Top 5 Wednesday #12

Favourite "unlikeable" protagonists

'People always tear down unlikeable protagonists. But tell us the ones you pulled for!'

I haven't done a Top 5 Wednesday post in forever but decided I wanted to get back into it and put more effort into my blog by posting more as well as personalising each post to look more effective.

Starting back off with this particular Topic actually threw me a little. I couldn't think of any characters that were the protagonists that I felt were unlikable. I ended up deciding to pick not on protagonists but also main main characters as I felt it were a little too difficult for me to pick all protagonists. Even so I still only ended up picking 4 charters!!

Number 1

Ben from Shortcomings by Adrian Tomine  

I read this book recently and actually really enjoyed it. It was Tomine's best work but it still kept me engaged. I actually didn't realise how much of a dislikable character Ben was until I started reading reviews on goodreads after I finished the book. I understood why people disliked the character and begin to wonder why I didn't.

Ben falls under the categories of selfish, depressing, a liar, offensive as well as many other things. However he is not boring. It's a more realistic view on how people are compared to how people expect charcters to be which is possibly why I liked him so much.

I also have a post on my blog of a review for this book if anyone is interested.

Number 2

Joe from You by Caroline Kepnes

Joe is someone you should hate in both the real world and the imaginary world. He is an extremely psychotic person who not only stalks our other main character within this book but also has a lot of other dark secrets that he carries with him. You just shouldn't like him.

But you do.

Joe is like going on your first ever roller coaster. Fun, Exciting and keeps you on the edge. Climbing inside Joe's head is fascinating yet spooky all at once. You get to hear his thoughts and feelings along with what he does and how/why he does it. If you ever heard about a man like Joe on the news or in school you would take an instant dislike to them. But within this book you just can't get enough.

Number 3

Alaska from Looking for Alaska by John Green

Although, I understand Alaska is not actually our protagonist in this book she basically the main plot line of this story so I guess that counts for something.

I actually struggled to get through this book. I enjoyed it but it was slow paced compared to John Green's other books. There are a lot of people who I know, strated this book but never actually complted it due to it's slow paced plot and also one of our main characters... Alaska.

Alaska is in all honesty a bitch. She is a character who is has a lot of anger and is pretty depressing. She is also a very ruthless individual and doesn't seem to care for anyone besides herself. But i don't know why I kind of liked her. I could not even begin to explain why I just did. Not saying I agree with her actions but I definitely liked the mysteriousness about her.

Number 4

Light from Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata

Light Yagami. What a character. He's super intelligent and not bad on the eye, what's not to love right?

If you have not read Death Note then I highly suggest you get on book depository right now or amazon or whatever you preferred method of book buying is and get the whole set. You will NOT regret it.

So as I was saying, if you haven't read deathnote I won't spoil it for you but lets just say Light is not only trying to be a good guy but he's also the bad guy. I guess in theory I understand why he does what he does but in reality, he's still the 'villian' so to speak. But I still love his character a lot.