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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:
EineReiseDurchDieZeit · 18/12/2024 17:37

EwwSprouts · 18/12/2024 16:38

The Wasp Factory

Came to say this

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.

LocationChange · 18/12/2024 17:38

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout.

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

UndeniablyGenX · 18/12/2024 17:44

Notes on a Scandal - Zoe Heller

itsnotabouthepasta · 18/12/2024 17:46

Queenie. She was awful.

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!

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:
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...

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.

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.

suburburban · 18/12/2024 18:10

ChessieFL · 18/12/2024 17:33

Lie With Me by Sabine Durrant

Yes that was an interesting read

BasiliskStare · 18/12/2024 18:21

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

NordicwithTeen · 18/12/2024 18:24

Boyparts

Itsaswelltime · 18/12/2024 18:26

The Great Gatsby

Booklover23 · 18/12/2024 18:28

BasiliskStare · 18/12/2024 18:21

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

Oh thank you - I enjoyed Capital but haven’t read this one!

OP posts:
ginasevern · 18/12/2024 18:28

Wuthering Heights. Cathy and Heathcliff are pretty obnoxious.

Julen7 · 18/12/2024 18:30

Engleby by Sebastian Faulks

HeadNorth · 18/12/2024 18:33

Gillespie and I by Jane Harris - excellent book but chilling, it stuck with me. The narrator is a piece of work and I will leave it at that.

TooManyCupsAndMugs · 18/12/2024 18:41

My Dark Vanessa. It is very dark subject matter and you feel for her but she is very unlikeable.

Riverswims · 18/12/2024 19:19

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.

I really struggle to see how Greg is “utterly unpleasant” ? other characters can be selfish Roderick or in cloud cuckoo land Mom but not unpleasant? all the years i’ve read/listened them to all 4 can’t think of anything? I’d sympathise with Rowley actually but I love that him and Greg are still a team

Regr3ts · 18/12/2024 19:21

I don't know if it's been mentioned but notes on a scandal has a few very unlikeable lead characters.

suburburban · 18/12/2024 19:30

Anyone read the Scotland street series, Irene is thoroughly unpleasant

StiffyByngsDogBartholomew · 18/12/2024 20:02

Emma Bovary is also a pretty awful character. Actually the whole book is riddled with awful characters. Charles is a total weed, Homais is the archetypal bourgeois patrician and Rodolphe is a horrible lothario. Oh and Lheureux who drives her fall into covetousness towards her inevitable demise

and yet I love it !