I see this critique often for various books and it makes me wonder, why do the characters have to be likeable?
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Books
NxNWRocks — 9 years ago(October 22, 2016 06:45 PM)
I see this critique often for various books and it makes me wonder, why do the characters have to be likeable?
"Worthington, we're being attacked by giant bats!" -
doughdee222 — 9 years ago(October 22, 2016 07:25 PM)
They don't have to be, but it helps to have someone the reader can identify with and latch onto. I remember I tried watching Sons of Anarchy but something was off. Then I realized that I didn't like any of the characters.
I think part of the reason I don't care for Catcher in the Rye is because there is one main character and he, Holden Caulfield, is mostly unlikable.
You're spending a lot of time with these characters. Do you want them to be deplorable? -
furienna — 9 years ago(October 23, 2016 12:49 PM)
Honestly, I don't see why anybody
would
want to read about unlikable people. Like, at all. I have occasionally had the displeasure of reading about characters, who managed to almost make me feel nauseous. And I don't see any fun in that. Yeah, I know that many stories require a villain. And yes, I know that some stories even have flawed anti-heros as protagonists. But there will be times, when I feel that it goes too far
Intelligence and purity. -
Cult_of_Kibner — 9 years ago(October 23, 2016 02:57 PM)
I was recently reading some of the Dune books by Frank Herbert and it occurred to me that hardly any of the characters were particularly likeable, most being cold and/or bitchy toward each other. In spite of that I'd say the first book is great and the next two good.
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Bargle77 — 9 years ago(October 24, 2016 06:17 AM)
They don't have to be likeable, but they do have to be interesting. There's one book I've trying to identify where I gave up on it about a 1/3 of the way through because all the characters were boring.
It's all like some bad movie.