I believe I've posted about this before, but I'm fascinated by the need of the (or this) reader's need to identify with at least one character in a novel, play or film.
This came over strongly while I was on holiday. I read quite a few books, from good to ok to awful, and one of the awful ones (in my opinion) was a new one I was reviewing for Amazon (so I had to finish it). It should have been really moving; a woman on death row, with only months to go before her execution, and the battle to gain a reprieve for her. Some may know that I have a Thing about the death penalty, and so I was expecting at the very least an interesting read, but apart from the writing, which was not good, and the plodding storyline, I really thoroughly disliked the prisoner, and in the end, because I didn't care about her, I wasn't really bothered about her fate. Thus, any tension or suspense was eliminated, and the whole novel a waste of my time.
In another novel, a gripping thriller, my sympathies were challenged when the supposed victim turned out not be all the reader had been led to believe. My loyalties switched. But there were still characters to identify with. The main reason why I didn't like The Talented Mr. Ripley was that I hated the central character (although it's a very clever novel),
From Peter Rabbit onwards, we are encouraged to identify with a central character (Peter, of course!). But the character doesn't have to be 'good'. Our family are all riveted by the TV series Dexter, where the central character is a serial killer. And boy, do we want him to succeed!
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I am struggling to find an author I like. I enjoy whodunnits but even with Peter May I struggle to finish a book. The just late Ian Banks was my favourite author.
ReplyDeleteGetting old has an advantage. I can read and laugh again.
Oh, Adrian - how sad! Do try Jonathan Tropper. His books are readable, funny, and his characters are so very human. Husband and I love his books.
DeleteI think I know which 'gripping thriller' you're talking about, and my reaction was somewhat different. By the end, I hated them all! But I had to get to the end - perhaps that was the author's intention? See how many antipathetic people I can keep you interested in?
ReplyDeleteMartin Amis is very good at this. I'm halfway through 'Lionel Asbo'...
It can't be the same book, Tim (on such a brief description)! But if you email, me, I'll give you the title (I don't want to spoil it for others by naming it). It's a thrilling book.
DeleteI think that good characterisation is a failing in many otherwise accomplished modern novelists. I don't have to like a character to want to know what will happen to them, but I do have to find them interesting. Becky Sharp is a case in point. But then, I thoroughly enjoyed the Ripley books.
ReplyDeleteYou bave a very good point, Z. And mabe I should restrict my comments to non-crime. I think in crime novels (and I don't on the whole read crime novels) what matters most is the "whodunnit" element.
DeleteI believe you have helped me identify the major problem I have had all these years. The first book I ever read was Heidi, and I was forced to identify with the heroine. It was either her, or her Old Grandfather, or the goats.
ReplyDeleteI hope you know I am totally pulling your leg....
I LOVED Heidi as a kid, and read it many times.
DeleteI never even considered identifying myself with a goat...
Heidi is my fave too, even if Heidi did steal some bread rolls, even if they were for someone else!
DeleteSometimes, though, you do tend to sympathise with a character which is not the main one.
I am reading a novel with three main characters. The story and moves back and forth between them. I keep skipping the chapters that focus on the one who annoys me. But I really like one of the others, so I think, in the end, I won't have actually read this book properly. I can't leave it, though, until the fascinating one has completed her part of the story. I keep wishing this were a novella with the tedious parts chopped out. I'd like it so much more!
ReplyDeleteJoanna, you're cheating! What annoys me, is when an author suddenly changes the point of view halfway through a chapter. It simply doesn't work (for me).
DeleteNot being a writer myself (apart from the occasional blog post), I can only guess how hard it is to lend credibility to a character that does not exist in real life. But I guess a lot of writers draw on people they know in real life, combining characteristics of various people into one fictious figure. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
ReplyDeleteMeike, I think most writers will agree that once you begin to create a character, it goes on to develop itself. I never "create" characters. They just seem to eeolve.
Delete(I do have a very nasty woman bumping people off in my present WIP, but then to do what she does she has to be pretty unpleasant!)
Isn't it the same with real life? I suggest that to be happy in any social context (like work or school), we need at least one "other" with whom we can to some degree identify... If there is no such person, we can't wait to get out of there!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely true, DT!
DeleteI don't think I need to feel I identify with a character, but I do have to be interested in them or there's no point in reading on to find out what happens to them.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Interst is eesential!
DeleteI've just finished reading Bridget Jones' Diary (our book group's choice - not mine)and I really struggled to finish it. The reason? I just could not raise any enthusiasm for the main character who came over as shallow, frivolous, boring and totally predictable.
ReplyDeleteI've never read it, Gail, as I wasnt especially interested I the subject, but all credit to the author for doing seo well
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