If you don’t like a main character in a book – can you still enjoy the book? Sometimes I can – and other times, I can’t divorce my feelings from my enjoyment of the story. Below are 4 books where the main character irritated the hell out of me.
Lauren Olamina in Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler. As much as I loved this book, I have to admit that Lauren acted like a know-it-all. At 15, she thought she had all the answers – AND even came up with her own religion! Damn girl!!!
Min Green in Why We Broke Up, Daniel Handler. I feel for anyone – man, woman or teenager – that goes through a break-up. But I went from sympathy to annoyance real quick while reading this book. Min is way too snarky, borderline obnoxious and obsessive over a 3 month relationship.
Megan Chase in The Iron King, Julie Kagawa. I liked Megan because she accepted a lot of weird stuff, suspending her disbelief and taking action when needed. She found out that fairies are real, some of them kidnapped her brother AND her real dad is the fairy King. That would be enough to send me to a sanitarium, but she handled it all like a champ. So I’ll give her that. BUT she relied on someone else to run to her rescue every time she was in a tight spot, which caused me to roll my eyes a million times! I hope she matured in the other books in this series, but I don’t think I can read on.
Mackie Doyle in The Replacement, Brenna Yovanoff. Mackie – oh my gosh, what an annoying dude! I really did feel for him when he found out his history of being a “replacement”, but all the “woe is me” attitude was just too much. A lot of people in this book had bad stuff happening to them, and although he wanted to help, he was a bit too self-involved and clueless. And one depressing hombre.
Briony in Chime, Franny Billingsley. Sheesh, this girl was really down on herself because she thought she was responsible for so many bad things that happened to her family. So I really felt for her. But after a while, I was just annoyed by how sure about things she was – in a way that teenagers think they know every damned thing when in fact they know nothing.
What are some of the young adult characters that you have a love-hate relationship with?
// Comments //
Alysia @My Little Pocketbooks
Parable of the Sower was a 50/50 book for me. I loved the writing and the story but the images in my mind that were awful. Really awful. I think Lauren is tooo wise for her years too.
Jess @ Gone with the Words
Meghan ALMOST made my list, but she grew on my toward the end.
Jade
I totally agree with you about Meghan Chase! It infuriated me that she relied so heavily on the boys to rescue her CONTINUOUSLY. And after being told SEVERAL times she had power beyond measure. She had no inclination to learn how to tap into and was content to let the boys do all the work. Irritated the poo out of me.
Julianne
Meghan is on my list too. She just rushes into things without taking a moment to plan how she’s going to get out of it and getting the information she needs. Argh! I do like the ‘Iron Fey’ concept though so I’ll probably read on.
Asheley Tart (@BookwormAsheley)
As many times as I’ve seen you talk about Parable of the Sower, I feel like I really want to read it, especially if it is a dark dystopian/postapocalyptic because I love those books, even if it has frustrating characters that make up their own religions at only 15 years old!
And I wavered back and forth with Meghan Chase. Glad to know that I’m not the only one feeling that way about her. The Iron Fey is one of my favorite series, but she still frustrated me in the beginning! (She did have lots of character development.)
Andi @ Estella's Revenge
LOL, I love your commentary on each of these. My love-hate relationship falls in line with most female characters in YA paranormal. The formulaic ones, anyway. The actual names slip my mind at the mo’.
Charlie
I only know about Megan so can only comment on that. I have to agree with you. She was a pretty strong character to start with and it’s fun to read about her, but there are parts that are annoying. I didn’t mind The Iron King so much, but the second book…
Sarah (saz101)
Oh goodness, YES. I am WITH YOU ON MEGHAN CHASE.
I got crazy-addicted to these books but… they also drove me nuts? HA!