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Top Ten Most Frustrating Characters
These are in the order that they occurred to me...
1. Umbridge from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
She was the first person to pop into my mind, likely because she's so evil... yet so pink... and a cat lady... She made all those rules and called Harry a liar. And yet there was nothing we could do to stop her. She wasn't your traditional villain that you could fight back against, and so she was FRUSTRATING. You wanted to fight back and couldn't.
2. Rita Skeeter from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
This was another frustrating character because she was a liar. I must not like characters who lie. I understood Harry's frustration as she kept publishing false articles about him. And just the image of her sucking on her Quick Quotes Quill makes me want to seethe. And who wears lime green all the time? Really?
3. Bella Swan from the Twilight series
Oh, Bella. You frustrate me in so many ways. I'm sure she is going to be on a lot of people's lists. I wish she'd been a stronger character. I wish she stood up to Edward when he was being a manipulative boyfriend. I wish she hadn't just moped for months when Edward left her. I wish she hadn't been so focused on having sex with Edward. I wish she had some interests outside of becoming a vampire. I wish she had a vampire power that was better than making protective bubbles.
4. Seth from the Fablehaven series
I seriously LOVE this middle grade fantasy series, but I don't think I reviewed it here on the blog... Need to remedy that! Seth is a GREAT character, but I found him frustrating because he was a rule breaker. If you tell him not to do something, he'll do it. If you tell him "SERIOUSLY! DON'T DO THIS OR YOU'LL DIE!" Seth will still do it. He was the perfect balance to his rule following sister, but he still drove me nuts with all his rule breaking. Though he made for great conflict and tension.
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| I seriously LOVE this series. The later books are so, so good! |
5. Romeo from Romeo and Juliet
Gah! Romeo! You are so emo and mopey and moody. And you jump from girl to girl. And then you do stupid stuff like kill your wifey's cousin. And then even stupider things like buy the most deadly poison to kill yourself. You pretty much ruined your own life as well as Juliet's in my opinion. Poor Juliet. She was by far the stronger character.
6. Tris in Insurgent
I did not understand why Tris was making certain choices in Insurgent. I don't have my copy of the book because it is loaned out, and my memory isn't good enough to cite specific examples. But allow me to quote my review:
"Four keeps showing Tris that he stands by her and cares about her, and honestly, I don't know if I would have put up with some of the things Tris did. Granted she just lost her parents and killed someone she didn't want to kill, but some decisions she made caused my brain to scream a little in frustration."7. Miranda from This World We Live In
Miranda went through so much in book one, and grew so much as a person, and then in book three she seemed to revert to her self-centered, immature self. I was incredibly frustrated by this, and it kind of ruined the book for me. A book I'd really looked forward to.
8. Cassia in Matched and Crossed
Cassia frustrates me because I don't understand what she sees in Ky. I like Xander, who is handsome, clever, and loyal. But for some reason Cassia likes Ky the martyr. I still haven't read Reached, and I am still debating whether I want to invest time in finishing this series because I had a hard time with book two.
9. St. John Rivers in Jane Eyre
St. John Rivers is such a cold and emotionless character. He has the makings of a good man: how he wants to be a missionary and how he looks after his sisters and Jane. But he is so strange and cold. When he is asking Jane to be his wife and to go to India with him, I wanted to scream at Jane because she couldn't possibly be happy with such a cold man. So I was probably mostly frustrated by him because I didn't want Jane to end up with him!
10. Miss Havisham from Great Expectations
On the one hand, she's a very memorable character. On the other hand... GET OUT OF YOUR FREAKING WEDDING DRESS ALREADY. Don't you want to shake her and tell her to live her life??? Being jilted at the alter is terrible, but wasting your whole life because of one event is an even bigger tragedy.
I'm so excited to see everyone's lists this week! What characters were you frustrated by?
Oh, the Miss Havishams of this world! Sigh.
ReplyDeleteHere's my Book Characters Who Could Use a Session With Dr. Phil. I'd love to have you stop by!
So very many great ones here. Umbridge is a fantastic villain, especially that combination of sickly sweet and evil. I LOATHED her. Glad she got what was coming. Tris and Bella, yes and yes. Insurgent had a whole host of problems in general. ROMEO, definitely a womanizer and an idiot. St. John was a very interesting contrast to Mr. Rochester. Such an upstanding guy, but you're right, so very cold. And the fact that he wanted her because she fit his image of a perfect wife. Shudder. Mrs. Havisham is one crazy lady. Pip and Estella also drove me insane in Great Expectations.
ReplyDeleteI said Cassia too! Everyone loved those books but I couldn't even finish the first one. And Rita Skeeter really is an annoying character! Great list :)
ReplyDeleteHere's my Top Ten!
Man, I'm wishing I'd put Delores Umbridge on my list now...I wanted to smack her in her froggy face every time she showed up!!
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness how did I forget Rita Skeeter and Umbridge?! I too have a hard time with Cassia. I just finished Reached and honestly I would have been just fine had I not read it. Tris is a character I just do not understand. I cannot relate to her even a little bit. Bella Swan is the only one out of the above that I remembered to add to my list. I just want to reach into the books and slap some sense into her.
ReplyDeleteWhat the what?! I just typed out a fairly decent comment and it's disappeared! Anyway, I cannot believe I forgot Umbridge and Skeeter on my list! Just thinking about them irritates me. Maybe I just repressed my dislike?
ReplyDeleteCassia is an incredibly annoying narrator to say the least. I barely made it through Matched but for some reason enjoyed Crossed. Reached had it's moments but overall I could have lived without reading it.
I hardly ever understand what Tris is thinking when she makes just about every decision she makes.
Bella is the only one who made my list. I just wish I could have slapped some sense into the girl so she could grow a pair and be happy with herself.
Rita Skeeter!!!! Oh yeah! Great pick there!
ReplyDeleteCheck out my TTT.
Sandy @ Somewhere Only We Know
Umbridge would be the first person I would think of to put on my list, too. Good lord did she ever get my teeth grinding! Like, punching my pillow in frustration. And it's funny because I can see after looking at other people's Top Ten lists for this week, that every single other one I read also had Bella on their lists - your description of her is spot on. And Miss Havisham! Another great choice, haha.
ReplyDeleteDude... lets talk about Fablehaven. It's classified as Middle Grade. The way the sentences, paragraphs, and story is structured. Middle grade. The way the characters act. Middle grade. But the characters are older. The vocabulary and word choice is older. And the themes are older. I just don't know what to do with it. My nephew is 7, but reads on a 6th grade level and he got these for Christmas from someone who asked if I thought he would like them. I was like yes! Then when we started reading them together, I'm like... I'm not sure this is appropriate for you. It's just... I don't even know. It reads young, but feels like it would be better for an older audience. He's reading Percy Jackson and Harry Potter on his own, to give you a frame of reference. Anyway. I read about 10 pages and kept stopping to discuss with my sister and she made me end my turn reading so that Dom could read, because she didn't want me criticizing the book in front of him. LOL.
ReplyDeleteHow could have I forget to put Rita Skeeter on my list! She was awful!
ReplyDeleteI'm hearing REACHED is the best of the 3, and even better than the way the DELIRIUM trilogy ends. So if REACHED pays off for the book that was CROSSED, well...I'm in. Also, I love that Umbridge was #1. So much agreeing! And Bella, yees! That's a big reason for my feelings on TWILIGHT. I also love that you added in some classics!
ReplyDeleteOMG, I love your list! I was going to participate in this TTT, but the only characters that came to mind were Bella Swan and Umbridge. Oh that Umbridge. I seriously hated her more than Voldemort!
ReplyDelete"Gah! Romeo! You are so emo and mopey and moody." LOL!
And I completely forgot about how annoyed I was with Four in Insurgent. I questioned some of the things Tris did but I really was angry with Four. It's funny how we are annoyed with the opposite characters!
And I totally agree about St. John. He was just so creepy to me from the moment he entered the story!
And I love your part about Miss Havisham. I really didn't enjoy that book when I read it in high school, but I remember thinking she was so weird and annoying. I think I should probably reread it as an adult, now that I think about it.
Great list!!!