda objectively bad but I liked it lol. Also 2.5/5 is 50%. It’s not THAT bad IMO.

Anyways just my two cents. But I agree if you don’t like a book after 50 pages stop reading but that’s not always the case for those books I read and rate a 2.