I am asking this because I may create unlikable characters on purpose

Would You Still Read The Whole Book If The Characters Are Unlikable But Interesting?

  • Yes

    Votes: 9 56.3%
  • No

    Votes: 1 6.3%
  • Maybe

    Votes: 5 31.3%
  • Well, God Knows Whether I'll Read It Whole Or Not!

    Votes: 1 6.3%

  • Total voters
    16

GlowingEffie

New Member
If you were to read a book with unlikable characters, would you read the whole book (provided these characters are interesting)?
 
Sure. If ALL of the characters were unlikable, I might struggle to get invested into the story, or find it strange (a mix makes more sense to me). But I've definitely read books and watched shows and movies in which I found the main character unlikable, but likable side-characters made up for it. Same with shows, books or movies who had side-characters I just really didn't find likable, but was still invested into other characters so I didn't mind. The fact that they were unlikable added some depth to the story without leaving me with NO characters I liked enough to care about what happened to them. I don't think there's anything wrong with utilizing unlikable characters in itself. At times its even a rather useful and powerful tool.
 
I've hardly ever met a character I DO like, even amongst my own creations. This hasn't stopped me from reading a book a week for the last year.
 
Well, who is to say whether or not the characters are unlikable? People like Twilight after all!

Jesting aside, it's in the eye of the beholder. If you believe the characters to be interesting, I'm sure that naturally, some people will find them likable. And those that don't may well keep reading if they hold their interests anyway.
 
I think the trick would be to make the characters as realistic as possible; there's plenty of stories where the characters are all terrible people. The trick is to not make them so one-sided; all people have flaws and strengths, even if they have more flaws. Bojack Horseman, Breaking Bad, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Nightcrawler, etc. etc. are all fantastic yet the characters (primarily the main ones) are horrible, awful people. So yeah, I think you can get away with it.
 
If the author gives the characters good/interesting reasons to be horrible I might read the whole thing. If the characters are edgy just for the sake of it then no I wouldn't finish the book.
 
I have read and liked books with characters I don't have empathy for, but I wouldn't read a book simply because it has "unlikeable" characters. They would have to fit the context of the story and they would still have to be written well.
 
This is one of those topics I'm glad to see come up because it gives me the chance to ask the question I always on the topic.

When you say unlikable, do you mean that the character had traits that many people may not find appealing, or do they engage in some sort of villainy that makes the character one you can't root for? Both?

It's important to define which and even more important for readers to understand why unlikable characters have their place.

I would never want to go out to dinner with half the characters in a Tarantino film, but if they were normal, well-adjusted people the plot wouldn't exist.

No one wants to see Sam Jackson clock in at work and then go to lunch and then pick his daughter up from school.

They want to see Jules the hitman who works for a mobsters.
 
One single character is enough to ruin a story for me. Rey from Star Wars Episode 7 ruined the movie for me because she's a Mary Sue.
 
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