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Original poster

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:
BasiliskStare · 18/12/2024 18:21

@Booklover23 - I would give The Debt to Pleasure by John Lanchester a go. Unreliable narrator but quite amusing,

suburburban · 18/12/2024 18:10

ChessieFL · 18/12/2024 17:33

Lie With Me by Sabine Durrant

Yes that was an interesting read

QuickDenimDeer · 18/12/2024 18:09

You could also probably count the Codename Villanelle series (Killing Eve) but I wouldn’t call them remotely literary. Lots of people hate them but I enjoyed them. He gets Villanelle as a psychopath across pretty well.

Notgoodatpoetrybutgreatatlit · 18/12/2024 18:07

In the fantasy series by Joe Abercrombie - Sand Dan Glockta , he is a torturer, but despite everything I adored him pretty soon into the series.
Abercrombie rather specialised in awful characters.

Compash · 18/12/2024 18:02

StiffyByngsDogBartholomew · 18/12/2024 17:07

Vanity Fair ? You can't help but admire Becky's determination and grit but, my word, she certainly schemes her way through the world

Edited

If I had to pick, that's my favourite book ever... Becky's wonderfully dreadful, in a book full of deliciously dreadful people... and the two 'goodies' are such self-abnegating wets...

Original poster
Booklover23 · 18/12/2024 17:58

So many mentions of books/authors I like here which makes me realise just how much I do like difficult characters!

But lots I haven’t read too - so building up a fabulous list!

OP posts:
OldMrBernardWhoHaveYouSilencedToday · 18/12/2024 17:51

TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross · 18/12/2024 16:30

American Psycho.
Lolita.

Julius by Daphne du Maurier. Ooh he's a shit.

The Beast Within by Emile Zola. They're all awful. See a lot of other Zola for similar, like Therese Raquin, Nana, L'Assommoir.

The Beautiful and Damned by F Scott Fitzgerald. Two awful people get married. It's very darkly funny too.

Edit - didn't mean to quote!

itsnotabouthepasta · 18/12/2024 17:46

Queenie. She was awful.

UndeniablyGenX · 18/12/2024 17:44

Notes on a Scandal - Zoe Heller

PheasantPluckers · 18/12/2024 17:42

Bunkbedbunk · 18/12/2024 16:37

Also if you haven't read it
We Need to Talk About Kevin

Yes! I almost stopped reading several times because I hated the narrator - so glad I didn't!

Other suggestions:
The Bee Sting
Wuthering Heights

Horrible characters but also such good books!

JazzyJelly · 18/12/2024 17:39
  1. By the end I was like yeah, give him the rats!
LocationChange · 18/12/2024 17:38

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout.

WaneyEdge · 18/12/2024 17:37

She isn’t the main character but by God, Cleo in the Roy Grace novels is SO unlikeable. The author forgot to give her any depth whatsoever and so she is just this perfect girlfriend with no flaws at all and therefore no personality. I stopped reading the books as she irritated me so much.

EineReiseDurchDieZeit · 18/12/2024 17:37

EwwSprouts · 18/12/2024 16:38

The Wasp Factory

Came to say this

CandiedPrincess · 18/12/2024 17:35

One Day by David Nicholls, pair of saps.

Also hated Ursula in Life After Life.

Two books that everyone else seemed to love!

ChessieFL · 18/12/2024 17:33

Lie With Me by Sabine Durrant

evilharpy · 18/12/2024 17:30

Gone Girl

Kaminari · 18/12/2024 17:29

What Lies Between Us or The Good Samaritan, both by John Marrs. I hated some main characters so much, they're fantastic reads.

MrsSethGecko · 18/12/2024 17:26

White Oleander by Janet Fitch is another. Absolutely nobody comes out looking good.

FuckItItsFine · 18/12/2024 17:24

The Catcher In The Rye for me.

Andante57 · 18/12/2024 17:23

The Real Charlotte by Somerville & Ross. Charlotte Mullen and Roderick Lambert are brilliantly drawn, horrible people. Gerald Hawkins isn’t great either.

pastapestoparmesan · 18/12/2024 17:18

I read a Diary of a Wimpy Kid book to see why the kids love them so much (I’m a primary school teacher). I literally couldn’t work out which - if any - of the characters I was supposed to be in sympathy with, they all seemed utterly unpleasant.

Eyesopenwideawake · 18/12/2024 17:18

The Last Days of Jack Sparks.

Catandsquirrel · 18/12/2024 17:17

Remains of the day by kazuo ishiguro (good film too)

justonedrink · 18/12/2024 17:17

Alfred Bester's Stars My Destination.