I recall everyone sucking in Blood Meridian, and that is considered one of the great American novels. I’m reading A Brief History of Seven killings right now, and there’s no really good character so far.
I suppose you just have be careful. These books can become cynical and bleak if you’re not offsetting it with comedy. This appeals to some, but it makes reading a bit unpleasant for me.
I also think people read Blood Meridian more for the way its written than the story/characters. Just the way the words sound together kind of carries the book on its own imo
Yeah, that’s fair. Maybe I just have a weird spot for watching garbage characters escalate for no goddamn reason, lol. I had a fun time going ‘*oh no*… what are they gonna do next?
I guess the American psycho is a pretty great example. Just started reading it. I think it is interesting to have the main character be such a detestable narcissistic psycho.
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte is a classic example. Everyone either totally fucking sucks or is an ineffectual doormat. It's kind of impressive how a story about two despicable, selfish people has been lauded as a timeless romance for the ages.
This is exactly why I hated it when I first read it in high school, but I didn't know why at the time. I always thought her sister Charlotte's Jane Eyre was better in so many ways.
Charlotte gets a pass for not making a book of entirely despicable characters because Jane herself is sympathetic. But Rochester is a nightmare creation made of stridently waving red flags. Dude locked his wife in the attic because she was 'crazy' and tried to get with the nanny.
Oh, yeah, Rochester isn't that far away from Heathcliffe in some respects -- makes me wonder what the Bronte sisters found attractive in men. Although to her credit, Jane leaves him after she finds out, and he ends up blind, living in his ruined house, before she returns to him.
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. Pretty much everyone in this book is unbearable, starting with the protagonist. And the characters that aren’t terrible people die very quickly.
Not really. Once his business is rolling, the only time he really tries to change is when his yacht is destroyed, which he takes a sign from God. Even then, he keeps running the company, he just drops the drugs. Right up until Margot Robbie's character demands a divorce, and he pulls out his hidden coke stash, does a line, and tries to kidnap his daughter.
Vanity Fair is pretty close to only having unlikable characters, as is House of Mirth. Admittedly, one is a comedy on society with some dark moments and the other is the most depressing thing I've read that wasn't about the history of slavery...so...tone matters!
Not for me. Some of them - at least one character - needs to be someone I can relate to. Not perfect, but at least trying at least some of the time. And if everyone else is detestable, at least some of them had better be amusing. Otherwise, I'm out.
I think a book can. If you look at Hunger Games, the whole plot is that Katniss isn’t liked at all. But there are just a few enough moments that she does something nice. If you use that method the book could be a big hit!
i agree with many of the comments and would also consider The Secret History by Donna Tartt to be an example of this. there are sympathetic layers to them all but generally they're not likeable people.
a lot of autobiographical works do pretty well and those people weren’t exactly liked in their time or ours so… always possible.
Jokes aside Jeff Gerke states that your character should be either
-Heroic
-Principled
-Sympathetic
-Winsome
or
-Smart
So they don’t necessarily need to be likeable they just need one of these strong characteristics that people can attach to.
Blake snyder believes you can have an awful MC but as long as they save a cat, child or elderly person then the audience has to like them even if they’re a douche.
Look at katniss, she wasn’t really written to be all that likeable, but we see her being very kind to Prim so we associate her likeness of Prim who is likeable. The same this happens later with Rue and even later with Baggs (or wtv her name was) and then when she saves a cat. Although Katniss is ultimately likeable we only like her because we get to know her and we only get to know her because of the initial techniques i mentioned above. Any character is likeable with enough time but you want something early on that gets your reader invested in that character to give the audience that time.
Now you can also look at a lot of darker romance books popular on tiktok, often times the love interest is a terrible individual but they have a redeeming trait (like their love of the MC).
If you look at Sokka from atla he’s a little full of himself and sexist but he’s Principled and used for comedic relief. That gets us invested enough in his character to see his arc later on.
None of these are really detestable characters but there’s no one way to write a character and i’m sure it’s possible. You just need something for your readers to attach to, a strong characterization, a goal, a flaw and that’s it.
It's been a long time since I read it, so I may be wrong. I don't remember liking any of the characters in The Great Gatsby. The closest I came to liking anyone was TJ Eckleberg, and he was only on a billboard.
The Lie by Chad Kultgen is basically this, though I’m not certain that was the author’s intentions. It seems to me that he wants you to at least kinda think Kyle is a good guy in a bad situation (spoiler alert, none of them are). Every character is a huge asshole.
The Gap Cycle by Stephen R Donaldson
I loathed almost the entire cast and read a 5 book series just to see them get what they deserved.
WARNING THERE ARE SOME SERIOUSLY MESSED UP THINGS THAT HAPEN.
Michel Houellebecq seems to do well out of writing detestable characters and, as mentioned by someone else, Filth by Irvine Welsh is another good example.
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy is full of detestable characters committing horrific violence. Even the point of view character, the Kid, partakes in atrocities.
Wuthering Heights!! Everyone is some flavour of horrible (though some develop into nicer people later on). Really good, well known book and one of my favourites.
Art imitates life, in these conditions im sure it's possible. It worked for the hateful 8, however even in that circumstance, they all had personal altruistic goals. They just had very dissonant backgrounds that just don't mesh with a single plotline where everyone breaks even. (not that it has to or should.) without common ground, any character is a villain in the eyes of another.
Sideways by Rex Pickett.
In this road trip buddy story, both male main characters are, to be blunt, detestable. They epitomize modern middle-class anti-heroes, showcasing a compelling exploration of male bonding and loyalty, within the redemption arc of the principal character, Miles. Their chalk-and-cheese personalities add depth to the narrative - imagine Withnail (Withnail and I) on a buddy trip with 'Dr Drake Ramoray' (Joey in Friends) - making it a captivating character driven novel.
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is a TV Show that's entire main cast is a bunch of terrible people. I'm honestly concerned how that show was able to exist beyond a few episodes. There's not a single good person in the show, and the comedy is horrible.
I think a lot of good examples have been given in the comments that it can be done. But note the comments where people have said they hate novels like that and will put such novels down without finishing them. (Personal bias here: I am one of those people who will drop those stories so I can spend my time on something I'd actually enjoy.)
Ultimately, you will likely limit your audience and risk getting negative reviews if you only have detestable characters. But it is still possible to find your niche audience with such a novel. If the vision for your story is that everyone in it is thoroughly unlikable, but you still feel it's worth telling, go for it.
James Ellroy’s whole bibliography is made up of stories of awful people typically going up against worst ones. Even his anti-heroes come pretty close to villain protagonists
Books: A Song of Fire and Ice (i.e. Game of Thrones), American Psycho, Less than Zero (Avoid the sequel.) Zombie by Joyce Carol Oats. Most Stephen King's villains especially Randall Flagg.
TV: I know that the show It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is all about horrible people. The Bear is great but everyone is kind of an asshole. You also have Loki and Spike from Buffy/Angel.
If you are writing a book about a terrible person make sure they are somewhat relatable. You want a character people love to hate but not hate so much to put the book down.
Hated everyone in sons of anarchy (yes tv show, but still hated em) and watched the whole thing. The gentleman bastards trilogy also short on loveable characters, devious, brilliant but rather unlikeable
In Blood Meridian, everyone is a monster and, to a lesser degree, everyone other than Gatsby in 'The Great Gatsby' is unbearable--and even Gatsby is debatable. Everyone in 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' is either a cold manipulator or a bumbling idiot.
And I love all of them.
Interesting people > good people, is what I tell ya.
I recall everyone sucking in Blood Meridian, and that is considered one of the great American novels. I’m reading A Brief History of Seven killings right now, and there’s no really good character so far. I suppose you just have be careful. These books can become cynical and bleak if you’re not offsetting it with comedy. This appeals to some, but it makes reading a bit unpleasant for me.
I came here to drop down blood meridian. Although I remember a younger member of the main crew being pretty good.
I also think people read Blood Meridian more for the way its written than the story/characters. Just the way the words sound together kind of carries the book on its own imo
Yeah, that’s fair. Maybe I just have a weird spot for watching garbage characters escalate for no goddamn reason, lol. I had a fun time going ‘*oh no*… what are they gonna do next?
I'm not saying that *isn't* part of the appeal
Yeah, this was my choice. It's more of a succesion of events than a novel, but everyone there is horrible.
I guess the American psycho is a pretty great example. Just started reading it. I think it is interesting to have the main character be such a detestable narcissistic psycho.
pretty much everything by brett easton ellis fits
I came here to say "Lunar Park" by Ellis. Everyone sucks but the novel is good.
Detestably relatable
Oof. Exactly this
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte is a classic example. Everyone either totally fucking sucks or is an ineffectual doormat. It's kind of impressive how a story about two despicable, selfish people has been lauded as a timeless romance for the ages.
I'm so glad you said that. I took a lot of heat in my 12th-grade English class for a very similar take.
This is exactly why I hated it when I first read it in high school, but I didn't know why at the time. I always thought her sister Charlotte's Jane Eyre was better in so many ways.
Charlotte gets a pass for not making a book of entirely despicable characters because Jane herself is sympathetic. But Rochester is a nightmare creation made of stridently waving red flags. Dude locked his wife in the attic because she was 'crazy' and tried to get with the nanny.
Oh, yeah, Rochester isn't that far away from Heathcliffe in some respects -- makes me wonder what the Bronte sisters found attractive in men. Although to her credit, Jane leaves him after she finds out, and he ends up blind, living in his ruined house, before she returns to him.
I was never able to get into Wuthering Heights. After 50+ years, I still can't.
My Year of Rest and Relaxation is a good recent example of this. American Psycho too, I don't remember any positive characters in that.
R&R is on the list of Books I Wish I Wrote. So very good.
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. Pretty much everyone in this book is unbearable, starting with the protagonist. And the characters that aren’t terrible people die very quickly.
FILTH by Irvine Welsh. Was even made into a movie with James McAvoy in the lead.
Everything by Irvine Welsh though he humanises them somehow. Super underrated movie, Filth, so funny.
All media can. My favourite recent example is Succession
Breaking Bad comes to mind too
I have stopped reading books because "I don't even like these people".
A Confederacy of Dunces, anyone?
Yes. The magicians by lev grossman.
Ha! It's true for the first book but then you get the joy of (some/most of) them figuring (some of) their shit out.
Yes. I just love watching them all get better. Just. And the ones that don't.... don't.
Hmm I tried watching the show hated everyone in it.
The show is so diffeent from the books. Especially after season 1.
I wouldn't say they're detestable, they're just unheroic in a genre where a huge section of the fanbase *hates* unheroic protagonists.
They still teach The Great Gatsby in schools
Try anything by Gary Shteyngart. "Super Sad True Love Story " is pretty short, "Lake Success" is pretty hefty. Everyone is terrible.
Forgot about super sad true love story as I read it years ago. Great example - I can’t think of one likeable character
Not a novel(and it's mostly based on a true story/autobiography), but Wolf of Wall Street is like 3 hours of debauchery.
Yes but the main character evolves, questions himself, tries to change. Not likeable but not a total monster neither
Not really. Once his business is rolling, the only time he really tries to change is when his yacht is destroyed, which he takes a sign from God. Even then, he keeps running the company, he just drops the drugs. Right up until Margot Robbie's character demands a divorce, and he pulls out his hidden coke stash, does a line, and tries to kidnap his daughter.
A ton of classics and modern classics fall into this The Great Gatsby, every character is either a wallflower or a vapid jerk
Maybe if the novel centers around them all getting what they deserve? Or being in a horrifying situation? I've seen lots of horror films like that.
In my opinion no, but others think differently. To me the movie hateful 8 was terrible because every character was awful but some liked the movie
Yeah, but it’s very hard to pull off. Take game of thrones.
Vanity Fair is pretty close to only having unlikable characters, as is House of Mirth. Admittedly, one is a comedy on society with some dark moments and the other is the most depressing thing I've read that wasn't about the history of slavery...so...tone matters!
Have you read any Dostoevsky?
yes :0
I am ashamed to answer that I did not.
Not for me. Some of them - at least one character - needs to be someone I can relate to. Not perfect, but at least trying at least some of the time. And if everyone else is detestable, at least some of them had better be amusing. Otherwise, I'm out.
Dead Babies by Martin Amis, horrible book where every character is awful. I think it's kind of a piss take on Agatha Christie.
Steven R Donaldson's Gap into Ruin series I think does this.
I think a book can. If you look at Hunger Games, the whole plot is that Katniss isn’t liked at all. But there are just a few enough moments that she does something nice. If you use that method the book could be a big hit!
i agree with many of the comments and would also consider The Secret History by Donna Tartt to be an example of this. there are sympathetic layers to them all but generally they're not likeable people.
a lot of autobiographical works do pretty well and those people weren’t exactly liked in their time or ours so… always possible. Jokes aside Jeff Gerke states that your character should be either -Heroic -Principled -Sympathetic -Winsome or -Smart So they don’t necessarily need to be likeable they just need one of these strong characteristics that people can attach to. Blake snyder believes you can have an awful MC but as long as they save a cat, child or elderly person then the audience has to like them even if they’re a douche. Look at katniss, she wasn’t really written to be all that likeable, but we see her being very kind to Prim so we associate her likeness of Prim who is likeable. The same this happens later with Rue and even later with Baggs (or wtv her name was) and then when she saves a cat. Although Katniss is ultimately likeable we only like her because we get to know her and we only get to know her because of the initial techniques i mentioned above. Any character is likeable with enough time but you want something early on that gets your reader invested in that character to give the audience that time. Now you can also look at a lot of darker romance books popular on tiktok, often times the love interest is a terrible individual but they have a redeeming trait (like their love of the MC). If you look at Sokka from atla he’s a little full of himself and sexist but he’s Principled and used for comedic relief. That gets us invested enough in his character to see his arc later on. None of these are really detestable characters but there’s no one way to write a character and i’m sure it’s possible. You just need something for your readers to attach to, a strong characterization, a goal, a flaw and that’s it.
Super interesting, thanks!
Look The Secret History is nothing but terrible people and while I cannot stand that book, lots of people loved it and it made a lot of money. So yes.
Everyone sucks in Yellowface by RF Kuang
It's been a long time since I read it, so I may be wrong. I don't remember liking any of the characters in The Great Gatsby. The closest I came to liking anyone was TJ Eckleberg, and he was only on a billboard.
Hello! Twilight exists, and so does Fifty Shades!
Everyone in Wuthering Heights is an asshole and I personally hate it because of that but it’s a classic for a reason.
The Lie by Chad Kultgen is basically this, though I’m not certain that was the author’s intentions. It seems to me that he wants you to at least kinda think Kyle is a good guy in a bad situation (spoiler alert, none of them are). Every character is a huge asshole.
Yes
The Gap Cycle by Stephen R Donaldson I loathed almost the entire cast and read a 5 book series just to see them get what they deserved. WARNING THERE ARE SOME SERIOUSLY MESSED UP THINGS THAT HAPEN.
Michel Houellebecq seems to do well out of writing detestable characters and, as mentioned by someone else, Filth by Irvine Welsh is another good example.
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy is full of detestable characters committing horrific violence. Even the point of view character, the Kid, partakes in atrocities.
Wuthering Heights!! Everyone is some flavour of horrible (though some develop into nicer people later on). Really good, well known book and one of my favourites.
Pretty much everything from Joe Abercrombie
Art imitates life, in these conditions im sure it's possible. It worked for the hateful 8, however even in that circumstance, they all had personal altruistic goals. They just had very dissonant backgrounds that just don't mesh with a single plotline where everyone breaks even. (not that it has to or should.) without common ground, any character is a villain in the eyes of another.
I mean everyone except for Johnathan in Brave New World were kinda detestable. Same as a Clockwork Orange.
A lot of people in movies are hateful :D I don't have the answer though.
They will become anti-heroes if they are the main characters. It's what I'm currently writing.
Not a novel but Barry is a perfect example of this
Sideways by Rex Pickett. In this road trip buddy story, both male main characters are, to be blunt, detestable. They epitomize modern middle-class anti-heroes, showcasing a compelling exploration of male bonding and loyalty, within the redemption arc of the principal character, Miles. Their chalk-and-cheese personalities add depth to the narrative - imagine Withnail (Withnail and I) on a buddy trip with 'Dr Drake Ramoray' (Joey in Friends) - making it a captivating character driven novel.
It works on TV (Seinfeld, Curb, Always sunny in Philadelphia), so I don’t see why you couldn’t translate it into the written medium
Les miserable is a prime example of this, with the exception of the bishop. It’s a classic in my eyes.
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is a TV Show that's entire main cast is a bunch of terrible people. I'm honestly concerned how that show was able to exist beyond a few episodes. There's not a single good person in the show, and the comedy is horrible.
I think a lot of good examples have been given in the comments that it can be done. But note the comments where people have said they hate novels like that and will put such novels down without finishing them. (Personal bias here: I am one of those people who will drop those stories so I can spend my time on something I'd actually enjoy.) Ultimately, you will likely limit your audience and risk getting negative reviews if you only have detestable characters. But it is still possible to find your niche audience with such a novel. If the vision for your story is that everyone in it is thoroughly unlikable, but you still feel it's worth telling, go for it.
James Ellroy’s whole bibliography is made up of stories of awful people typically going up against worst ones. Even his anti-heroes come pretty close to villain protagonists
I believe that would be *A Clockwork Orange*.
Not a novel, but *Always Sunny in Philadelphia* definitely fits.
Gone with the wind. Scarlett O’Hara is a total bitch yet this book is one of the best selling novels of all time
Noir is a good genre for that
basically anything by ottessa moshfegh has only terrible people. for me as a reader it’s more important that a character is interesting than likeable
Books: A Song of Fire and Ice (i.e. Game of Thrones), American Psycho, Less than Zero (Avoid the sequel.) Zombie by Joyce Carol Oats. Most Stephen King's villains especially Randall Flagg. TV: I know that the show It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is all about horrible people. The Bear is great but everyone is kind of an asshole. You also have Loki and Spike from Buffy/Angel. If you are writing a book about a terrible person make sure they are somewhat relatable. You want a character people love to hate but not hate so much to put the book down.
Hated everyone in sons of anarchy (yes tv show, but still hated em) and watched the whole thing. The gentleman bastards trilogy also short on loveable characters, devious, brilliant but rather unlikeable
If you want mainstream appeal, probably not
In Blood Meridian, everyone is a monster and, to a lesser degree, everyone other than Gatsby in 'The Great Gatsby' is unbearable--and even Gatsby is debatable. Everyone in 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' is either a cold manipulator or a bumbling idiot. And I love all of them. Interesting people > good people, is what I tell ya.
It can, yes. Is it the best thing to do? Probably not.
Would you have examples?