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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?

OP posts:
murasaki · 20/12/2024 00:10

Nobody is likeable in Bridehead Revisited either, despite it being a good read.

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?

EineReiseDurchDieZeit · 19/12/2024 20:45

OldMrBernardWhoHaveYouSilencedToday · 19/12/2024 20:28

The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton has a rather frustrating protagonist

Oh god, fucking Lily Bart, House of Precisely No Mirth

ByHardyAquaFox · 19/12/2024 20:43

Money, by Martin Amis

OldMrBernardWhoHaveYouSilencedToday · 19/12/2024 20:28

The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton has a rather frustrating protagonist

Andante57 · 19/12/2024 20:01

@Sussurations Ok, I will definitely give Dance to the Music of Time another go.
Re Elizabeth Bowen, I’d recommend The Death of the Heart as a good one to start with. I know this thread is about dislikeable characters but Major Brutt in Death of the Heart must be one of the saddest.

Mooetenchante · 19/12/2024 18:28

HowardTJMoon · 19/12/2024 17:09

Absolutely. And Money, and Other People. He did love a grotesque.

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Agree, have started Money but haven't got far. Probably will not finish it

Sussurations · 19/12/2024 18:18

@Andante57 to my shame I’ve never ready anything by Ivy Compton Burnett or Elizabeth Bowen. I love A Dance to the Music of Time! If you’ve disliked other novels by Anthony Powell but haven’t read it, I’d encourage you to, it’s much more readable. It has lots of horrible characters (though I find Widmerpool quite sympathetic at times) and yes, the last book in particular is weird, and has that unsettling feeling of not quite understanding its milieu - but the whole setup is so peculiar that it kind of works.

I thought of another book full of dislikeable characters - Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey. You’re clearly supposed to think they’re all marvellous but they are just massive snobs.

Andante57 · 19/12/2024 17:39

Dead Babies” by Martin Amos is full of awful people too.

Dead Babies is, I think, the most depressing book I’ve ever read. I must’ve read it several decades ago but I can still remember what a grim read it was.

HowardTJMoon · 19/12/2024 17:09

weaselwords · 19/12/2024 15:08

”Dead Babies” by Martin Amos is full of awful people too.

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Absolutely. And Money, and Other People. He did love a grotesque.

DuesToTheDirt · 19/12/2024 16:46

weaselwords · 19/12/2024 15:08

”Dead Babies” by Martin Amos is full of awful people too.

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Let's add 'Success' to the list.

murasaki · 19/12/2024 15:24

weaselwords · 19/12/2024 15:10

And “Bonfire of the Vanities” by Tom Wolfe. From which I got the excellent phrase “haemorrhaging money”. The journalist and main protagonist lawyer are just dreadful people.

Edited

Great book, godawful film adaption, the only thing the two have in common is the unlikeabilty of the characters.

weaselwords · 19/12/2024 15:10

And “Bonfire of the Vanities” by Tom Wolfe. From which I got the excellent phrase “haemorrhaging money”. The journalist and main protagonist lawyer are just dreadful people.

weaselwords · 19/12/2024 15:08

HowardTJMoon · 19/12/2024 09:12

Most of Martin Amis's books are filled to the brim with horrible people. London Fields is a particularly good example of this.

”Dead Babies” by Martin Amos is full of awful people too.

suburburban · 19/12/2024 14:57

Becky, her mum and Suze in shopaholics plus Luke

All really annoying

Andante57 · 19/12/2024 14:54

I think Nancy Mitford intended Northey to be charming but Don’t Tell Alfred is one of those books where the author is trying to write about a time or vibe they just don’t understand.

@Sussurations you have hit the nail on the head. The zeitgeist had moved on and - not surprisingly as she was the older generation - she hadn’t moved with it.
This is a very interesting aspect of writing - as you say, the same happened with Agatha Christie.
Elizabeth Bowen? She was such a formidably intelligent woman that she sort of got away with it.
Ivy Compton Burnett just continued writing as if it was 1912.
Anthony Powell? I can’t get on with Dance to the Music of Time so I can’t comment on that.

Sussurations · 19/12/2024 14:09

Oh God yes, @Andante57 Northey is insufferable. I also hate nearly everyone in The Blessing. I think Nancy Mitford intended Northey to be charming but Don’t Tell Alfred is one of those books where the author is trying to write about a time or vibe they just don’t understand. Agatha Christie suffered from this late in her career but having said that, I still like a lot of her later books, especially The Pale Horse.

Andante57 · 19/12/2024 09:59

She is only one character among many, but Northey in Don’t Tell Alfred was maddening - a goody-goody and a sneak.
Did Nancy Mitford realise how annoying she was or did she intend her to be a sympathetic character. Same re Marianne in Sense & Sensibility

AutoP1lot · 19/12/2024 09:40

BridgetRandomfuck · 18/12/2024 23:15

I was going to add this! A great book, especially if you like an unreliable narrator, but a hard read due to actions of said narrator…

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Oh yes! That was excellent.

AutoP1lot · 19/12/2024 09:40

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. We had very mixed views on the main characters. One in particular was hard to like; some of us disliked all 3 of them.

Panicmode1 · 19/12/2024 09:39

Has anyone mentioned A Confederacy of Dunces - sorry, I haven't RTFT but I absolutely HATED the protagonist (and most of the book to be honest). I don't understand why it is often on 'top 100 book lists'.

SlightDrip · 19/12/2024 09:33

Andante57 · 19/12/2024 08:42

SlightDrip it’s so sad that Ross died young as I think the books after her death are less good, though I very much enjoyed The Big House at Inver.
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.
The scene at the station when Francie sees Hawkins getting into the train with the Dysarts is so good that I’m sure one or both of the authors must have experiences something similar.
At the end, I wish there had been an epilogue of what happened next!
There was a tv series made but Charlotte was shown as a slim, quite attractive woman which completely missed the point.

Yes, Jeananne Crowley! I wish someone would make another adaptation. Who would be good as Charlotte? Would Siobhán McSweeney be good? I saw her onstage not long ago and thought she would have the necessary intelligence

crumpet · 19/12/2024 09:29

Time Travellers Wife - both protagonists

Compash · 19/12/2024 09:28

FuckThePoPo · 18/12/2024 22:47

Gone with the wind

Good call!

HowardTJMoon · 19/12/2024 09:12

Most of Martin Amis's books are filled to the brim with horrible people. London Fields is a particularly good example of this.

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