Your favourite unreliable narrators?

38 replies

Blink1880 · 29/11/2023 20:52

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

OP posts:

IBE45 · 30/11/2023 03:25

I always quite liked the unreliable narrators of Daphne du Maurier's novels. Too many to list!

bibliomania · 29/11/2023 22:28

The Debt to Pleasure, John lanchester

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 29/11/2023 21:54

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

RubeeMurray · 29/11/2023 21:51

We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver

clowniform · 29/11/2023 21:22

Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro
Gillespie and I, Jane Harris
The People in the Trees, Hanya Yanagihara (her best book, IMO)
We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Shirley Jackson
The Blind Assassin, Margaret Atwood

user628468523532453 · 29/11/2023 21:17

user628468523532453 · 29/11/2023 21:16

The Odyssey. Emily Wilson's translation is good.

Odysseus being the unreliable narrator.

TheMildManneredMilitant · 29/11/2023 21:17

Gone Girl was excellent (although i guess even flagging that there's an unreliable narrator is a bit of a spoiler!).

user628468523532453 · 29/11/2023 21:16

The Odyssey. Emily Wilson's translation is good.

MotherOfCatBoy · 29/11/2023 21:13

My Brilliant Friend, Elena Ferrante

Bohemond23 · 29/11/2023 21:11

The Wasp Factory

outwest · 29/11/2023 21:08

The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe. Eccentric. Dark. Baroque.

Quickredfox · 29/11/2023 21:03

The History of Love by Nicole Kraus

notaephron · 29/11/2023 21:02

The Need by Helen Phillips. Quite dark at times, but I liked that it captured some of the rawness of motherhood!

Unflip

1 2