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?

Her wealth is restored and she rescues her poor friend Becky by ...... making Becky her servant!

That pissed me off, too - even as a child, I thought that was bloody awful.

Angel Clare.

12/02/2019 21:46 ItsInTheSpoon

I like Tess Durbeyfield - it’s Angel Clare I absolutely hate. So self-righteous and hypocritical!

Yes! I was thinking exactly that

Also despise Cee Cee Bloom and Bertie in Beaches, although I loved Cee Cee in the movie; in fact love the movie, just not drippy, desperate, uninteresting Bertie/Hilary character

With you all on Wuthering Heights. What claptrap. Also Dorothea in Middlemarch - dopey cow. Then there's Rachel Verinder in The Moonstone - spoilt madam who mars an excellent novel. It's a bit awkward for the author to have the whole plot turning on the fact that she goes into a prolonged sulk.

Delia in Ladder of Years. She goes off, starts a new life from nothing, has another family relying on her and at one word goes back to her husband after a year?? Deeply unsatisfactory.

The central character in 'Look at me'. FFS love, wake up and drop the passive-aggressive thing.

Discovery of witches - what absolute bollocks the whole series is. Starts weak and gets worse. I hated myself for buying the last book but I wanted to know what happened so there's obviously a hook somewhere but it certainly wasn't the characterisation.

I disagree with the person who doesn't like Becky Sharp, though. Becky Sharp is the only truly moral character in Vanity Fair. she's WONDERFUL!

Sabine, I remember Delia walking away from her family on a beach holiday and starting a new life. What I found extraordinary is that when she eventually went back, her children hardly reacted!

And when she went back home, she must have broken the hearts of her “new family”. Nice.

I felt sorry for the little boy, Noah, whom she just dumped, in the way she had dumped her own family.

Yeah, so did I.

It’s a while since I read the book, but didn’t Delia just walk off unexpectedly while wearing a swimsuit? Her poor family must have thought she’d been abducted.

Susie jacks sister from the secret seven. Always trying to guess the password and get into the meetings

Another one who I can't stand is Jem in Ralph's Party. That she's so wedded to the idea that she has to date one of them because she saw it in a dream. I once twice had a lewd dream about my bald, misogynist boss; he was phenomenal in the sack. And yet, somehow, I was able to spot the distinction between reality AND MY SUBCONSCIOUS, so I somehow overcame the temptation to march into his office and straddle him. Because dreams aren't real and I'm not a fucking idiot.

I'm also astounded that no one has mentioned the protagonist from Wetlands. I like to think of myself as fairly open-minded and sexually liberated, and yet not once have I looked at an avocado stone and thought 'now here's an obvious sex aid'. I felt in need of a good hose down (now then) after reading that book.

Also, an honourable mention for Carrie Bradshaw. I know her screen incarnation wasn't completely faithful to the book, but she is just the worst fictional character (Thomas notwithstanding obvs). A whiny, faithless, deluded little princess, who feigned introspection when really she was just an egomaniac.

I once twice had a lewd dream about my bald, misogynist boss . . . yet, somehow, I was able to spot the distinction between reality AND MY SUBCONSCIOUS

Totally agree with AmIbeingnaive here.

Last week I dreamt that I had a pet bull and it slept on the bed. Twice in the night (in my dream) it fell off the bed when it rolled over to get more comfy, and DH and I had to help it to its hooves so it could get back into the bed. The second time it got stuck on its back between the bed and the wall, and was waving its hooves sadly until we righted it (what a job that was! - no room to manoeuvre, and we had to shift the bed and of course there were dust bunnies underneath - but I digress).

Anyway - I have not had the least urge to visit a cattle auction so that I could make my dream come true.

Thomas (the tank). He is a selfish little arsehole

I wonder if I could slip Bungle (from Rainbow) into this thread? They did have a few annuals out and comics, so maybe.

Bungle is my least favourite character in Rainbow. He's sanctimonious, a tattle-tale, asks questions to which he already knows the answer in an attempt to suck up more attention. I hate his beady eyes and his big hairy arse (which probably smells).

Whew! Glad to have got that off my chest

I'm with you there results

Bungle is a pain in the (big hairy smelly) arse and I could never stand the pompous, sanctimonious, grovelling bastard either.

Lily Dale. Smug, selfish, arrogant, obstinate - just marry poor Johnny ffs

Alicia in Malory Towers. Hard hearted, bitchy yet inexplicably popular.

The lead character in Girl on a Train

The girl in 50 Shades (actually anyone in 50 Shades)

Beatrice Lacey in Wideacre by Philippa Gregory - ghastly character

SchadenfreudePersonified

Thanks!

Not all teddy-bears are nice, I'm thinking...

The older sister in Harry and his bucket full of Dinosaurs. She's nasty.

Catherine and Heathcliff, two pains in the arse. Get over yourselves, for goodness sake!

Every single person in The Mill on the Floss.

@AndroidsConundrum you made me laugh so much i nearly pissed myself, nearly!

The pesky melt with the red and white hat. Always hiding that one.

The person who you think did the murder but turns out they didn’t in any Agatha Christie novel

Anastasia Steele
Jane Eyre
Dona in Frenchman’s Creek
Scarlett O’Hara
Half of Rutshire for various reason

Me and my son are completely loving @Amibeingnaive's version of Thomas the W/Tank Engine though - genius.