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Books with unlikeable characters

139 replies

Booklover23 · 18/12/2024 16:24

Ok so not very Christmassy but I am a fan of an unlikeable protagonist.

Any recommendations for my last book of the year?

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FlorbelaEspanca · 03/03/2025 15:57

An evil streak by Andrea Newman. The narrator is an elderly ugly voyeur - but a supremely eloquent one. One of the funniest books I've ever read.

Sweetpeasaremadeforbees · 06/01/2025 14:22

The prequel of The Hunger Games - The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. I love the Hunger Games series and read all three at least every couple of years but this just left me feeling a bit grubby. We know that President Snow is an evil psychopath but I thought that this would show what led to him becoming so unpleasant. But he starts off horrible and just gets worse and worse. Not sure I'll feel the need to ever read it again.

AlertCat · 04/01/2025 20:40

EwwSprouts · 18/12/2024 16:38

The Wasp Factory

A fair few Iain Banks characters are pretty unpleasant. I love his books, no two are even similar so you always get something unique and different.
After the Party by Cressida Connolly has unpleasant characters, I wasn’t sure I enjoyed it but it was fairly interesting and other people liked it (gets four stars on goodreads).

Andante57 · 04/01/2025 08:36

But she’s host with her own petard then, having ensured Roddy will never marry her at the very moment he becomes free to do so!

I hadn’t thought of that! I wish S & R had written a sequel - I’d love to have known what happened next.

SlightDrip · 04/01/2025 07:48

SlightDrip · 04/01/2025 07:12

But she’s host with her own petard then, having ensured Roddy will never marry her at the very moment he becomes free to do so!

Show quote history

Hoist!

SlightDrip · 04/01/2025 07:12

Andante57 · 20/12/2024 14:34

Make of that what you will!

@SlightDrip yes, I think her view is revenge is a dish best eaten cold. Which she certainly achieves. That final showdown when she is doing repairs at Gurthnamuckla is a truly brilliant piece of dialogue.

But she’s host with her own petard then, having ensured Roddy will never marry her at the very moment he becomes free to do so!

echt · 04/01/2025 04:00

murasaki · 20/12/2024 12:38

The Slap by Tsolkias is also full of hateful people.

You beat me to it. I'd go further and say anyone in anything written by him.

LisaJohnsonsFacebookMole · 31/12/2024 16:00

The Great Gatsby
Any of the Adrian Mole books

Pat888 · 27/12/2024 11:33

Cats Eye by Margaret Atwood
Angel by Elizabeth Taylor - think it was set in Edwardian times, quirky -has stayed with me.

Andante57 · 20/12/2024 14:34

Make of that what you will!

@SlightDrip yes, I think her view is revenge is a dish best eaten cold. Which she certainly achieves. That final showdown when she is doing repairs at Gurthnamuckla is a truly brilliant piece of dialogue.

OldMrBernardWhoHaveYouSilencedToday · 20/12/2024 12:55

I forgot I recently read Animal by Lisa Taddeo. It's grim reading in general but pretty fascinating. I raced through the second half to find out what was going on.

Bushwinder · 20/12/2024 12:41

Just finished Yellowface. Very unlikeable protagonist but found story very thought provoking. The Secre Life of Adie Larue. Boring and unlikeable main character. Anything by Sally Roonry though as a result I can't stand any of her books.

murasaki · 20/12/2024 12:38

The Slap by Tsolkias is also full of hateful people.

LilyBartsHatShop · 20/12/2024 12:37

Lighthouse Keeping by Jeanette Winterson
The Jesus Man by Christos Tsiolkas
I couldn't finish The Jesus Man, it gets so dark

Rowena191 · 20/12/2024 11:49

The Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco, the main character is totally awful, and deliberately so.

LadyMacbethssweetArabianhand · 20/12/2024 11:40

The Bad Seed
The Collector by John Fowler

WaneyEdge · 20/12/2024 11:27

TribulationPeriwinkle · 20/12/2024 11:25

The worst thing about the Shopaholic books is that she never fucking learned.

True, zero self-awareness. How lucky that a successful (rich) PR executive fell for her 🙄.

TribulationPeriwinkle · 20/12/2024 11:25

The worst thing about the Shopaholic books is that she never fucking learned.

WaneyEdge · 20/12/2024 10:55

suburburban · 19/12/2024 14:57

Becky, her mum and Suze in shopaholics plus Luke

All really annoying

Oh yes! Forgotten about those books! Stopped reading those too as characters were so irritating and had zero sympathetic traits.

HeadNorth · 20/12/2024 10:41

weaselwords · 20/12/2024 02:27

It’s been a very long time since I read it, but “Barn Blind” by Jane Smiley, has a very frustrating protagonist as I remember. She is so one track minded.

Good call - excellent example when commendable focus bleeds into obsession to the detriment of all around. As a horse women myself, I could painfully relate to much of it, but it could apply to so many aspects of life.

beguilingeyes · 20/12/2024 09:56

Gone With The Wind! Scarlett O'Hara is horrible.

SlightDrip · 20/12/2024 09:16

Andante57 · 19/12/2024 22:36

Yes, I sometimes wonder about Charlotte’s dash to shut the gate but if IIRC she wasn’t aware then of Roddy’s feelings for Francie.

@SlightDrip apologies - I’ve checked and Roddy and Francie were married on the occasion of the stampeding horses. I wonder why Charlotte saved her?

Yes, I was going to say that — I think it was just after their honeymoon, when Charlotte is coping with her devastation by a false welcomingness to both of them, while reminding Roddy of the money he owes her. When she thinks about pretending to trip so that Francie is trampled by the stampeding horses, she thinks ‘It was fascinatingly simple, but too simple, and by no means certain’. Make of that what you will!

Sussurations · 20/12/2024 08:54

@Andante57 thank you, I will read it.

Sussurations · 20/12/2024 08:21

@Andante57 thank you, I will read it.

weaselwords · 20/12/2024 02:27

It’s been a very long time since I read it, but “Barn Blind” by Jane Smiley, has a very frustrating protagonist as I remember. She is so one track minded.