Great Characters and Personalities

Some of you have recently or less recently noted that you prefer "real" characters with flaws and all to "perfect" characters. I thought it might be fun to gradually list these great characters we meet in books and maybe add why we liked or maybe disliked them, but above all, why we think they're great characters. Or even if we don't have anything specific to say, it would be nice if we could get recommendations for books with Great Characters and Personalities, because, let's face it, that's one of the reasons why we all love to read. So please join and let us know which is your favourite character from which book and author.

PS. Maybe it's a good idea to mark your favourite character in bold and touchstone the book and/or author?

Salka from Salka Valka by Halldór Kiljan Laxness
because she is a woman who has determination, energy and courage but is also sensitive, confused, doubtful. She is a real human being.

Great idea for a thread, Monica! I will give it some thought and be back later to post.

For those unfamiliar with the Dexter series, either in the books by Jeff Lindsay or the series on HBO, Dexter has psychological flaws which most, if not all of us can hardly imagine. Found, at a very young age, in a shipping container where he had been left for days sitting in his murdered mother's blood, he was adopted by one of the police officers who found him and who immediately recognized that Dexter would need special care to focus his imminent psychoses. While he takes us through cases involving mass murderers, we see how he tries to blend in and live a normal life while meeting the needs of his Dark Passenger. This series is not for the lighthearted but is fascinating nonetheless.

edited to add - Thanks for the great topic, JustJoey!

One of my favorite characters since childhood has been Jo March from Little Women. Jo is shown with both the good and bad qualities that make her human and very easy for me, as a child and even now, to relate to.

Yeah, that's the kind of people I meant :-)
I haven't read the Dexter series, but I'll check them out for sure.
And Jo March, wow, what a character!

I'm actually surprised to see how little books I have read with real characters in them. Most seem to be either clichés or downright perfect. That perfection was epitomized by "Billy Bradley", the main character in a YA-series by Janet D. WHeeler I used to read as a young girl. She was perfect: she was very pretty, very bright, was great in all sports, had lots of friends, was raised in the perfect family, everybody loved her, she always was in charge and on top of things, she rescued orphans, found lost children, helped the poor, had criminals arrested, was adored by all the men but adored only one boy herself, the teachers thought very highly of here, she had charisma and charm... and I hated her. I think if I had met her in real life, I would have punched her (but even then she probably would have smiled compasssionetely and rescued me, eek). You simply cannot like someone who is thát perfect.

#6: I think she must have been a Stepford wife in disguise, lol. I could not stand to be around someone that perfect. I am with you - I would probably have punched her too.

One of my favorite characters is Owen Meany from A Prayer for Owen Meany. He is determined and charismatic in the face of several physical problems, he is hopeful and faithful when he shouldn't be but he is anyway. His flaws are a large part of what is so likable about him.

Just a general comment: I'm always a bit taken aback when someone describes a character as 'unsympathetic' or not likeable. To me, that's less important than whether they are convincing, esp. in the context of the plot. They are fictional people, and I don't need to identify with them, like them or share their values -- they aren't my friends, they are there to entertain me.

Dexter would, I suppose, be an example. I can't understand the ethos of a serial killer of any kind, but that doesn't stop him from being a riveting character/personality that I want to read about/watch.

#9 Exactly what I think. I'm also looking for the Great Characters and Personalities, not per se the likeable ones. I might add Michael Engleby from the book Engleby by Sebastian Faulks. He was a mad murderer, but he was so genuine, I liked him as a character, although I hope to never ever meet this kind of person in real life.

My favorite literary character is Mohun Biswas, the main character in V.S. Naipaul's classical novel A House for Mr Biswas, who is based on Naipaul's father Seepersad Naipaul. Like the Naipauls, Mr Biswas (who is referred to as "Mr Biswas" throughout the novel, even as an infant) is a Trinidadian of Indian descent. He writes for a local paper, the Trinidad Guardian, and marries into a locally powerful and influential family led by a tight-fisted and petty matriarch. Mr Biswas comes from a poor family, and is perpetually tortured by his wife's family. He wants nothing more than to be able to afford to purchase his own house and be his own man, but is thwarted at every step by his own incompetence and his wife's family. He is a terribly flawed and frustrating but sympathetic character, and the novel, which is one of my all time favorites, is tremendously funny and heartbreakingly sad.

From my recent reading, I'd have to say that Olive Kitteridge is portrayed as a real, flawed character. She's not my favorite character by a long shot, but she felt like she could be a real person, and by the end of the book we understand her a lot more.

This is easy for me. My favorite character is the fascinating Sheilagh Fielding first introduced by Wayne Johnston in his epic novel The Colony of Unrequited Dreams which takes place in the early twentieth century. Tall, tough-minded, witty and an independent woman who speaks her mind, both orally and through her newspaper columns, she carries a silver flask of whiskey in her pocket and a chip on her shoulder at all times. She has a limp as the result of a bout of TB, and uses a cane, and her 6'3" height makes her a formidable physical presence. But it is her barbed and ruthless wit that she uses as a mechanism to protect her wounded heart, that endeared her to me. She went on to have her own novel, The Custodian of Paradise which explained some of her early life that contributed to her sorrows. An absolutely fascinating character.

Nice thread.

From my recent reading, I enjoyed getting to know Henry DeTamble from The Time Traveler's Wife. I enjoyed his confusion, frustration and quiet desperation. But, most of all, his enduring love for Clare. As much as I like Eric Bana, I think that he did not - could not, perhaps - do the character justice (maybe it was the script or the direction).

And, another one would be Susie Salmon from The Lovely Bones. Her poignant afterlife, her inability to give up on earth and on justice, and, most of all, her beautiful custom heaven...... Saoirse Ronan definitely personified this character as well as I'd imagined in my head.