To ask which book characters irrationally annoy you?

[WaterBird]

I'm currently reading the play "The Rise and Fall of Arturo UI" by the German playwright Bertolt Brecht (though it takes place in Chicago). There is a fairly minor character (at least at the point in the play where I'm at) called Young Dogsborough, whose father is a major character in his 80's. Any time the son says anything, it is to unnecessarily agree with the father. For example if the father says, "They've gone", the son will then say "My father says they've gone."
Which book characters have you felt annoyed by?

Bibliomania love Mallory Towers.

I find the lead character in Joanne Harris's chocolate quite annoying. Is it Vivienne?

Definitely Agatha Christie's "Miss Marple"

YOU TAKE THAT BAAAACK! I love Miss Marple 4evah.

why mummy drinks

I've not read more than a few chapters of that book (because it was so bad, which is sad because I think the author is lovely), but from what I read I hated everyone in it, most especially the main character.

The thing about WH is that it's not just Cathy and Heathcliff who are awful, toxic, terrible people. Hindley is an abusive alcoholic; Edgar is a pissy controlling arsehole; Linton is manipulative and an associate to abuse; mini-Cathy is a pain in the arse; Joseph is a terrible person... even Lockwood is a bit of a wanker. And the housekeeper is a proper cow as well most of the time, no wonder everyone hates Cathy when she clearly does.

The whole lot of them need serious SS intervention.

Angelina Ballerina, self obsessed mouse that she is! I don’t know how her adorable friend Alice put up with her.

Laura Fairlie in the Woman in White. So simpering and useless!

Everyone in Angela's Ashes : all useless & miserable

Everyone in Jude the Obscure -equally miserable and unwilling to do anything positive

TIN TIN AAAAGGGHHHHHHH

Realise hes a comic book chsracter but oh my godddddfffdd

And noddy from harry potter.

They both grate irrationally on me

Cinderella. Just stop running around cleaning up after your useless stepsisters and have some self-respect. And once you're married to that prince of yours, I recommend you go NC or VLC.

Are we allowed non fiction? Can I add every ‘celebrity’ that is the only person in the world to have ever had a baby and think they now have the expertise to impart their wisdom on the masses? Looking at you, Myleene Klass and those TOWIE sisters

Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's. I wanted to slap her.

Has anyone mentioned that wretched little cousin in the Secret Garden, what was his name? So pathetic, and then it turns out he was never ill. Surely any boy with a bit of spark would have tried to get up years earlier! Actually Sara is pretty irritating too.

Everyone in Angela's Ashes : all useless & miserable

Except for the priests - they are useless and vindictive.

Awful book.

can we add some TV characters to this?

Tom Barnaby's wife, Joyce. What a boring, holier-that-thou, PITA she is!

Love Miss Marple but Poirot is incredibly annoying.

Jude from 'A Little Life'. Perhaps I'm a terrible person, but he was such a drag.

It's when the author clearly adores/identifies with a character and can't see how unbearable they are, that's when proper hatred sets in. Yes! This is one of the reasons I find Bella Swan so unbearable. She is clearly meant to be likeable but I cannot bear her. The other characters talk about how great and nice and brave she is, with no evidence, and she is so whiny and selfish.

Bibliomania, I haven’t read a Malory Towers book for at least 25 years, so I can’t trust my memory 100%. But if I recall correctly, Enid Blyton did seem to enjoy punishing some of her characters and if this involved public humiliation, so much the better.

I agree with the PP who suggested Mary Poppins. I loved the magical adventures, but Mary was so smug and always came out on top. I always hoped the children would get to have an adventure without her and one time they nearly did, but of course, she waltzed in near the end and stole the show.

Angela in A A particularly in New York was so awful and annoying

Fanny in Mansfield Park.

Ah, I remember poor Maureen in Malory Towers. She only ever wanted to be liked, bless her! Enid Blyton was harsh. I remember in The Naughtiest Girl in the School, Elizabeth notices her friend Joan never gets parcels like everyone else and gets teased for it. So Elizabeth then buys a cake and presents for Joan's birthday and pretends they came from her parents. Joan then writes to her family to thank them, only for them to tell her they never sent her a thing. This leads to Joan becoming seriously ill, her mum and dad have to visit the school and it turns out Joan had a twin who died, and her mum and dad wish he had survived and Joan had been the one to go. I think they deserve a special mention for being among the worst parents in literature tbh.

Hermione Granger
The pair in Gone Girl - I didn’t give a shit about either of them by the end and felt they were vile
Read Mortal Engines and hated everyone in that - wet and irritating
Katniss Everdeen in book three - whiny and annoying
Everyone in We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves - shit shit shit book
Another for Heathcliff and Cathy but I love the others enough for it to work. Actually I love the narrator - the maid whose name I forget; Nelly? - and has kept me with it.

Miriam in Sons and Lovers. She's so wet you could wring her out.

And so unsuited to that Laurie too. It pleases me to know their marriage will have been a miserable one.

Don't ever read Little Men or Jo's Boys, you'll be very disappointed.

It's when the author clearly adores/identifies with a character and can't see how unbearable they are, that's when proper hatred sets in

How true! See also Inspector Alleyn in the Ngaio Marsh series. She's clearly in love with him, and he's such a crashing intellectual snob you want to hit him.