10 Book Characters I Just Didn't Click With

Today for Top Ten Tuesday hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, we get to talk about characters we didn't get along with. What a lovely opportunity to vent some of my dislike! When I was looking through some past reviews to compile this post, I noticed two things: I have a hard time clicking with characters in YA books, and I really overuse the word "likeable"!

Do tell, are there any characters you had a hard time connecting with?

From my review: "I found Allyson to be kind of annoying, needy and weak-willed throughout pretty much the entire book... not to mention clingy and obsessive and extremely naive. I had to keep reminding myself that the point of the book was Allyson's revolution -- she had to recognize and shed those traits to become a new person in the end. But really, I spent most of the book just wanting to take her by the shoulders, give her a good shake and tell her to let Willem go!"

From my review: "So why on earth should we feel sorry for Allison? I could not relate to Allison's decisions, and because she was so gratingly whiny and full of excuses and convinced that she was the only one competent enough to manage everything, I wasn't able to muster any empathy or compassion for the hole she dug herself into."

Ugh. I hated everyone in this book! As a military spouse, I was completely disgusted by the reactions the main character's family had to her deployment to Iraq. "Not clicking" is an understatement!

From my review, on the 12-year-old daughter: "At the beginning of the book she passionately pleads with Jolene not to humiliate her by going to her school's career day. Throughout the book, Betsy persists with this kind of maddening behavior. I call BS."

From my review, on the (total ass of a) husband: "Jolene's husband has never supported her military service, feels emasculated by her strength and independence, is not proud of her for serving her country, is angry at her for deploying and leaving him to care for their two daughters, and is complete jerk about the whole thing. Apparently, her continued service has caused him to fall out of love with her, and he tells her so right before she heads off to spend the most dangerous year of her life in Iraq. " 

Apparently I hated everyone in this book too!

From my review: "I didn't really like Cadence, with all her whining and naivete. I didn't really like the snobbish, over-dramatic and petty nature of the old-money Sinclair family. I didn't really like the annoying made-up names like Mirren and Taft. I didn't even like Gat, the only down-to-earth character."

From my review: "Despite the fairly interesting story, the fascinating Civil War atmosphere and the stellar writing, I had a really hard time connecting with Constance. Even though she was admirable in many ways, Constance wasn't very likeable. And I never really cared what happened to her; the most I could muster was mild curiosity over whether she'd make it home alive or not."

We get to know Manon, the main character's former lover, through her journal entries. I despised this selfish, have-my-cake-and-eat-it-too character. We can't all be wild and free and follow our heart's every whim regardless of who we hurt. What makes her so special?

From my review: "Even Laura herself comes off as whiny, mean and obstinate, especially in her younger years, and it was hard to muster sympathy for our main character, despite her pitiful lot in life. Doctor Howe was the worst, written as a misogynistic, egotistical jerk whose real interest in Laura was as a religious experiment in his fight against Calvinism."

From my review: "'At times I had trouble identifying with Alice -- she was just so incredibly naive! And Alice's extremely rapid descent into addiction seemed a bit unrealistic to me -- as did certain plot elements, like Alice peddling LSD to a 9-year-old."

I don't remember exactly why I had a hard time relating to June, but I do know I never really warmed up to her.

From my review: "Something about Jio's writing style bothered me, and I also didn't love June, our protagonist. It reminded me a little bit of 'You've Got Mail,' but not as good."

From my review: "While I really liked and admired Hazel and her boyfriend Augustus, I don't think we would have been friends as teenagers. They're just a bit too... existential and philosophical and self-possessed, which is quite possibly an inevitable side effect of having cancer at 16. But I think that's part of the reason the novel didn't resonate with me as much as it did for others."