Admirable Novels With Unadmirable Protagonists

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Joy Fielding

I’ve focused on novels with unlikable main characters before, but I’d “like” to return to that subject I last addressed in 2022 and 2017.

I just read Puppet by Canadian author Joy Fielding, and her protagonist Amanda Travis is…annoying. Selfish, impatient, sleeps with married men — and is an attorney with few qualms about representing criminal lowlifes. Also, she’s twice-divorced at age 28, with her being the cause of both relationships ending.

Yet I enjoyed Puppet, racing through it in two days. Why does one like any novel featuring a protagonist who gets on one’s nerves? Well, when it has various other things going for it…

In the case of Puppet, it offers a propulsive plot often focusing on why Amanda’s mother killed a man for apparently no reason. It also has some likable supporting characters, including Amanda’s first ex-husband.

And Amanda is not all bad. She’s self-critical, and smart, funny, hard-working, and determined. Plus one understands that her at-times-abrasive personality was shaped by growing up in an unloving household.

Last but not least, author Fielding’s writing is excellent. Oh, and we get plenty of Florida and Toronto atmosphere: Amanda lives in The Sunshine State after having grown up in Canada; she travels north after learning about the murder charge her mother is facing.

Two other not-that-likable people starring in novels I’ve enjoyed in recent years?

One is the title character in Alexander Pushkin’s 19th-century Eugene Onegin — a cynical, arrogant “dandy.” But he’s interesting in his way, plus there are sympathetic supporting characters in the book along with a good amount of story-line tension. Still, what makes Pushkin’s novel-in-prose an absolute classic is that it’s exquisitely written.

Then, in William Kennedy’s melancholy Ironweed, there’s Francis Phelan — basically an irresponsible drunk who abandoned his family. But the haunted Francis does have somewhat of a conscience, and at least part of the reason for his life going downhill stems from a horrible tragedy. In addition, Kennedy’s writing is skillful and atmospheric.

In previous posts, compelling novels with unlikable protagonists I’ve mentioned included Edith Wharton’s The Custom of the Country, Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian, Andre Dubus III’s House of Sand and Fog, Emile Zola’s Therese Raquin, John Grisham’s The Brethren, and John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces, among others.

Your thoughts on, and examples of, this topic?

My literary-trivia book is described and can be purchased here: Fascinating Facts About Famous Fiction Authors and the Greatest Novels of All Time.

In addition to this weekly blog, I write the 2003-started/award-winning “Montclairvoyant” topical-humor column every Thursday for Montclair Local. The latest piece — about nationally known athletes who lived in my town — is here.

77 thoughts on “Admirable Novels With Unadmirable Protagonists”

  1. Therese Raquin, now there’s a great but depressing story. I love Zola. I also like unadmirable protagonists, they’re much more fun to write than the good guys and I’ve written a few myself. I don’t subscribe to the idea that people are born that way, there’s a balance of nature and nurture going on, and I like to make up backstories for these characters, try to work out why and where they went wrong. The good ones? We expect people to be good, it’s the recommended default behaviour for most human societies–it’s when they go to the bad that they become that bit more interesting. I mean, Macbeth would have been admirable in a different way if he’d remained loyal to Duncan instead of sticking a knife in him. It’s his tragic flaw that intrigues though. Great essay, thanks.

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  3. Dave, a very popular novel ” God of small things ” . This novel was written by ” Arundhati Roy” and published in the year 1996. l. This novel was the most widely-sold novel ever to come out of India. Also, it won The Man Booker Prize for Fiction.

    The Novel was way too complex , and basically no one ends up being happy.
    Needless to say , the Novel was far from being my favorite one !

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    • Thank you, Bebe! I found “The God of Small Things” both compelling and depressing. Certainly a mix of unlikable and likable characters in it. I guess I might have liked the novel more than you did. I’m glad you recommended it to me a number of years ago. 🙂

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      • Happy New Year Dave…I have hopes and happy thoughts as you might have guessed….and that might not even happen.
        BUT one never knows…

        Oh well, looking at Misty`s pictures daily keeps me happy for a while.

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        • Thank you, Bebe! Happy New Year to you, too! 🙂 Yes, there could be very good news in 2024. Or very bad news. With Trump’s fate part of each potential scenario.

          Misty the cat will definitely continue to have his daily adventures next year. His 2024 calendar already has “take a walk” on it 366 times.

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  4. Hi Dave,

    Unfortunately the last two books I read had protagonists that I disliked, however I don’t think that’s what the writer was going for. I think I was supposed to like and admire them, but I just found them whiny and selfish. So the less said, the better.

    And the only other ones I can think of right now are characters that have already been mentioned, but I’ll mention them again – I loved Ignatius J Reilly, and I will never get tired of Scarlett’s whining and selfishness ❤

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    • Thank you, Susan! A VERY interesting thought — protagonists not meant by the author to be unlikable but unlikable nonetheless. Much food for thought!

      As for Ignatius J. Reilly and Scarlett O’Hara, they both had LOTS of charisma! Although in Reilly’s case, more anti-charisma than charisma. 🙂

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  5. Thank you Resa for your insights. I think we are drawn to unlikeable characters because we recognise in them traits that can be true of ourselves or people we know. One character that comes to mind is Harry Angstrom In Rabbit, Run by John Updike: “I’ll tell you,” he says. “When I ran away from Janice I made an interesting discovery. . . “ “If you have the guts to be yourself,” he says, “other people’ll pay your price.”

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    • Great mention of John Updike’s character, who I’m also not very fond of. He really got on my nerves, even as Updike writes well. And, yes, with so many unlikable people in real life, unlikable fictional characters can be quite recognizable.

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  6. HI Dave, I hope you had a lovely Christmas. Now, I have to think. I think Ebenezer Scrooge deserves a mention, given the time of year. Although he does redeem himself over the course of the novella, he starts of very unlikeable. Stephen King is a master at dreadful characters. Annie Wilkes from Misery is one (Is she a MC? I think so.) There is also the hotel from the Shining which is an MC in my opinion. Straker from Salem’s Lot is really horrible (I know he’s not a MC). What about Carrie? Was she a likeable person or an unlikeable person? She was pathetic, so we felt sad/bad for her, but she wasn’t likeable. I’ll have to think some more, Dave.

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  7. Sam Spade of Hammett’s “The Maltese Falcon” comes to mind– though he is a sort of admirable sort, if not being played for a sucker is the highest of all values. Sure, he turns in his fellow plotters once the bird is found to be a fake, but not before.

    And he does claim a kind of ethical red line in the form of not allowing his partner’s killer to go free– but then, his code does not prevent him from sleeping with his partner’s wife before his untimely death.

    Spade’s most useful trait may be his ability to re-adjust,sometimes instantly,to changes in circumstance, and by so doing, keeping himself out of dangers great and small. ‘Useful’, yes, but always most useful to himself.

    His most attractive trait? Knowing patter, laced with edgy humor,disarming, yet also good reason to weigh his words with care, whichever side of the law he may be on at the moment.

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    • Thank you, jhNY! Sam Spade was VERY well described in your comment! Basically, a mixed bag of a guy, with a number of admirable (as well as entertaining) qualities, as you note. Plus his alliterative name has to count for something. 🙂

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  8. Hello Dave!
    How cool that Joy is featured in this post.
    I’m so excited, I’m having a hard time thinking of another example.
    Also Scarlett O’Hara, Humbert Humbert and Ebenezer Scrooge have been mentioned.
    Did I see “Of Human Bondage”?… which I could never finish.

    How about Elmer Gantry?

    I found “Mad River Road” by Joy stuck behind some books awhile back. I realize I never finished it.. lost it again and have now found it again.
    I’ll finished up what I’m reading (that should take a week or 3), then onto MMR!

    I’m all atither about this post!!!

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  9. The adulterous, guilt ridden, and emotionally unstable Anna Karenina fitted this blog entry almost perfectly, At first she was a very sympathetic character but she degenerated very rapidly (too rapidly to be completely credible). If this novel was not well written I would not be able to finish it.

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    • Thank you, Tony! It has been so long since I’ve read “Anna Karenina” that I forgot whatever amount of redeeming qualities Tolstoy’s title character might or might not have had, but sounds like an excellent example! And, yes, superb writing can make a big difference in continuing to read novels with protagonists readers might not like.

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      • Edward Rochester was the most important male character but NOT the protagonist in “Jane Eyre” but he was definitely unadmirable. If this novel was written in recent decades the heroine would never have returned back to him.

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    • Clyde Griffiths from “An American Tragedy” was one of the least sympathetic protagonist from a classic novel that I have ever read despite the fact that the author probes deep into his mind. All the other characters in this book were also rather flawed which is characteristic of naturalistic literature.

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      • I agree, Tony, that Clyde Griffiths was quite unsympathetic for the most part despite author Theodore Dreiser giving some societal and family context to why Griffiths turned out the way he did.

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  10. Great topic, Dave. I’m familiar with some of the books mentioned in the comments. Tom Clancy has some characters that, while not unlikable, seem to have to grow on you. John T. Clark a.k.a. John Terence Kelly is often mean and nasty. Particularly in ‘Without Remorse.’ I think he becomes likeable because he’s working against really nasty people. I hope your Christmas was Merry and I hope you have a Happy New Year.

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    • Thank you, Dan! Interesting example from the work of Tom Clancy, who I have not read. And a great observation that unlikable characters can seem somewhat more likable when compared to out-and-out villains.

      A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you as well!

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  11. I was checking out a book I wanted to read titled On Beauty by Zadie Smith, which is supposedly based loosely on Howard’s End by EM Forster. I decided to revisit the movie, Howard’s End, since I no longer had Forster’s book and I must say that Henry Wilcox and his children as well, are most distasteful characters. Yet what would English lit be without it’s classicism and snobbery so there’s that. We are generally offered insight into why some characters are bad whether its drugs, alcohol, etc but that never softens our initial experience. However, I find it’s those characters who are just flat out evil for evils sake like Uriah Heep, really test my endurance. So much for all those smirking Judas characters. Yikes! On a brighter note, Happy Holidays Dave to you and yours. Susi

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    • Thank you, Susi! Excellent comment!

      I’ve read “On Beauty,” and it definitely has two unlikable protagonists (both professors — a profession that usually has more likable types, such as my wife 🙂 ). But several major supporting characters in Zadie Smith’s very good novel are more sympathetic.

      And, yes, unlikable characters are more palatable if there are reasons for their unlikability, and if they have some redeeming traits.

      Happy Holidays to you and yours as well!

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      • Thanks for the heads up on Zadie Smith’s book. Books are getting far too expensive and having purchased more than a few disappointments I’m wary. I guess re: unlikeable characters I’m always hopeful they can be redeemed but actually I believe that’s more true in fiction life (such as the case with Scrooge) than real life *sigh* Deus ex machina can be a rather slow grind. Cheers. Susi

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        • Yes, Susi, books can be pricey. I mostly read novels I take out of the library (plus my apartment doesn’t have much more room for owned books).

          Re Zadie Smith, I liked her novel “White Teeth” more than “On Beauty,” but didn’t regret reading the latter.

          Last but not least, I sadly agree that there seem to be more stories of redemption in fiction than in real life.

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  13. As often happens, I can’t think of an example from books I’ve read. I’ll probably think of one later after I’ve turned off the computer for the night. 🙂
    Happy Holidays, Dave. I look forward to more interesting posts and discussions in the new year.

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  16. Dave, I agree that it takes great writing skills to turn a book with an unlikable protagonist into an enjoyable reading experience. It seems I have been missing out in not having read any of Joy Fielding’s novels. I have to change that in the New Year 🙂
    An unlikable main character that comes to mind at this time of year is Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol.

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    • Thank you, Rosaliene! Scrooge is a great example of an unlikable character! Some stay unlikable, others go through some changes… 🙂

      Joy Fielding has the knack of combining mystery/suspense with interesting family dynamics, usually with an emphasis on the female characters. My favorites of hers so far are “Grand Avenue” and “Cul-de-Sac.”

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  17. Dave – you have opened a great topic for discussion, which is in keeping with the festive time of December – love and joy give us a cozy feeling. I believe that most of us would admit, to some extent, that novels with nice characters are preferred because they allow us to connect emotionally with the story. We like when we encounter compassionate, and relatable characters because we are more likely to empathize with their struggles and root for their success. This emotional connection enhances the reading experience, making it more enjoyable and satisfying.

    However, it was the unlikeable characters that I remember long after I read the books. Christian from Mutiny on the Bounty trilogy. Every one of the Brothers Karamazov, Philip Carey from Of Human Bondage and the list goes on…. My emotional responses were deliberate, more reflective, more varied. It is easy to understand nice, but much more difficult to understand complexity. These characters were human, not an epitome of the ideal. When I met up with them, I recognized that they had the power to teach me valuable lessons that bestowed a deeper understanding of human experience.

    All the very best of this festive season to you and yours, Dave! Looking forward to the reading adventures that are awaiting our arrival in 2024.

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    • Thank you, Rebecca! That’s a terrific comment, and very well expressed! Less-than-likable protagonists can indeed be memorable and evoke complex reactions in fiction fans, potentially making for a very satisfying read — albeit perhaps not as enjoyable as with more sympathetic main characters.

      The Karamazov dad, too — yikes! Quite a lowlife.

      Very Happy Holidays to you and yours, and also wishing you a great 2024 of reading and other things. 🙂

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    • Hi Rebecca, some great mentions here. I thought about Nikolai Rostov from War and Peace for this topic. He was such a weak character and did some unforgivable things. Does that make him unlikeable or relatable? Not relatable to me, I don’t really understand that sort of weakness in people, but I suppose readers feel sorry for someone who messes up spectacularly and then pays a high price.

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  19. A novel is truly imaginary, and the ideas in the novel are not arranged and do not make you live with them in imagination, but they make you think about what is happening and the idea that the writer wants to convey to us.

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