Reader's Conflict

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Doc Creed

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Nov 18, 2015
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Have you ever read a book that you loved but you wanted to smack the narrator? I'm not talking about unreliable narrators or even villians but unlikeable narrators. The purpose of this thread isn't to rip apart books or wallow in negativity but I am truly interested if others have had similar conflicted emotions about a book.
Let me share a few examples.
About ten years ago I read The Patron Saint Of Liars by Ann Patchett. I became engrossed in the story right away but the main protagonist tested the limits of my patience. She was selfish and, apart from the fact that she is a woman, very hard to relate to. I found myself questioning her choices again and again and even wondered if I was being too harsh in my judgment. In contrast, I loved the book and thought Patchett was a writer to be appreciated and read. I'm not sure my reaction is one this author would have expected from one of her readers.
Another book that I like is What's Eating Gilbert Grape by Peter Hedges. It could really be placed in Young Adult Fiction and none would be the wiser. I think it is a fun, dark comedy but here's the rub...Gilbert, the narrator, is not a character that I like all that much. I'm not saying a reader must like everything a character says and does but Gilbert didn't exactly inspire confidence. He's tested and endures a lot of crap but he seems aimless and bitter throughout the book. I have softened on my criticism of this book, however, but I use it as an illustration.
So, what are some books that you feel conflicted about? And to balance out the negativity please share a book that you have the opposite feeling about. There are many books that have wonderful, witty narrators and the reader hates to leave that imaginary world. Scout Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird for instance.
Please share your thoughts.
 

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
87,651
358,754
62
Cambridge, Ohio
Have you ever read a book that you loved but you wanted to smack the narrator? I'm not talking about unreliable narrators or even villians but unlikeable narrators. The purpose of this thread isn't to rip apart books or wallow in negativity but I am truly interested if others have had similar conflicted emotions about a book.
Let me share a few examples.
About ten years ago I read The Patron Saint Of Liars by Ann Patchett. I became engrossed in the story right away but the main protagonist tested the limits of my patience. She was selfish and, apart from the fact that she is a woman, very hard to relate to. I found myself questioning her choices again and again and even wondered if I was being too harsh in my judgment. In contrast, I loved the book and thought Patchett was a writer to be appreciated and read. I'm not sure my reaction is one this author would have expected from one of her readers.
Another book that I like is What's Eating Gilbert Grape by Peter Hedges. It could really be placed in Young Adult Fiction and none would be the wiser. I think it is a fun, dark comedy but here's the rub...Gilbert, the narrator, is not a character that I like all that much. I'm not saying a reader must like everything a character says and does but Gilbert didn't exactly inspire confidence. He's tested and endures a lot of crap but he seems aimless and bitter throughout the book. I have softened on my criticism of this book, however, but I use it as an illustration.
So, what are some books that you feel conflicted about? And to balance out the negativity please share a book that you have the opposite feeling about. There are many books that have wonderful, witty narrators and the reader hates to leave that imaginary world. Scout Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird for instance.
Please share your thoughts.
...after all that narration...I wanna smack YOU!...:biggrin-new:
 

skimom2

Just moseyin' through...
Oct 9, 2013
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Yep yep. I can think of two right off: Still Life with Husband (Lauren Fox) and The Girl on the Train. Both had extremely unlikable narrators. In my review of Still Life..., I think I said something like, "I'd gladly help her husband hire a hit man. After helping him raise money for the hit man. Before helping him hide the body." MAN, I disliked her. I felt almost as strongly about the narrator of TGOTT. Creating an unlikeable protag is a bold thing for a writer to do--most of the time it doesn't pay off.
 

Doc Creed

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Nov 18, 2015
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Yep yep. I can think of two right off: Still Life with Husband (Lauren Fox) and The Girl on the Train. Both had extremely unlikable narrators. In my review of Still Life..., I think I said something like, "I'd gladly help her husband hire a hit man. After helping him raise money for the hit man. Before helping him hide the body." MAN, I disliked her. I felt almost as strongly about the narrator of TGOTT. Creating an unlikeable protag is a bold thing for a writer to do--most of the time it doesn't pay off.
:biggrin2:

Yes, Gone Girl comes to mind. I am speaking about unintentionally unlikeable narrators, though. Maybe I should have used that word.
I haven't read TGOTT yet.
 

skimom2

Just moseyin' through...
Oct 9, 2013
15,683
92,168
USA
:biggrin2:

Yes, Gone Girl comes to mind. I am speaking about unintentionally unlikeable narrators, though. Maybe I should have used that word.
I haven't read TGOTT yet.

These were unintentionally unlikeable, I believe. I really think you were supposed to feel sorry for, or at least sympathize with, both main characters. I didn't. One tossed away a decent marriage to a nice man and a good life because she was bored, and the other was just... whiny. I couldn't stand either of them, and both made books that were well-written otherwise non-goers for me.
 

ghost19

"Have I run too far to get home?"
Sep 25, 2011
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Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games trilogy. The first book, I'm rooting for her and the rebellion. Halfway thru the 2nd book, I'm starting to get a bit bored with the long 20-page introspective mental monologues she has with herself about, "insert any topic here". A hundred pages into the third book, I've jumped ship and am actively rooting for President Snow to crush the rebellion and do whatever it takes to stop Katniss from granting us access to her unending train of "PEETA OR GAIL?", "GAIL OR PEETA?" inner monologue page fillers. Made it thru all three books, but one of those series I definitely wouldn't want to re-visit..lol
 

Kurben

The Fool on the Hill
Apr 12, 2014
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When it comes to Katniss Everdeen it is not that i dislike her as a character, it is more that the author loses her grip about 2/3 into the second book. Or to be generous in the third book. She is not good as a reluctant leader of a rebellion but that is not a flaw in her character; it is the authors mistake to put her leading character in a position to sink her story. There is a difference between the narrator in the book and the author who writes the book.
 

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
87,651
358,754
62
Cambridge, Ohio
What's a narrator?
49d61b7e830a3bcc32baa83f66f86c79.jpg
[\spoiler]
 

Doc Creed

Well-Known Member
Nov 18, 2015
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Another example, for me, is the mother and her boyfriend in The Good Mother. They were hard to root for. I was able to sympathize with them more in the movie adaptation.

My favorite narrators, a few:

Johnny Wheelwright in A Prayer For Owen Meany
Ray in Shoeless Joe
Dolores in Dolores Claiborne
 

HollyGolightly

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Sep 6, 2013
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Ah, Doc, Sue Miller has done that to me too from time to time.

A.M. Homes comes to mind for me. She's very much like Bret Easton Ellis. Maddening. I've never been able to like any of her characters. And Lionel Shriver in We Need to Talk About Kevin, the mother narrator was chilly. I just wanted to throw the book across the room. But maybe that's what she intended to pull out of the reader.

I love child narrators. Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird, Oskar in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (I still think of that sad little fellow), Daisy Faye in Daisy Faye and the Miracle Man, the Losers Club in IT, all the sisters in The Poisonwood Bible.
 

Doc Creed

Well-Known Member
Nov 18, 2015
17,221
82,822
47
United States
Ah, Doc, Sue Miller has done that to me too from time to time.

A.M. Homes comes to mind for me. She's very much like Bret Easton Ellis. Maddening. I've never been able to like any of her characters. And Lionel Shriver in We Need to Talk About Kevin, the mother narrator was chilly. I just wanted to throw the book across the room. But maybe that's what she intended to pull out of the reader.

I love child narrators. Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird, Oskar in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (I still think of that sad little fellow), Daisy Faye in Daisy Faye and the Miracle Man, the Losers Club in IT, all the sisters in The Poisonwood Bible.
The Poisonwood Bible is on my TBR list. I've only read Prodigal Summer and The Beantrees.