# Ever really hated a character in a novel?



## WriterCTaylor (Jul 11, 2011)

Have you ever read a novel and hated one of the characters? I don't mean because of bad writing, but because the character was just one of those people you would actually dislike in real life. 

An example for me is the photographer in The Omen. His name was Keith Jennings. I was very surprised how he struck a chord with me. I don't know if this was intentional by the author to make him that unlikeable, or if it just happened that way. I saw the movie first and he was portrayed as a likable character. In the book, he was a drunkard, womaniser and very disagreeable. I was quite happy to read of his demise with a pane of glass.


----------



## Lursa (aka 9MMare) (Jun 23, 2011)

It's usually easy to hate the antagonist in a novel...it takes good writing to make them likeable.

What I dont like is hating or not respecting the main character, esp. women, when they've made alot of poor decisions in their lives and esp. when they continue to do so. If I dont like the main character, the story, plot, suspense, and details (esp. forensic) better be good.

(I'm not that focused on character-driven anyway)


----------



## Anne Maven (Apr 18, 2011)

I SERIOUSLY cannot stand Catherine in Wuthering Heights. It's one of my favorite books. I suppose the contrasts were meant to be that stark. But a more attention seeking character I've never come across before!!


----------



## Richard Raley (May 23, 2011)

Umbridge in Harry Potter comes to mind.


----------



## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

Holden Caulfield.


----------



## drenee (Nov 11, 2008)

Tatiana in The Bronze Horseman.


----------



## LaRita (Oct 28, 2008)

Ashley Wilkes in Gone with the Wind. What a wuss; can't stand up to anyone about anything.


----------



## Richard Raley (May 23, 2011)

history_lover said:


> Holden Caulfield.


Agree with that one too...just when I think I've successfully blocked the book from my memory...


----------



## Ty Johnston (Jun 19, 2009)

There have been a number of characters I've disliked, but rarely actually hated. Though there have been a few I've loved to hate, usually villains who are fun in a diabolical sort of way.


----------



## CNDudley (May 14, 2010)

LaRita said:


> Ashley Wilkes in Gone with the Wind. What a wuss; can't stand up to anyone about anything.


Awww...don't you think part of the problem is that they cast Leslie Howard in the movie? He WAS supposed to be dashing and capable of charming a strong-minded girl off her feet, but Leslie Howard couldn't stand up to Clark Gable, casting-wise. I think it's the Elizabeth Bennet effect: they always cast a prettier Lizzy than Jane, even though Jane is supposed to be the beauty of the fam.

Back to the thread:

Loathed Uriah Heep and Steerforth in _David Copperfield_, but really, really, really hated Mr. Skimpole in _Bleak House_!


----------



## kchughez (Jun 29, 2011)

I hate that dam Hilly Holbrook in The Help.

There, I said it!


~KC


----------



## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Hi from your friendly neighborhood moderator....

For the benefit of new members--self promotion (e.g., recommending your own books or characters) is not allowed in the Book Corner.  Please resist the inclination.    If you have any questions, please PM Betsy or me as to not derail the thread, thanks!


----------



## BrianPBorcky (Aug 7, 2011)

It's a play, not a novel, but I *hated* Cassius in Julius Caesar.


----------



## Michael_J_Sullivan (Aug 3, 2011)

I think its an author's responsibility to make authors that illicit emotion - both love and hate.  The best writers take a character that you initially hate and make you love them - despite yourself.


----------



## WriterCTaylor (Jul 11, 2011)

Richard Raley said:


> Agree with that one too...just when I think I've successfully blocked the book from my memory...


Oh, how I had managed to wipe it also. Yes, he was disagreeable, but was that the author's intention? I don't know. That particular novel is touted as a 'classic.


----------



## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

WriterCTaylor said:


> Oh, how I had managed to wipe it also. Yes, he was disagreeable, but was that the author's intention? I don't know. That particular novel is touted as a 'classic.


I think you're supposed to sympathize with him in the end. I didn't. I had to read it for school and I remember the teacher explaining all the symbolism and meaning of it and even then as a teen myself, I just thought "What a load of crap".


----------



## cheriereich (Feb 12, 2011)

Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter. I loathe that woman.


----------



## B Regan Asher (Jun 14, 2011)

I agree with 9MMare that it's easy to hate the antagonist and harder to like or respect them.  

Umbridge from the Harry Potter novels is definitely a good example of one to hate but I found hating her too easy because she had no redeeming value whatsoever.  I would have preferred if she had a few good traits or if we were given some circumstances explaining her behavior.  Then I could hate her but I would have to work at it a little.


----------



## ThomasSandman (Aug 10, 2011)

Sure, many times. The catch is, am I supposed to hate the character? If so, I keep reading. If not, well, I'm done.


----------



## anguabell (Jan 9, 2011)

I must admit I dislike everyone in the Wuthering Heights and I think they pretty much deserve each other. But the character I really hate is the conceited and loathsome Mr. Darcy. I've always dreamed about rescuing Elizabeth Bennett, giving her some money and getting her away both from her family and that man. She would deserve to have perfectly fulfilling, independent life but could only hope to escape from one prison to another - I guess this is the sad reality Jane Austen tried to capture in her books that are, for some unfathomable reasons, considered a romantic "comedy" of manners.


----------



## drenee (Nov 11, 2008)

ThomasSandman said:


> Sure, many times. The catch is, am I supposed to hate the character? If so, I keep reading. If not, well, I'm done.


Well said.


----------



## Julia444 (Feb 24, 2011)

I always hated Estella in GREAT EXPECTATIONS.  I realize that she too was just a pawn of Ms. Havisham's, but I still have trouble liking her.

On the other hand, I do not hate Holden Caulfield.  I feel very sorry for him because he is clearly psychologically unsound, but is at heart a good person.  
But I think it's harder to like books/characters when you don't get to choose them for yourself.  Those of you who were assigned CATCHER IN THE RYE I'm sure had a different experience from people who sought it out because they liked the narrative voice.

And I agree about Dolores Umbridge.  Rowling sure could make a despicable character.  Snape had his moments, too, but I always sensed that he was good somehow (or maybe hoped it).  

Julia


----------



## Laura Lond (Nov 6, 2010)

When I saw this thread, I thought of Catherine from _Wuthering Heights_ right away. Then I saw that she's already mentioned here - good!  I'm not the only one who found her despicable.

Another one I completely agree about is Skimpole from _Bleak House_. I think I hate that worthless parasite with such a passion because I've known someone rather similar in real life. And what I detest the most is how forgiving and accepting people around him are, always coming to the rescue. Let the bastard go to jail for his debts and rot there!

Has the self-serving Scarlett O'Hara been mentioned yet? Yeah, she's done some good things, but... I think she completely deserves Rhett's parting words in the end of the movie.


----------



## youngadultfiction (Jul 28, 2011)

I have to say, i hated the main character in 'beatrice and virgil' by Yann Martel (the guy wrote the amazing life of pi), I'm sure there was meant to be lots of symbolism or something about him within the story, but by the end i had to throw the book across the room because it was so bad. So disappointing as i loved Life of Pi.


----------



## WriterCTaylor (Jul 11, 2011)

Laura Lond said:


> Another one I completely agree about is Skimpole from _Bleak House_. I think I hate that worthless parasite with such a passion because I've known someone rather similar in real life.


I think that has a lot to do with it. When you are reminded by a character in a novel about a real life person you dislike, it hits home a little harder.


----------



## UnicornEmily (Jul 2, 2011)

I know exactly what you mean.  Sometimes, I've even put down a book because I hated a character so vehemently.  There is such a thing as making a villain *too* hateful for your readers . . .


----------



## Selina Fenech (Jul 20, 2011)

I hated Lyra, the main protagonist in His Dark Materials in the first book. So annoying and spoiled and rough. Then over the course of the series she grew up to be one of my favourite characters ever.


----------



## Laura Lond (Nov 6, 2010)

WriterCTaylor said:


> When you are reminded by a character in a novel about a real life person you dislike, it hits home a little harder.


Yes, very true.


----------



## WriterCTaylor (Jul 11, 2011)

UnicornEmily said:


> I know exactly what you mean. Sometimes, I've even put down a book because I hated a character so vehemently. There is such a thing as making a villain *too* hateful for your readers . . .


Wow, that's some serious villains there. Might be a good book for new writers to learn about characters.


----------



## NRWick (Mar 22, 2011)

I second (or third?) Umbridge. Ugh, that woman.

As for my own... I hate Katniss from Hunger Games. Love the story/books, but I can't stand Katniss. I haven't read the last book yet since my husband snagged it before I could, so I don't know who she actually ends up with, but I wanted her to be with Gayle because I hated him as much as I hated her.


----------



## WriterCTaylor (Jul 11, 2011)

Doniger in Timeline by Michael Crichton annoyed me as well. Pompous, arrogant and a know it all!


----------



## KateEllison (Jul 9, 2011)

cheriereich said:


> Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter. I loathe that woman.


Yes, I LOATHED that woman with an intensity that surprised me.

I can't think of any others right now, but I'm sure they're out there.

I like it when I really dislike the antagonist because it makes the struggles of the protagonist that much more vivid for me. It makes the book really come alive.


----------



## Erica Sloane (May 11, 2011)

Not really. When I read a character who I know I'm supposed to dislike or hate, I get really interested in how the author did it, so it kind of becomes a lesson for me.


----------



## leearco (Jul 17, 2011)

Yes, Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever in Lord Foul's Bane By Stephen Donaldson. I couldn't read any more in the series because I just couldn't like the guy after he raped the girl.


----------



## Debra Purdy Kong (Apr 1, 2009)

cheriereich said:


> Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter. I loathe that woman.


Yes, I agree, and I'm watching the Order of the Phoenix right now! She's really horrible because perhaps she reminds us of people in our lives who've pretended to be nice when they've actually been conniving, manipulative creeps. I wonder if Rowling was wrting about all the two-faced people she had to deal with in her life when she created Umbridge.

Debra


----------



## WriterCTaylor (Jul 11, 2011)

Debra Purdy Kong said:


> Yes, I agree, and I'm watching the Order of the Phoenix right now! She's really horrible because perhaps she reminds us of people in our lives who've pretended to be nice when they've actually been conniving, manipulative creeps. I wonder if Rowling was wrting about all the two-faced people she had to deal with in her life when she created Umbridge.


You have hit the nail right on the head. I think most writers write about events and people in their lives; even when the character is fictional, deep in the subconscious we are writing from our memories.


----------



## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

Oh there are so many!  I certainly understand Catherine in "Wuthering Heights."  Ditto Heathcliff.  But most of all - the servant Joseph.  Vile, evil man.

The entire Lannister clan (frequently even Tyrion) in "The Game of Thrones."  But how my opinion of Tyrion changes from chapter to chapter is a testament to Martin's very complex creation.

Baron Harkonen in "Dune."  Ugh!

Lestat in Anne Rice's "Vampire Chronicles."  Hate him!

On a slightly different note: Ferris Bueler.  Detest him.  Want him to get caught.  Angry at Jennifer Grey for saving him in the end.


----------



## PMartelly (May 1, 2011)

I really disliked Umbridge too. I think she might be the character I dislike the most, actually. Lestat is a close second, though. lol


----------



## Philip Brown (Jan 31, 2011)

President Snow in The Hunger Games trilogy.


----------



## PMartelly (May 1, 2011)

Phil Brown said:


> President Snow in The Hunger Games trilogy.


OoO! Good point! I completely forgot about him!


----------



## samanthawarren (May 1, 2011)

Phil Brown said:


> President Snow in The Hunger Games trilogy.


Heh, I was going to name a character from Hunger Games, but it wasn't Snow. He's a nasty man, but he's not the worst. President Coin is worse, but even she's not the character I hated the most. Katniss was my least favorite character in that series. She was tolerable in the first book, less so in the second, and I wanted to reach through and punch her in the face in the third. The other characters made that series what it is; she's just the narrator, IMO, and not a good one.


----------



## Libby13 (Jul 31, 2011)

There have definitely been characters I've hated, but sometimes I don't hate a character, just their quirks.  For instance, every time a Heinlein character says "Huh?".  It happens a lot.  It might not be so jarring but I've listened to two of his books on audio book and after six "Huhs?" it just sounds awful.


----------



## VioletVal (Jul 26, 2010)

William Hamleigh from _Pillars of the Earth_.


----------



## patrisha w. (Oct 28, 2008)

Dora in _David Copperfield_ by Charles Dickens. I wanted to take her by the shoulders and shake some maturity into her!


----------



## AnnetteL (Jul 14, 2010)

Anne Maven said:


> I SERIOUSLY cannot stand Catherine in Wuthering Heights. It's one of my favorite books. I suppose the contrasts were meant to be that stark. But a more attention seeking character I've never come across before!!


I was on the other end. Hated, hated Heathcliff!


----------



## Simon John Cox (Aug 15, 2011)

Hate is a strong word, but I read _Rabbit, Run_ by John Updike and disliked pretty much everyone in it. They were all variously shallow, selfish, weak, uncaring...they had virtually no redeeming features between them. They were extremely well drawn, sure, and you could argue that their actions and reactions accurately reflected the reality of many interpersonal relationships (which was probably the author's intention)...but I just didn't like them.


----------



## SimonSmithWilson (Jul 26, 2011)

The Mum from E.T, she annoyed me throughout the book and she seemed to take up most of the pages.


----------



## unitbit (Jul 22, 2011)

Laura Lond said:


> Yes, very true.


I have several examples of this I can think of... *shivers*


----------



## Sharon Red (Jul 23, 2011)

SimonSmithWilson said:


> The Mum from E.T, she annoyed me throughout the book and she seemed to take up most of the pages.


YES!!


----------



## David &#039;Half-Orc&#039; Dalglish (Feb 1, 2010)

Geoffrey Lannister from Game of Thrones. I wanted him to die, slowly and painfully, every time I saw him.


----------



## ErinW965 (Aug 15, 2011)

Yes, but not in a good way. I think writers need to be really careful about the villains the readers learn to hate. I mean, there are bad guys who are evil then there are bad guys who are just annoying.


----------



## WriterCTaylor (Jul 11, 2011)

ErinW965 said:


> Yes, but not in a good way. I think writers need to be really careful about the villains the readers learn to hate. I mean, there are bad guys who are evil then there are bad guys who are just annoying.


Yes! There are bad, evil characters who are disagreeable and there are just the plain annoying. The latter is more likely to make a reader put the novel down.


----------



## ashel (May 29, 2011)

B Regan Asher said:


> Umbridge from the Harry Potter novels is definitely a good example of one to hate but I found hating her too easy because she had no redeeming value whatsoever. I would have preferred if she had a few good traits or if we were given some circumstances explaining her behavior. Then I could hate her but I would have to work at it a little.


And this, right here, is why I don't particularly like the Harry Potter books.

I hated the Hunger Games, and I hated Katniss, but for me it's sort of a chicken and the egg situation.


----------



## WriterCTaylor (Jul 11, 2011)

genevieveaclark said:


> it's sort of a chicken and the egg situation.


Ummm....explain??


----------



## ashel (May 29, 2011)

WriterCTaylor said:


> Ummm....explain??


I read it a while ago, so this is sort of going on distant memory, but I just remember feeling like Katniss herself was super boring, and the author just...cheated. Like, really avoided making the most difficult choices. The setting seems like a great place to examine all sorts of stuff about morality and what happens to people in situations like that (Lord of the Flies and all that), and that didn't really happen. Just felt like a cheap commercial rip off of something that could be really good. (And apparently it kind of was! Though I don't know anything about Battle Royale, so I am just irresponsibly repeating rumor here.)


----------



## Tara Maya (Nov 4, 2010)

history_lover said:


> I think you're supposed to sympathize with him in the end. I didn't. I had to read it for school and I remember the teacher explaining all the symbolism and meaning of it and even then as a teen myself, I just thought "What a load of crap".


I agree. I don't think the character was supposed to be despicable, but that's how I felt. That's a problem I often have with "literary" novels. The author takes pride in making the main characters unlikable. I used to think it was on purpose, just to annoy the reader, but after reading an interview with a literary author who had no idea his character was NOT likable, I am not sure it is deliberate. I think the author might be so busy thinking about what the story symbolizes, combined with his desire to avoid "cliches", he forgets to make a character likable. Or maybe it's not really possible to have a likable character who is not, at least in some way, a hero. Literary authors who refuse to write heroic characters thus end up with whining, self-pitying, cruel, petty or boring characters.


----------



## MindAttic (Aug 14, 2011)

Tara Maya said:


> I agree. I don't think the character was supposed to be despicable, but that's how I felt. That's a problem I often have with "literary" novels. The author takes pride in making the main characters unlikable. I used to think it was on purpose, just to annoy the reader, but after reading an interview with a literary author who had no idea his character was NOT likable, I am not sure it is deliberate. I think the author might be so busy thinking about what the story symbolizes, combined with his desire to avoid "cliches", he forgets to make a character likable. Or maybe it's not really possible to have a likable character who is not, at least in some way, a hero. Literary authors who refuse to write heroic characters thus end up with whining, self-pitying, cruel, petty or boring characters.


And by avoiding cliches, they end up creating them anyway. That's the type of character I don't like. The character that's so flawed, he or she becomes a cliche and the author doesn't even realize it. I don't mind cliche or unlikable characters, but when an authors writes a one dimensional character with no knowledge that they are writing one, it sometimes ends up like someone trying to wear a clown suit to a board meeting, thinking it's Armani.


----------



## KathyGleason (May 5, 2011)

I'm reading The Help and I despise the character of Hilly. Just the way she can ruin other peoples lives is scary.


----------



## Ann Herrick (Sep 24, 2010)

I'm reading _Maine_ and I'm totally not liking Alice! None of the other characters are particular likeable either, but Alice--ack!


----------



## WriterCTaylor (Jul 11, 2011)

genevieveaclark said:


> I read it a while ago, so this is sort of going on distant memory, but I just remember feeling like Katniss herself was super boring, and the author just...cheated. Like, really avoided making the most difficult choices. The setting seems like a great place to examine all sorts of stuff about morality and what happens to people in situations like that (Lord of the Flies and all that), and that didn't really happen. Just felt like a cheap commercial rip off of something that could be really good. (And apparently it kind of was! Though I don't know anything about Battle Royale, so I am just irresponsibly repeating rumor here.)


Cool, thanks. I understand now.


----------



## Daphne (May 27, 2010)

_Every_ character in The Great Gatsby - they are all self-centred and obnoxious. Fanny Price in Mansfield Park - too goody-goody. Emma in, well, Emma - too interfering and self-righteous. Also the girl in Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca - I always wanted to slap her and make her stand up to Mrs Danvers (She hates you! Just sack her!). I've also just given up on The Mayor of Casterbridge because I didn't like anyone: not the silly wife or the simpering daughter or even Donald Farfrae who is just too jammy. I quite liked Henchard, despite - or perhaps because of - his faults, but had a nasty feeling that things weren't going to work out for him and didn't want to see it happen.

In some cases (Gatsby) I'm sure the author meant us to hate the characters, but I think Jane Austen intended us to like Fanny - perhaps hers is just an out-dated kind of virtue and subservient womanliness that I find hard to swallow in the twenty-first century.


----------



## Tony Richards (Jul 6, 2011)

Hate to admit it but -- along the same lines -- Van Helsing in 'Dracula' really got on my nerves. I thought him a pompous bore.


----------



## WriterCTaylor (Jul 11, 2011)

Tony Richards said:


> Hate to admit it but -- along the same lines -- Van Helsing in 'Dracula' really got on my nerves. I thought him a pompous bore.


Funny, I thought he was fine. Goes to show; each to their own.


----------



## lisarusczyk (Jan 16, 2011)

VioletVal said:


> William Hamleigh from _Pillars of the Earth_.


That's who I was thinking of the whole time I read this thread. Oh, he was evil.


----------



## Sharon Red (Jul 23, 2011)

Tony Richards said:


> Hate to admit it but -- along the same lines -- Van Helsing in 'Dracula' really got on my nerves. I thought him a pompous bore.


Haha I actually liked him. Very interesting


----------



## Nina Croft (Jun 16, 2011)

I seem to like an awful lot of characters other people hate (except Delores Umbridge of course - didn't like her!)

One I really hated though was Richard out of the Anita Blake books - he was so annoying and got more so as the series went on.


----------



## Alicia Dean (Jul 11, 2011)

Interesting topic. There are characters we love to hate and are supposed to hate, then there are those we are supposed to like that make us want to claw our eyes out.  I'd have to say one of my favorite villains, someone I loved to hate, was the serial killer in Tess Gerritsen's The Surgeon and The Apprentice. Great characterization. Truly wicked. Someone I hate that I'm not supposed to is Bella in Twilight. Ugh! Whiny and annoying weak...how on earth could two guys be so desperately in love with her


----------



## C.G.Ayling (Aug 25, 2011)

I consider it a sign of good writing if characters within a tale inspire strong emotions, good or ill,  in the reader. 

It takes skillful writing to make the feelings of the reader ambivalent toward a character.  Consider Gollum in Tolkien’s works, he successfully engenders multiple conflicting emotions in me with the most predominant being pity.  He also makes me resent the protagonist, which lends a new dimension to that character's character…


----------



## WriterCTaylor (Jul 11, 2011)

C.G.Ayling said:


> I consider it a sign of good writing if characters within a tale inspire strong emotions, good or ill, in the reader.
> 
> It takes skillful writing to make the feelings of the reader ambivalent toward a character. Consider Gollum in Tolkien's works, he successfully engenders multiple conflicting emotions in me with the most predominant being pity. He also makes me resent the protagonist, which lends a new dimension to that character's character&#8230;


You're right there. I kept feeling sorry for him, then wished someone would just stab him or something!


----------



## MichelleR (Feb 21, 2009)

DYB said:


> The entire Lannister clan (frequently even Tyrion) in "The Game of Thrones." But how my opinion of Tyrion changes from chapter to chapter is a testament to Martin's very complex creation.


Sansa.

I get that she's just a child still, but my dislike of her is visceral.


----------



## WriterCTaylor (Jul 11, 2011)

Nina Croft said:


> I seem to like an awful lot of characters other people hate (except Delores Umbridge of course - didn't like her!)
> 
> One I really hated though was Richard out of the Anita Blake books - he was so annoying and got more so as the series went on.


I'm the same. I happen to like quite a few of the characters people despised to the point it sounds as if they wanted to murder them. That's the beauty of reading. We all receive the novel in our own way and interpret what the author has written in our own way.


----------



## Iain Manson (Apr 3, 2011)

Let me go off at a tangent. Has it struck anyone that novelists find it easier to create a hateful character than a likeable one? I'm pretty sure that a disproportionate number of fiction's most memorable characters are villains.

Look at the great Dickens creations: Uriah Heep, Wackford Squeers, Fagin, Quilp . . . Now try to think of a likeable Dickens character . . .

The unsettling truth is that we find evil more interesting than good. Evil, in fact, is fascinating, and even seductive. In spite of ourselves, we can't help thinking of good characters as somehow boring.

Perhaps – I'm really just thinking aloud here – it's that there's nothing interesting to say about perfection, and little interesting to say about near-perfection. But I'm open to suggestions.

To answer the question, though, I think the most hateful character in all fiction is to be found not in the novel but on the stage: Iago. And a wonderfully repulsive Dickens character – one whose pathetic villainy deserves to be more celebrated – is Noah Claypole from Oliver Twist.


----------



## Joseph.Garraty (May 20, 2011)

Every last character in _Atlas Shrugged._ Every one of 'em. The bad guys are either evil or pathetic, and the "good guys," insofar as the book has any, are sociopaths.


----------



## Sharon Red (Jul 23, 2011)

Joseph.Garraty said:


> Every last character in _Atlas Shrugged._ Every one of 'em. The bad guys are either evil or pathetic, and the "good guys," insofar as the book has any, are sociopaths.


Interesting view point. It has been years but I may have to reread this.


----------



## GerrieFerrisFinger (Jun 1, 2011)

9MMare said:


> It's usually easy to hate the antagonist in a novel...it takes good writing to make them likeable.
> 
> What I dont like is hating or not respecting the main character, esp. women, when they've made alot of poor decisions in their lives and esp. when they continue to do so. If I dont like the main character, the story, plot, suspense, and details (esp. forensic) better be good.
> 
> (I'm not that focused on character-driven anyway)


I'm all about characters and I certainly agree that women making poor decisions irritates me more than anything. The too-stupid-to-live sterotype is much maligned and rightly so, but it's not just a stupid woman going alone into a dark alley after a bad guy. It's when she makes the same mistake over and over with a guy or with her kids, etc. I know fiction is supposed to mirror real life, but do you really want to hang out with someone who dates the same kind of loser and whines about it. This is particularly true in series where the woman character stays the same. She's supposed to grow and change.
Now, it's time for my nap.


----------



## Pnjw (Apr 24, 2011)

LaRita said:


> Ashley Wilkes in Gone with the Wind. What a wuss; can't stand up to anyone about anything.


Agreed. What the heck did Scarlet ever see in him?


----------



## Pnjw (Apr 24, 2011)

kchughez said:


> I hate that dam Hilly Holbrook in The Help.
> 
> There, I said it!
> 
> ~KC


lol. I have to agree with this one, too. How did she and Skeeter ever become friends?


----------



## Pnjw (Apr 24, 2011)

What about Erika Berger from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo? I can't stand her. The whole can't live without her husband and Mikael makes me want to slap her.

On the other hand Lisbeth is one of the most compelling characters I've read in a long time. I wish Larson could have had a chance to give us more on her.


----------



## Joseph.Garraty (May 20, 2011)

Sharon Red said:


> Interesting view point. It has been years but I may have to reread this.


Good luck! I'll be moving on to other thousand-page books, ones I might actually enjoy.


----------



## Aubrie Dionne author (Feb 10, 2011)

It's hard for me to like a "passive" main character that doesn't do anything about his/her situation.

If they remind me of someone I have trouble relating to in real life, then that's hard for me as well.


----------



## WriterCTaylor (Jul 11, 2011)

DChase said:


> On the other hand Lisbeth is one of the most compelling characters I've read in a long time. I wish Larson could have had a chance to give us more on her.


I totally agree there. I avoided that book, thinking that it wouldn't be my cup of tea. My wife read the trilogy and I still avoided it. One day I had some time and no book of my own to read, so I picked up book one. Three books later and I can't agree more with your opinion.


----------



## Klip (Mar 7, 2011)

I suspect this wont be a popular opinion, but I really loathe Toad from the Wind and the Willows.  I think it probably says a lot about the kind of person I am that I emphasize so much more with Ratty.  Toad is so irresponsible and self centred.  And he gets away with it too!  Drives me nuts.


----------



## WriterCTaylor (Jul 11, 2011)

mashadutoit said:


> I suspect this wont be a popular opinion, but I really loathe Toad from the Wind and the Willows. I think it probably says a lot about the kind of person I am that I emphasize so much more with Ratty. Toad is so irresponsible and self centred. And he gets away with it too! Drives me nuts.


I don't think that would be an unpopular opinion. We all read and take things in differently. I remember reading a children's book called Prince Little Foot. I hated the main character, even as a child. He whined all the time!


----------



## journeymama (May 30, 2011)

I liked Katniss in The Hunger Games. She was really conflicted, but she seemed real. And she was a strong character. 

But the one I really didn't like? (Though hate is a strong word.) 

Bella, from Twilight. 

Oh my word, girl. Get some spine.


----------



## WriterCTaylor (Jul 11, 2011)

journeymama said:


> But the one I really didn't like? (Though hate is a strong word.)
> 
> Bella, from Twilight.
> 
> Oh my word, girl. Get some spine.


I've heard that so many times in different threads.


----------



## journeymama (May 30, 2011)

So I'm not the only one.  

I'm reading Wuthering Heights for the first time, and it's interesting to see how many people dislike Catherine. I wanted to like her when she was a child, but she didn't get any better, growing up!


----------



## Pnjw (Apr 24, 2011)

journeymama said:


> I liked Katniss in The Hunger Games. She was really conflicted, but she seemed real. And she was a strong character.
> 
> But the one I really didn't like? (Though hate is a strong word.)
> 
> ...


I agree. I like Katniss, and part of the reason is she is conflicted. Can't wait for the movie.

As far as Bella goes, I don't know of one person who likes her. Except Edward and Jacob of course.


----------



## Pnjw (Apr 24, 2011)

WriterCTaylor said:


> I totally agree there. I avoided that book, thinking that it wouldn't be my cup of tea. My wife read the trilogy and I still avoided it. One day I had some time and no book of my own to read, so I picked up book one. Three books later and I can't agree more with your opinion.


My mom loaned me the first one, with the warning it started slow, but was insistent I keep reading it. It took me two tries to get past the first hundred pages. But I'm really glad I stuck it out. It wasn't long after the other two ended up in my ereader.


----------



## Dawn McCullough White (Feb 24, 2010)

Ethan Frome.  If he was really that unhappy with his life, why didn't he just leave town?  Start a new life somewhere else, but no, he drags us along into his novel a frustrated, miserable protag. When he finally decides to end it all with the girl he's fallen in love with, they choose suicide by sled.  (Yeah, with so many other tried and true methods of suicide out there this protagonist jumps on a sled to end his pain.)  I just wanted his wife to divorce him.

Such a whiner of a main character.

Dawn


----------



## WriterCTaylor (Jul 11, 2011)

Dawn McCullough White said:


> When he finally decides to end it all with the girl he's fallen in love with, they choose suicide by sled. (Yeah, with so many other tried and true methods of suicide out there this protagonist jumps on a sled to end his pain.) I just wanted his wife to divorce him.
> 
> Such a whiner of a main character.
> 
> Dawn


Right, suicide by sled. That is the strangest thing I ever heard! You would have so many chances to pull out. Suicide by sled??


----------



## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

Joseph.Garraty said:


> Every last character in _Atlas Shrugged._ Every one of 'em. The bad guys are either evil or pathetic, and the "good guys," insofar as the book has any, are sociopaths.


Ha! Yes, I agree with you. But Ayn Rand was a sociopath, so her heroes would naturally be also.


----------



## journeymama (May 30, 2011)

DChase said:


> I agree. I like Katniss, and part of the reason is she is conflicted. Can't wait for the movie.
> 
> As far as Bella goes, I don't know of one person who likes her. Except Edward and Jacob of course.


But WHY do they like her? That's one of the maddening parts about the books. I really don't understand it.


----------



## scribbler100 (Aug 16, 2011)

It's been years since I've read Ovid's The Metamorphoses but I remember how much I absolutely hated the Olympian gods and goddesses.  What a spiteful, vindictive, petty, mean, quick to take offense bunch they were.  I also remember not liking the Greeks in the Illiad that much either.  Murderous thugs the whole lot of them.


----------



## normcowie (Jun 21, 2011)

Yeah, I picked up an Anne Rice book ... can't even remember what it was... so easily forgettable, and her main protagonist was supposed to be a bad ass assassin hired by the angels ... and he was such a wuss!  He kept 'weeping.'  Buckets of tears... such a sodden character.


----------



## Guest (Sep 5, 2011)

There are so many wonderfully well-written hate-able characters that it's hard to pick just one. But they all had something in common for me--they remind me of people I've known in real life. That, I think, is the main reason they are so memorable, they bring out real frustrations we've all experienced at some point.

Number one for me is the character of Cheryl, in Dan Chaon's short story "I Demand to Know Where You're Taking Me." I mean, for a time you could sympathize that the life she's chosen hasn't turned out like she envisioned--but she just stays there, being helpless and afraid, and finally acting out in psychotic, dysfunctional ways. Second to her would be her low-life creep of a brother-in-law, Wendell, the sociopathic predator.

I can think of many more, but Harold Lauder is also at the top of my list, from Stephen King's "The Stand." Sure, he was a bit of a social outcast, but many of us have been there! No excuse at all.


----------



## WriterCTaylor (Jul 11, 2011)

normcowie said:


> Yeah, I picked up an Anne Rice book ... can't even remember what it was... so easily forgettable, and her main protagonist was supposed to be a bad *ss assassin hired by the angels ... and he was such a wuss! He kept 'weeping.' Buckets of tears... such a sodden character.


I think I can see your point exactly.


----------

