Top Ten Tuesday: Characters I Just Didn’t Click With

It’s Top Ten Tuesday again, hosted by The Broke and The Bookish! This week it’s the top ten characters I just didn’t click with. All book covers from Goodreads.

Ten Characters I Just Didn’t Click With
1. Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye

I read this during the height of my teenage angst and I STILL found him annoying.

 

2. Charlie from The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Oh boy…I’m not gonna make any friends from putting this one on my list (I’ll probably make some enemies). Like Catcher in the Rye, I read this during a time when I thought it would be especially relevant to my life, but didn’t really connect to it all that much.

 

3. Sean, Lauren, and Paul from The Rules of Attraction

I REALLY enjoyed the movie adaptation, which I watched as a freshman in a college similar to the one that the novel takes place in. So I was disappointed when I didn’t enjoy the book nearly as much as the movie. Although the characters probably aren’t meant to be very likable because they’re arrogant, shallow college students, I preferred their movie counterparts over those in the book.

 

4. Katniss from The Hunger Games

Probably part of the reason why I was never able to latch onto the craze surrounding this series.

 

5. Ceony from The Paper Magician

Although I enjoyed the overall setting of this novel, not liking the protagonist made it difficult for me to finish.

 

6. Jane Eyre from…Jane Eyre

One of those books I was assigned to read for school and probably wouldn’t have finished otherwise.

 

7. Marianne and Elinor from Sense and Sensibility

See Jane Eyre.

 

8. Ann and Adele from Anywhere But Here

Another case where I liked preferred the characters in the movie adaptation more than the source material.

 

9. Sookie Stackhouse from Dead Until Dark

I was never a huge fan of True Blood so I can’t really compare her character in the book versus the show.

10. John from The Contortionist’s Handbook

I thought the book had an intriguing premise, but I didn’t care much for John.

 

I find that an unlikable protagonist or one that I have a hard time relating to (especially if the story is told through first person) can really taint my perception of a book, even if the overall story is good. However, I think it’s also possible to not like the protagonist as a person (perhaps they’re evil or more of an anti-hero) but still be intrigued enough by what’s happening to them to keep turning the page. Sometimes I have difficulty connecting with characters because they’re flat or cookie-cutter personas. Other times, it’s through no fault of the authors writing – just as you’re not best friends with everyone you’ve ever met, I’ve also found that there are some fictional characters that I just don’t get along with.

Have you ever had similar experiences with a fictional character?

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