Welcome to Tuesday Book Chat. This is where we encourage book lovers to answer our bookish question of the week.
Today’s question is:
What makes a character unlikeable?
We look forward to hearing your thoughts. Please join in the conversation by commenting on this post or on the blog post shared in our Australasian Christian Writers Facebook Group.
Let’s chat!
I guess I answered this last week. For me I don’t like rich, self entitled heroines who can’t do anything for themselves. Its more in historicals and while I know it’s what happened I don’t like it. I also don’t like arrogant characters who think they are better than anyone else. Same goes for negative characters. Its ok if they are redeemed and change but more than once I have wanted to slap a heroine.
Your turn.
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There was a book I read a while ago that I nearly threw across the room in my frustration over the character. It was set in the mid to late 1800s and the character was 20 years old and single. She drove me crazy with her constant references to her “old maid” status and how she thought she would never get married. While this is slightly understandable for the time period, for someone reading it now, who is still single at nearly 40 it was too much.
Yes, by the end of the book she did get married. And yes, this book no longer remains in my collection.
I understand I agree. I read one once where the heroine was turning 30 had been bridesmaid but she was constantly saying her life was over cos she was still single at 30.
Ironically so many had it in the top 10 reads of the year. It was a book I really dislike and one of the ones I wanted to reach in and slap.
I hate it when two characters are supposed to be in love, but they treat each other badly or speak to each other disrespectfully. I’m not talking about the usual foibles we all have, but the kind where you start to think, ‘Hey, you shouldn’t treat him/her like that’. If there’s too much of that early in a book, I find it hard to sympathise with the character, even if he/she later repents or improves.
I guess now we know so many women (and I know it happens to men) who are emotionally abused and it starts with small things that should be red flags. This sort of behavior unless its addressed in the book would also be annoying and unrealistic.
I find characters that are too self righteous and over spiritual can sometimes get on my nerves. It’s good to have life lessons and spiritual lessons in a novel but when the characters are not at all in touch with the realities of having faults, it makes it seem like they arrogant and I know better than everybody else. As if they never have a problem at all in their life. I guess this doesn’t occur much in my reading. The other thing that is a bit annoying is when the characters are just a little bit too dumb and don’t see the obvious.
I understand that. I read a novella which was a really good story it did deal with a street preacher who had a heart for those who were in trouble (Historical) but in the book it was just too preachy. Its fine to have a little but it just felt like the author was trying to hammer home the salvation story to readers to the point it was detracting from the story and many would likely stop reading.
Yes I agree with clueless characters who seem clueless to be believable. I know there are naïve people who are too trusting but not in everything.