Follow the leader

Because of my previous post about the main character in Finney’s Time and Again being a rather non-compelling person in an otherwise very compelling book, I started to wonder a bit about people’s need for a strong lead in the books they like best. I tend to heavily favor characterization over plot, which is why I think in many cases that my tastes in speculative fiction skews towards fantasy and away from, say, hard science fiction. I think it’s also why, save for a small handful of authors, I prefer books to short-stories, and in fact the little hard science fiction I read is usually in the short story form because boredom with the “Woo! Shiny!” never has a chance to set in. My favorite hard science book is Cyteen, where the science in question is psychology. It more than satisfies my craving for a book that explores emotions, responses to difficulties, and the twisty way the human brain can work.

There are a few books with less-than-fascinating main characters that I like: the aforementioned Time and Again, Neil Gaiman’s American Gods (the lead character is named Shadow, and is very much of one, but what we see through his eyes is very interesting indeed), and…well, I can’t think of another one off the top of my head. But I want to know if there are other books out there that fit into the same mold: a not-very-interesting, only lightly sketched, or actively boring main character that nonetheless is part of a really great book. (I need book reccomendations, damnit! Feed the beast!) Ooh, and I also want to know if you even demand strong characters – maybe you’re a plot-driven person who really hates it when all those messy characters, with their emotions slopping around and their hair all disheveled, come clomping into the middle of a perfectly good story.

Slight Tangent: I suppose the question of what you do when you find a lead character who is actually unlikable could be asked here as well. The Thomas Covenant books usually get mentioned whenever this topic comes up, generally next to the words, “…and then I threw the book so hard against the wall that I dented it. See? You can still see the crater it left.” I freely confess that although I’m not great with lead characters I don’t like, I find myself enjoying…and rooting on!…all sorts of characters with truly despicable natures. I believe I’ve mentioned my love for a good hitman character? I’d like to think that in real life, I wouldn’t be all that interested in spending time with psychotic men who kill for money, but sadly that’s because real hitmen are rarely as badass as, say, Edward from the Anita Blake books. But give me a lead character who is as bitter, twisted, or just plain exhausting to be around as our friend Thomas, and I will generally put the book down. (The only reason I made it through the first Thomes Covenant series is that I was in a foreign country with very limited access to English-language books, and at that point, I was desperate.) But this ties back in with the original question: how do you need to feel about the primary character leading you through the story you’re reading? Must you be friends? Must you trust him? Must you get to know her pretty well?

Edited to add: Duh, I forgot about the Ripley books by Patricia Highsmith. Thanks for reminding me of them, swooop. They're a great example of a really unlikable, and in some ways very blank main character that is fascinating to read about.