Worst Protagonists (Lead Character) in Novels

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  • MaraDiaz
    MaraDiaz Posts: 4,604 Member
    Bella Swan
    Holden Caulfield
    Charles Darnay (kind of a lead)
    Esther Summerson
    Romeo and Juliet


    Probably many more. I'm thinking.

    Edited to add:
    Hester Prynne
    Esther Greenwood

    Hester Prynne definitely makes my list too. And the entire cast of A River Runs Through It. That movie was such drivel I don't even remember why I despised it so much, but I know I did.

    Okay, Just looked up the plot, now I remember why I hated it. Godawful boring movie!
  • runs4zen
    runs4zen Posts: 769 Member
    Holden Caufield, what a whiny, pretentious little turd.

    Great novel though.

    Agree with the character call! Not a fan of the novel, though and....

    Crime and Punishment's Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov. It's a crime and a punishment to have to read an entire novel, wishing the entire time that someone would KILL HIM.
  • gunmetalsunrise
    gunmetalsunrise Posts: 131
    Merry Gentry in the same-titled series by Laurell K. Hamilton. Haven't read the Anita Blake novels, but I have the same opinion on the latter novels by her as well.
  • runs4zen
    runs4zen Posts: 769 Member
    Okay...thought of this after....

    Pip's sister in ****en's Great Expectations and yes, sadly, Bronte's Heathcliff sucks!
  • noexcuses1218
    noexcuses1218 Posts: 332 Member
    Humbert Humbert from Lolita, closely followed by Ignatius J. Reilly from A confederacy of Dunces. No redeeming qualities in either character, although IJR is funny, at least.

    OMG Reilly is exactly who I thought of first - I mean, if someone is revolting enough to lose my interest in a book, that's pretty bad. Although I will say the letter he wrote responding to the customer complaint was brilliant and hilarious.
  • maab_connor
    maab_connor Posts: 3,927 Member
    Merry Gentry in the same-titled series by Laurell K. Hamilton. Haven't read the Anita Blake novels, but I have the same opinion on the latter novels by her as well.

    OMG YES!! LKH started off so well... and then both series devolved into Mary Sue drivvel, lacking in any redeeming qualities and without ANY plot to speak of. terrible.
  • gunmetalsunrise
    gunmetalsunrise Posts: 131
    Merry Gentry in the same-titled series by Laurell K. Hamilton. Haven't read the Anita Blake novels, but I have the same opinion on the latter novels by her as well.

    OMG YES!! LKH started off so well... and then both series devolved into Mary Sue drivvel, lacking in any redeeming qualities and without ANY plot to speak of. terrible.

    I'd like to read a book written by her recently that didn't involve sex solving anything. I mean, we get: sex is great. It does not have to be the solution for EVERY problem ever, Hamilton. Never mind I've heard there are some problems with the inclusion of a formerly abused submissive in the Anita Blake novels. Not that the character is IN there, but that once again, LKH tries to solve these deeply seated emotional AND physical wounds... with sex. Come on!
  • ajfrench
    ajfrench Posts: 323 Member
    I've never finished Catcher in the Rye because my eyes glazed over at page 40 or so. That's bad...I even finished Great Expectations and Anna Karenina. And now that I know the protagonist is THAT BAD through the whole thing; I won't be reading it.
  • 8dozendiets
    8dozendiets Posts: 47
    He's not the worst, but Dr. Zhivago annoyed the hell out of me. He was so "sensitive" that he was basically rendered ineffectual.
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