This is an excerpt from Rachel Ann Hanley's blog. You can read the original post in its entirety here. Check out Rachel's book picks over at villagebooks.com.
How many of you readers out there have had the following conversation?
You: Did you like that book?
Friend: No, I hated the main character.
It's surprised me over the years to discover how many people cannot invest in a
story with an unlikable protagonist, even if that's the author's intent. It
pains me, to be honest! As a reader, I can think of so many brilliant books
that don't rely on a lovable protagonist to hook readers. As a writer, I ensure
all my characters have flaws of some kind, and do have a few lead characters
who will doubtless rub someone or other the wrong way...yet I hope their
shortcomings are essential to the story.
It brings to mind a conversation I had in an art gallery this summer. I visited
New York and the Guggenheim. As I turned my attention to the very first piece I
passed, a stranger came up to me, leaned over, and whispered, "Do you like
it?" Before I could answer, she added in a very serious, skeptical tone,
"Now be honest." What immediately popped into my mind was something I
had heard someone else say at a conference: "the point of art isn't to
like or dislike it." We often think in those terms, but they're
simplistic. In terms of visual art, like and dislike often refer more to
aesthetic. For written arts, we usually mean "liking" as a
measurement of enjoyment. Except there's more to art than that. To the woman, I
joked, "I wouldn't put it in my living room, but I'm glad it's here in the
museum." If by like, she meant, "Is it pretty?," my answer would
be no. However, other factors still appealed to me and made me think and I'm
glad I saw it. Art isn't always about simple enjoyment, but sometimes about
pushing ourselves out of comfort zones. Steering the focus back to literature,
I can think of books that I didn't like - perhaps because the story's too scary
for me, or there's a depressing ending, or vivid, gory scenes - but that doesn't mean I think it's a bad
book. Rather that, when it comes to tastes and preferences, this book falls
outside what speaks to me. Stephen King is a great example. His work,
especially the strictly horror stuff, doesn't appeal to me, but I nevertheless
consider him a fantastic writer. If we're talking straightforward enjoyment, I
didn't like Wintergirls by Laurie
Halse Anderson. It's about a girl with an eating disorder...and it's depressing
and discomforting. However, if we stretch our definition of "like"
wider than enjoyment, I loved that book. It's thought-provoking and well-handled,
in particular with how Anderson zeroes in on Lia's consuming obsession with a
number on a scale and forcing that number lower, lower, lower.
Returning specifically to protagonists, though, no, I don't need to like the
protagonist to like the book. What I need is to be invested in the story, and,
while an endearing lead character can do the trick, there are other ways to
catch my attention. Yes, unlikable protagonists can ruin a book for me, but
whether or not I like the protagonist isn't equivalent to whether or not I like
the book. So what's the difference between an unlikable main character who
doesn't taint the entire story and one who makes you set that book down
permanently? My answer is abstract and challenging to measure, but it often comes
down to what I interpret as the author's intent. Obviously, I could be
mistaken, but I usually get a sense for protagonists meant as satiric
characters, or those that we're expected to resent or dislike a little while
still investing in their struggles. The problem comes when I suspect the
author's blind to her protagonist's faults and expects her readers to actually
love this horrid character. Be they a Mary Sue ideal or utterly off-putting
with too many faults to list, I need to feel like the author formed the
protagonist this way for a reason.
Of course, I have read books in which the protagonist did turn my opinion
against the book. In young adult literature specifically, I've
also been turned off by a couple of books in which the teenage protagonist
doesn't feel like a real person but like an insulting stereotype of what the
author thinks teenagers are like. Additionally, I struggle with stories in
which there's a significant gap between what I versus the protagonist find
romantic. Unless overtly satiric and well-handled, I resent books in which the
main character's attracted to behavior that strikes me as abusive or obsessive
rather than romantic.
Your turn. Do you need to like the
protagonist to like the book? Why or why not? Can you think of books you loved
even though you didn't like the main character? Books you hated because the main character is so awful?
Characters you still liked despite a few traits/actions you didn't?
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