Friday, July 24, 2009

Fictional Characters That I Hate

Court did a list of Ten Fictional Characters that she hates, and to be truthful, I liked the idea so well that I am suspending Friday Friends for a week to share my list! Some will be the same as Court's. I can't help it... Hope it doesn't look like I am copying!

1. Briony from Atonement by Ian McEwan: I consider Ian McEwan a hit-or-miss author for me. While I actually didn't hate this book, I hated Briony. I know that she is supposed to be an author, and is even supposedly writing this book, but I couldn't stand her! She is spoiled and sheltered, but really she is just jealous. It's hard to put into words, really. Have you ever read a book and hated the character, but can't really put your finger on why? That's been my problem with her for years. I had hoped the movie would help me figure it out, but it didn't. I still despise her and can't seem to say why!

2. Mr. Darcy from Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen: Anyone that knows me knows that I am not a huge fan of romance novels. Apparently, not even classic ones. Can someone please explain to me what is so wonderful about Mr. Darcy? He's rude, obnoxious, and condescending! He treats Elizabeth with nothing but scorn, and yet she loves him in the end? Obviously men are not perfect even in the 'real world', but that doesn't mean I want to wind up marrying a guy that looks down on me at every chance. I know, so in the minority here. Please don't kill me. We will just accept that romance novels are not my thing and move on, okay?

3. Duddy Kravitz from The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler: This is one I have in common with Court. That makes me happy, because I sometimes feel like I am in the minority! Anyway, Duddy is a character that will do anything for money. That is his character. I hated him from the very first page of the book until the very last page. He has a dream, yes, but nothing else matters. It got very tired, very fast.

4. Bridget Jones from Bridget Jones Diary by Helen Fielding: Very annoying character. I know she is supposed to represent the struggles of most women, but it didn't really work well for me. I actually found her pretty flakey and I have no patience for characters of that nature.

5. Lancelot and Guinevere from various Arthurian Stories: I know. This is called my candy... I love Arthurian retellings, but I hate these two. Like Court, it is impossible to think about one without thinking about the other. I mean, do either of them have brains? Some retellings try and give them one, but generally they are just pathetic. It is not a romantic story at all, if you think about it, it is just two people cheating on Arthur. If Arthurian legends are true, I would hate to think that these idiots were the reason that an entire empire was destroyed because they are so not worth it!

6. Lyra from The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman: I read this book a few years ago, so she is not as fresh in my mind as she used to be, but I actually had a huge problem with her character. I read this book thinking I was going to love it, because it really is right up my alley, but I couldn't love her and it lead to me getting more and more annoyed with the book. There were more problems, too. It's another case of not being able to my finger exactly on it, though. I have that problem a lot, it seems. Probably because it was a few years ago now.

7. Bella from Twilight by Stephenie Meyer: Hands down, Bella is probably the most annoying character in fiction ever! She is dependant on a vampire to the point where when he goes away she purposely injures herself in order to hear his voice in her head! That's just disturbing. She has no backbone, lets Edward dominate her, and... I really could go on and on. I didn't mind her in the first book because I thought she would grow with the series, but she really did not at all!

8. Anita Blake from the Anita Blake series by Laurell K. Hamilton: I don't know what this woman was thinking! Anita starts out being this badass character with morals. I loved her in the beginning, but then, she essentially turned into a slut that would sleep with any creature that caught her fancy. The books became more about me being disgusted with her bedroom scenes and less interested in the story. Why did she have to ruin a great character? It just makes me sad...

9. Beatrice Lacey from Wideacre by Philippa Gregory: You know, I used to like Gregory, but then I read this book and it destroyed her for me forever! (Well, that and I actually didn't like anything else I tried afterwards...) This book is so disturbing! I know that women had no power in history, but Gregory takes this to a whole new level. There is incest, to start with. I mean, to sleep with your brother just because you are in love with the land? This book and character disturbed me on so many levels. Needless to say, never read the sequels.

10. Meggie from Inkheart by Cornelia Funke: I have issues with children main characters. They can destroy a book for me if they are not written very well. I never found Meggie was written all that well, and that might be why I still haven't read the two sequels to this book. Another series that I thought I was going to love and didn't. Meggie is just hard on my head. She loves book, yes, but she was not likeable. I didn't feel for her at all and really could careless what happened to her in the course of the book. The movie didn't improve things for me.

Okay, so there is my hastily thrown together list of Ten Fictional Characters That I Hate. There are many more where that came from, but I have to go finish laundry and find the kitchen. So, what about you? What are your least favourite characters? I could do lists a few times and probably not run out... The problem is that I get less vocal as time goes on because the bad characters have been erased from my mind and been taken over by characters that I love. I think I might do a list like that next.

30 comments:

  1. We are kindred spirits in this department. With the exception of a couple books I haven't read, I completely agree with you.

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  2. Interesting - I've only read one of these books, but I completely agree with you about Mr. Darcy!!!

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  3. I will be in the corner for the next half an hour, crying compulsively BECAUSE YOU HATE LYRA :(

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  4. I wouldn't say I hate them, but I'm definitely with you on disliking some of those folks. Like Mr Darcy. Huh?

    And I know this is stupid, but I'm kind of glad to see that you hate Lyra. I thought she read like an adult's poorly realized conception of a small child. She really bugged me, but I've never found anyone else who dislikes her.

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  5. The only two I can relate to are Bella and Anita and I agree whole-heartedly. Bella was just annoying and I've never seen a character trashed as completely as Anita Blake. It's so sad.

    cjh

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  6. I'm sorry, I'm going to have to kill you. LOL (referencing #2 here hehe)

    I'm still reading LKH unfortunately. But I agree 100% about Anita.

    And Bella. ugh

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  7. I will totally completely 100% admit that my attraction to Mr. Darcy is fully the result of Colin Firth's rendition in the miniseries.

    And yes! Someone else who hates Duddy Kravitz! You have totally just made my day!

    And your ranting about Lancelot and Guinevere was awesome. :)

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  8. Completely agree with you on #s 2, 5, & 7. This is a unique topic, maybe I should make up my own list & post it!

    Happy reading this weekend~Amanda

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  9. I haven't read most of these books, only 4 actually. Briony was the only character in Atonement I could stand. I hated everyone else. Then again, I hated the book...Briony was the only character I could relate to, and that was primarily because when I was a kid my cousins and I used to write and put on plays that never went as well as in our imaginations. Nonetheless, if it weren't for Briony, I wouldn't have been able to keep reading that book. As for Bella and Meggie, they were both meh for me. I do like Mr. Darcy (and it has nothing to do with Colin Firth because I think the guy is U-G-L-Y). Not as much as Mr. Rochester from Jane Eyre, but still good. :)

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  10. I agree totally with Bella and Bridget - two of the biggest dimwits imho.

    The only problem I had with the list was Anita - I do agree 100% that that she started out awesome and took a straight turn into ho-town. But I blame LKH! Seriously I hate that woman for killing such an amazing and respectable heroine. Now I'm gonna go all conspiracy theory and say why it's her fault. I used to follow some Anita forums and her character changed into super-slut at right about the same time that the Anita fan-fic (which was very sexified) became wildly popular. In my opinion LKH was a little put off by having some competition and threw Anita to the lions. Not cool :(

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  11. I guess I am nuts but I actually liked Bridget. She was ditzy but I thought it was endearing and trust me I usually don't find that kind of character likable at all. I guess I kinda related to her shortcomings so maybe that's why.

    I totally agree about Bella though. She was about 85% reason why I couldn't get through the first Twilight book. I needed to see what all the hype was about and I couldn't even make it past the 100th page!

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  12. Bella is so annoying!!! I just think she's a poor representative of the female species!! I love Mr. Darcy...he's intriguing to me. The rest I have not read but just from the movie...Briony is a BRAT!!!!! But I liked Bridget :)

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  13. Anonymous10:39 PM

    Ooo this is a good idea! It gets all the angst out there. I haven't read some of the books you mentioned, but I agree with you on most of the ones I have read. Bella is quite irritating and Lancelot and Guinevere always got me mad. As for Mr.Darcy, could it be that so many generations of woman fall in love with him because he's that guy who is hard to get?

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  14. TOTALLY with you on Bella...I just can't make myself even read the second Twilight book so I just put them all up on Paperback Swap :p

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  15. I agree with you on some of these, but I wanted to say that I thought Inkspell and Inkdeath are much, much better than Inkheart... and they focus on Meggie a lot less, too.

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  16. Anonymous2:03 AM

    Oh, how I share your feelings on Bella! I'm a fan of vampire novels, and they don't even need to be original for me to like them; but Bella's character ruined the whole thing. I thought she has serious issues of dependence with Edward (among other things), and that could have been an interesting subject for the book if the author had created a story where Bella built her own backbone. But the only thing that help Bella is going back to Edward. She acted not like she was in love, but like he was her drug.

    I also share your feelings on Anita Blake. She was one of my absolute favorite characters in the first books, but then, it became more about the bed stories and less about the rest, and I lost complete interest.

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  17. Anonymous5:29 AM

    Wow you dislike some of my favourite characters! I love Lyra, but never took to Will in the series. I also love Lancelot and Guinevere. I know what you mean about the Wideacre books, the whole series of three have some pretty disturbing characters in them. Personally my most hated literary character is Romeo. He is such a fool and ended up getting poor little Juliet killed (personally I always blamed the Priest for helping them and not telling them it was a mistake).

    I can't coment on Anita yet. I have read the first 8 but she hasn't made he transition to slut yet. Hopefully I will stick with the series as I have been really enjoying it so far.

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  18. I read Atonement WAY before the movie came out and I hated it because of Briony. I've never been able to read an Austen novel completely so I can't agree or disagree with you on Darcy. I don't think I've even ever seen one of the movies! Bridget Jones annoyed me too quite a lot actually. I always loved Guinevere but didn't have much use for Lancelot. Ooh! Except in that one series where they were all vampires made by Merlin who was a being from another planet (not normally my forte but it was still very, very cool). I don't like or really dislike Bella but I miss the old Anita Blake too. I don't hate her or anything but I don't go out of my way to read the books anymore either. I throughly loved Inkheart (I haven't read the sequels) book but wasn't fond of the movie Meggie.

    I don't think I could come up with ten off the top of my head but there are some that I just can't stand that it seems like every one else loves. I wish I could remember but I tend to dismiss them fairly quickly from my mind :)

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  19. Great meme! If I can find a quiet moment (ho ho) I might do this one too. I'm with you on several... Anita Blake, Lyra, Bridget Jones, even Bella! Even though I quite like the Twilight books I've read so far, she kind of has no personality... and all that agonising... 'get a life!'

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  20. TOtally agree on Bridget, Bella and Anita. I loved the first 7 or 8 LKH SO MUCH and then had to stop reading the series. And I don't mind s*x in my books! It was just too big a turn from the awesomeness that she was in the first few.

    Also, and I'm gonna get killed for saying this, hate Anne Shirley.

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  21. This is such a great meme. But really you don't like Bridget Jones? I love her... But I will give you Briony. Oh she got on my nerves. Well, Bella too for that matter :)

    I've got Wideacre on my stacks and I'm concerned now! haha...

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  22. Loved your post. I haven't read many of the books you listed so I didn't know the characters. I totally agree about Bella, actually the whole Twilight series.

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  23. Great post! But *gasp* about Mr. Darcy! I love that man.

    I totally agree with you on Bella.

    http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/

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  24. That's quite the list. I have to agree with you on Darcy (he's not my favorite, either): I think most people aren't particularly infatuated with the character as much as they are with the *cough* actor...

    And Briony, Bella, Lancelot, and Meggie: yeah. totally agree.

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  25. You hate Mr. DARCY?! Ohmigosh, this is a travesty to me!

    However, I forgive you because I feel the same way about Lancelot and Guinevere (note my Rosie's Riveters post) and that idiot Bella. And while I don't dislike Bridget Jones, I really never liked the Shopaholic girl. The whole premise of ditzy girl wins gorgeous and smart and rich guy just doesn't do it for me.

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  26. More fun, fun, fun! (Yes, I'm reading backwards from you favorite characters post.) I only know Meggie here. I liked her okay though. But I shan't tell Annie about Lyra...or she'd be sitting there crying with Ana. Lyra may just be Annie's all time favorite character.

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  27. I haven't gotten through Atonement, but I found myself wanting to shove Briony. And, then I set the book aside. It was too heavy for a vacation read. Bella . . . ugh. Bridget was kind of nyeh.

    But, MR. DARCY? What's his appeal? Hmm, that's hard to put a finger on, but I think it's not so much that we adore Mr. Darcy in spite of his obvious flaws. It's the fact that Lizzy and Darcy are perfect for each other because Lizzy is so whip-smart that she needs a man who challenges her. I thought the Colin Firth version portrayed her joy in sparring with him very nicely. Lizzy's cousin, Mr. Collins, was far too dim-witted and pompous. And, of course, Wickham was a charming rogue. What Darcy lacked in charm he made up for in solid character. He may have been proud, but he was also principled and heroic (in rescuing a family of a woman who had flatly turned him down).

    You do have to wonder, though, how Lizzy goes from thinking she hates him to falling in love. In the Colin Firth series, I've always felt that it appeared she fell in love with the house, not the master.

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  28. You don't like Mr Darcy? Oh no...

    Bridget Jones never did give me a good impression of her. I hated the books but the movies were OK.

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  29. I thought the same of Bella - what kind of role model is she for young girls??? I've only read the first book so I'll be prepared to continue being annoyed with her since you say she doesn't change...

    I loved Bridget when I read that book though, I could SO identify at that point!!!

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  30. I completely agree with you about Briony (I ended up hating that book largely because of her), and Duddy Kravitz! And I agree that Bella is super annoying but I still got sucked into the story. But sigh... Mr. Darcy.. we'll have to agree to disagree! :P

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