I'm linking up with The Broke and the Bookish for another Top Ten Tuesday.
This week's topic is characters that everyone else seems to LOVE, but you don't feel as strongly about. Some of these are characters I genuinely don't like, and some I just don't understand the obsession with.
1. Don Tillman (The Rosie Project)
I think people are like, "Oh, it's so cute how awkward he is and then this woman turns his life upside-down." But he's a pretty rigid stereotype of someone with Asperger's (who hasn't figured out he has it, despite doing research on Asperger's in others — hilarious) and could have been written as a more realistic human being.
2. & 3. Eleanor & Park (Eleanor & Park)
I feel like it's sacrilege to say I didn't love this book to pieces, but I did not enjoy reliving the experience of being in a high school relationship where you're constantly fearful of saying or doing the wrong thing and driving the other person away. I did not relate to Eleanor trying to hide everything about her life from Park, nor did I relate to Park's awkward methods of self-expression for which he didn't have a clear reason.
4. Étienne St. Clair (Anna and the French Kiss)
This was a cute enough book, but I could not get over Étienne being a big weenie who wanted to keep dating one girl while stringing along another one. This made it hard for me to swoon over him the way everyone else seems to have done.
5. Flavia de Luce (The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie)
I normally love mysteries, but I could not understand this girl's motivations for practically anything she did. She constantly lies to people and hide things for no apparent reason, and then she put herself in an isolated, dangerous position (again, for no apparent reason) when she knew there was someone dangerous on the loose. I did not understand or like her.
6. Holden Caulfield (The Catcher in the Rye)
I'm sure Holden is a great character if you enjoy analyzing symbolism in literature, or if you're an angsty, angry teenager. Otherwise, inside his head is a very uncomfortable place to be.
7. Jace Wayland (City of Bones)
I'm not really attracted to "mysterious bad boy" characters, and I particularly don't appreciate characters who decide to show they're interested in someone by suddenly kissing her without first having established if she's even interested.
8. The March sisters (Little Women)
I've said before that I enjoyed Little Women but don't really understand the deep love that so many people have for the book. That's probably in part because I didn't personally connect with any of the sisters.
9. Pippi Longstocking (Pippi Longstocking)
I thought I loved this character until I read the book again as an adult. I guess maybe she's a hero to little kids because she represents what they think they wish their life was — no responsibilities, never having to go to school, eating as many sweets as you want all the time, and just having fun all the time. It's hard for me as an adult to jump on the same bandwagon.
10. Scarlett O'Hara (Gone with the Wind)
I actually liked the book Gone with the Wind quite a bit for its historical context and larger themes about life, but I really couldn't stand Scarlett (or Rhett for that matter) for the majority of the book. She's overly self-centered and stubborn, to her own detriment.
Which characters feel the love from everyone but you?
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