Weekly Blog Post: Top 5 Wednesday

Top 5 Favorite  “Unlikeable” Protagonists

Some books have a hero that some people have a hard time liking. I think authors do this on purpose because sometimes a hero has to make tough choices, has to be tough, and can’t be liked by all because they stand apart from the norm. Heroes are complicated characters!

Here is my list of characters that might be “unloveable”, but I still loved them.

1. Edward Tulane from The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo: Edward had to learn a very tough lesson in this story and he started so selfish, it was hard to root for him. I did end up rooting for him, of course.
2. Mark from Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan: This character frustrated me because of what he did to his family. He was a young boy dying of cancer and so he took off to the mountains to die. I mean, I get the reason, which is why he is a favorite. He had a lot of courage in that sense. However, I struggled with supporting his decision and so I am sure other readers would too.
3. Josh Bell from Crossover by Kwame Alexander: You know those characters you just want to kick in the rear or slap to wake them up? They just frustrate you so much because they are being so ridiculous. This was Josh Bell. I just kept rooting for him and then he would say or doing something stupid…it was good to watch him grow and learn a lesson and therefore, at the end, I liked him.
4. Odysseus in Tales From the Odyssey: What a character! He is the reason his men die and his attitude frustrated me the whole time. He just kept ignoring the gods’ warnings and challenging his mortality. Honestly, he never really redeemed himself for me, but I do like him for a good adventure story!
5. Harry Potter in the Harry Potter series: In several book discussions online, I have read that some people did not like Harry Potter. I have to say, I didn’t love him either, he was not my favorite character and there were times I was screaming in frustration. (Especially the 5th book!) He was a true and good character though, so it’s hard to stay mad at him. He was just so innocent.

Well, there you go. I had a hard time with this one because I wasn’t sure if I should include characters I didn’t like, or others didn’t like. I am really not sure if others didn’t like these characters, but I tried to give a list of characters that some may have a hard time loving. I did end up loving all of these characters, despite their flaws.

Do you have any to add? Comment!

Happy reading!