Your favourite unreliable narrators?

Blink1880 · 2023-11-29T20:52:43+00:00

I know it can over done - but I do love a book with an unreliable narrator and looking for some inspiration.

dressedforcomfort · 05/12/2023 15:00

Not a novel as such, but I love all the narrators in Alan Bennett's Talking Heads.

asplashofmilk · 05/12/2023 13:16

Ali Smith - The Accidental

HolyMolyAnne · 05/12/2023 12:27

It has to be The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie.

SapphosRock · 05/12/2023 12:22

Brilliant suggestions on this thread!

Room by Emma Donaghue - narrated by a 5 year old so get an unusual (and less harrowing) perspective of what is happening.

Gowlbag · 05/12/2023 12:14

Engleby by Sebastian Faulks. As soon as I finished it I wanted to read it again through new eyes knowing the full picture.

JaninaDuszejko · 01/12/2023 18:20

Surely all narrators are unreliable to a greater or lesser extent? There are those who are deliberately lying to us, those who are lying to themselves but think they are being honest to us, those who are mostly honest but occasionally not, or those who know less than we do so tell us more information that they themselves are aware of.

The Woman in White has every kind of narrator in it and is a complete joy.

MsInterpret · 01/12/2023 17:32

Faraday in The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

clowniform · 01/12/2023 17:29

Thinking more about this, Pale Fire, Pnin and Sebastian Knight all have unreliable narrators/frames too. Are any of Nabokov's narrators reliable? Maybe in his Russian stuff?

Adding Francis Spufford, Golden Hill

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 01/12/2023 17:26

@napody And that's the power of the book!

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Blink1880 · 01/12/2023 15:21

I have realised that every single one mentioned here that I’ve already read is a book that I’ve enjoyed (well not sure I can’t say I “enjoyed Lolita - but still like it as a book) so am definitely making room on the kindle for all the recommendations that I haven’t read already

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JoanOgden · 01/12/2023 13:32

The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford (have forgotten actual name of the narrator)

Lemevoir · 01/12/2023 13:30

Richard in The Beach by Alex Garland

Hattie89 · 01/12/2023 08:48

Not a novel but The Tell Tale Heart by Poe has my favourite unreliable narrator!

The Life of Pi which is beautiful - both novel and film

Nick Carraway in Gatsby

Girl on the Train

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

napody · 01/12/2023 08:08

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 29/11/2023 21:54

Humbert Humbert - terrifyingly well drawn and compelling and then you have to remind yourself what he is.

Yup- came on to say this. Ugh, reading your comment gave me shivers!

AllTheWorldIsGreen · 01/12/2023 08:07

Oskar Matzerath in The Tin Drum.

CallItLoneliness · 01/12/2023 07:56

Draoicht · 01/12/2023 07:52

It’s Richard Papen in The Secret History. Is he actually unreliable, though?

Aroon St Charles in Molly Keane’s Good Behaviour. A hilariously deluded narrator who thinks she’s telling the tale of her own loving parents, idyllic upbringing and her romance, when in fact her parents are monsters, her father is shagging everyone in the vicinity without her noticing, and her ‘romance’ is a cruel joke on the part of her brother and his (male) lover to cover up their sexuality.

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Ah. thank you, yes, you're right about Richard. I do think he is unreliable...or at the very least wearing strongly rose tinted glasses

Draoicht · 01/12/2023 07:52

CallItLoneliness · 30/11/2023 03:52

Richard Flanagan in The Secret History
Main character (whose name escapes me) in The Wych Elm

It’s Richard Papen in The Secret History. Is he actually unreliable, though?

Aroon St Charles in Molly Keane’s Good Behaviour. A hilariously deluded narrator who thinks she’s telling the tale of her own loving parents, idyllic upbringing and her romance, when in fact her parents are monsters, her father is shagging everyone in the vicinity without her noticing, and her ‘romance’ is a cruel joke on the part of her brother and his (male) lover to cover up their sexuality.

bookworm14 · 01/12/2023 07:37

Stevens in The Remains of the Day
Humbert Humbert in Lolita
Bridget Jones
Rachel in Rachel’s Holiday by Marian Keyes

Aria999 · 01/12/2023 00:42

Gullivers travels

NewspaperTaxis · 01/12/2023 00:37

That's the one!

AdoringDavidAttenborough · 01/12/2023 00:28

@NewspaperTaxis Notes on a Scandal

NewspaperTaxis · 01/12/2023 00:26

The Stud by Jackie Collins has three narrators, all unreliable. Much of the enjoyment is seeing how they interpret the same events differently.

Then there was the one about the teacher and her younger work colleague, made into a film with Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett. Can't recall the name.

MadameMayberry · 01/12/2023 00:12

My cousin Rachel - just brilliant

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Blink1880 · 01/12/2023 00:08

brilliant ideas and so many I haven’t read!

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CallItLoneliness · 30/11/2023 03:52

Richard Flanagan in The Secret History
Main character (whose name escapes me) in The Wych Elm