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Original poster

"Unhinged" and complex female literary characters (e.g. Mrs Danvers) - who else will I like?

30 replies

JohnSnowsTie · 22/02/2014 13:16

So I've noticed a theme in the sort of literary female character I enjoy reading about. Examples are Mrs Danvers, Miss Havisham, Lady Dedlock, the Woman in Black...

Who else/what other works will I enjoy based on this?

OP posts:
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RuddyDuck · 03/04/2014 20:55

"Gillespie and I" was a great read. I do like the "unreliable narrator" concept. I also liked "Gone Girl" for the same reason, although lots of people I know hated it.

weebleswillwobble · 02/04/2014 09:38

Sarah Waters' 'Fingersmith' has some fantastically complex female characters and is a brilliant read. Would highly recommend.

MinionDave · 02/04/2014 09:32

Rebecca! My favourite Smile

Greenstone · 02/04/2014 09:06

Read Villette, an underestimated masterpiece. Lucy Snowe is an incredibly complex protagonist.

BreakingDad77 · 31/03/2014 17:01

Have you seen The last seduction?

Gemma10 · 31/03/2014 16:50

The made wife in the attic in Jane Eyre!
Also Madam Bovary
Also Miss Havisham

UnknownGnome · 15/03/2014 10:32

I've just finished reading Nearest Thing to Crazy by Elizabeth Forbes (I think). Very good. Definitely some un-hingedness in there!

LumpySpacePrincessOhMyGlob · 08/03/2014 20:28

The Lollipop Shoes, that has a superb unhinged female also Gentlemen and Players.

CurlyhairedAssassin · 07/03/2014 22:23

Ruth from Life and Loves of a She Devil

cheapskatemum · 07/03/2014 22:10

How about Ursula in The Rainbow & Women in Love by D H Lawrence?

SarahAndFuck · 07/03/2014 21:36

A Kind of Intimacy by Jenn Ashworth.

Unhinged and wonderful, it's one of my favourite books. It's about a woman called Annie who moves to a new house and becomes obsessed by one of the neighbours.

Original poster
JohnSnowsTie · 07/03/2014 20:42

Thanks everyone - loads to be going on here.

One as it happens I was already reading The Woman Upstairs when I first posted!

OP posts:
TheNunsOfGavarone · 25/02/2014 11:07

Great Granny Webster by Caroline Blackwood; a short, haunting novella about an unhinged Anglo-Irish family and their leaky, crumbling and comfortless country house.

OneHolyCow · 25/02/2014 10:56

The woman upstairs by Claire Messud is pretty unhinged.

Thehoardernextdoor · 25/02/2014 08:07

I enjoyed Gillespie and I (I think it's by Jane Harris)

SpookedMackerel · 25/02/2014 08:05

You might like Her Fearful Symmetry, by Audrey Niffeneger (disclaimer - I didn't really like it myself).

nettlefairy · 25/02/2014 07:56

you have to read Layla by Nina de la Mer - REALLY interesting and complex female character. I've just bought it (think it's just been published) and can't put it down. She's a lap dancer working in London and is also a mum. Thought provoking

PomBearWithAnOFRS · 24/02/2014 23:46

Forever Amber? I loved it, and the ending actually made me shout "nooooo I want to know What Happened Next!" Grin
It's not so much that she's unhinged (well, maybe a little lust crazed for The One) but she is compelling and I found I just had to find out what happened next, and next, and next...
Rose Madder by King is good too, I always wondered just HOW he got so well inside the head of an abused wife the way he did. Again, it's not that Rose herself is unhinged, it's that she finally realises that she will do anything to escape her abusive husband and be with the man she loves and who loves her, even if it means - well, not to post a spoiler, but Rose decides what's best for her new man and herself, and he gets no say in the end.
Game of Thrones is a mega-epic read - the series is packed with mad people, and the power crazed and has just too many characters to list, both male and female. It's a massive read, even just the "story so far" but is ever so interesting, and action-packed to say the least!

TheBookofRuth · 24/02/2014 21:15

You must've read Wuthering Heights, surely? Cathy is the dictionary definition of "unhinged female".

ZeroSomeGameThingy · 24/02/2014 21:02

Therese Raquin!

shoppingbagsundereyes · 24/02/2014 20:58

I've just finished the 13th Tale. Full of interesting/unhinged female characters. I loved it.

CoteDAzur · 24/02/2014 20:02

Nobody has yet mentioned Lisbeth Salander of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo?

Unhinged - check.

Complex - check.

TheLightPassenger · 22/02/2014 18:30

On a less highbrow note, Gone Girl, Dare Me by Megane Abbott, or The Silent Wife

Original poster
JohnSnowsTie · 22/02/2014 16:39

Thanks all - I look forward to getting through all of these. Have read Notes on a Scandal, Macbeth and Jane Eyre but will give all the others a go.

Remus you have just reminded me that I have TWIW on my iPod as yet I listened to - will crack on with that on my way home, so Thanks to you.

OP posts:
ancientbuchanan · 22/02/2014 16:17

Bertha not Bertram. Bleep phone.