The Catcher in the Rye question

there's a number of books with main characters
that are either very flawed or outright SOBs:

Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis
The Ginger Man by J. P. Donleavy
The Mosquito Coast by Paul Theroux
The Collector by John Fowles
The Book of Daniel by E. L. Doctorow
The Coup by John Updike

The main character in The Ginger Man, in particular, is someone you would not want to be friends with: a womanizer and wife beater, who owes money to practically everyone and shirks all of his responsibilities (especially to his family).

I certainly agree with Heathcliff and Cathy, but the books full of characters I loathe would be A Game of Thrones

Winston Smith. WHO you say? Well that is a sign that nobody remembers this sad bleak "hero" of 1984. A critic remarked that this anonymous party member was very much less human than the excellent animal characters of Animal Farm. Perhaps Orwell was inhibited by his knowledge of stalinistic socialrealism : he couldn't put a positive hero on paper (?).

I definitely agree, the protagonist from The Picture of Dorian Gray was horrible. But that was the point of the book.

I believe the opposite. Holden is supposed to represent the qualities we try to keep hidden in ourselves so while some pretend to not like him, they are just trying to not identify with him. This is obviously not the case with everyone but it is my opinion that Holden rings true for every generation.

"A Confederacy of Dunces" ... seconded.

I would distinguish between a protagonist who is unlikeable or even despicable (for example, in Lolita) and one who is just pathetic (Catcher in the Rye, Confederacy of Dunces).

I've found that I greatly enjoy the former (unlikeable), but that I have no patience for the latter (pathetic).

I suppose that is because when a character is unlikeable, they may have some traits that earn the reader's respect (competence, wit, etc). When the character is pathetic, this doesn't happen -- and as a reader, therefore, I don't care about what happens to them (not enough to keep turning pages, anyways).

edit:
In reflection, this may not be entirely true. I very much liked The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, whose protagonist was certainly pathetic.

Martin Dean in A Fraction of the Whole. Funny to laugh at his antics, but if you knew him you would want to punch him.

Definitely Cathy and Heathcliff and Humbert Humbert

KITE RUNNER. GAH. AMIR IS AWFUL. He gets so much sympathy for ruining Hassan's life.

A Confederacy of Dunces ... we weren't supposed to like Ignatius J. Reilly, were we?

Catherine and Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights are detestable characters. Their only good characteristic are their love for one another, and even that makes Heathcliff do some crazy things and Catherine make some stupid decisions...

The main character in Crime and Punishment.
The two main characters in Spoonful. (Both drug addicts...and the author manages to make it simply real, not glamorous and not preachy "afterschool special" style)
Many JP Donleavey characters.
It is fun as a reader to get to know a character you NOT invite to dinner.

I can't understand why many people do not like Emma Bovary. She's a poor country girl who tries to make something of her dull life but feels lost amidst so many strong characters. She's not "lovable" but she's not despicable either. I have always felt very sorry for her.

I agree with a few of the above...
Madame Bovary
Don Quixote
Cathy and Heathcliff - Wuthering Heights
Catcher in the Rye
The Executioner's Song (loved the book, but couldn't understand how such a scumbag got so much sympathy)

Anne Hawn wrote: "This discussion of The Catcher in the Rye has me thinking about books in which the main character or characters are meant to be abrasive and unlikable. Part of the reason I found The Catcher in t..."

Curley's wife in Of Mice and Men. Cathy in East of Eden.

Off the top of my head, I'm thinking Lolita. I seriously hope no one finds that scumbag likable, haha.

I guess some other books I can think of are The Stranger, 1984, Madame Bovary, Vanity Fair, and The Picture of Dorian Gray.

There can be few more despicable characters than John Kennedy Toole's wonderfully feckless Ignatius J Reilly - though it is utterly impossible not to love the effect he has on the world about him.

The End of Alice by AM Holmes.
Lolita by Nabakov.
Bret Easton Ellis American Psycho.
Zombie by Joyce Carol Oates.

I love it when an author makes me invested in the story especially when I don't like or identify with or sometimes root against the main character.

Amir from The Kite Runner. I hated his character. Good book though.

'Don Quixote' by Miguel Cervantes
'Journey to the End of the Night' by Louis Ferdinand Celine (dislike the author as well)
Most of the characters in Joseph Heller's books (except for 'Catch-22')

I read lots of books that have protagonists I don't necessarily "like" in the sense that I think most people mean that word. I like them as characters... but if they existed as actual people, I'd likely despise them. For example, these main/title characters are pretty unlikeable:

1984, Othello, American Psycho, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas (until the end.)

Oh and Scarlett O'Hara from Gone with the Wind.

I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE Holden! <3 :)