Most of these discussions have provided us with oodles of books to add to our collective reading lists. Today, I’d like to chat on a slightly more granular level: Who are your favorite fictional characters? Who has stuck with you long after finishing the book?
Jane Eyre (#TeamJane4Ever) — I love her so much, I can't really talk about it.
Sid Halley — Dick Francis' horse-world mysteries Odds Against, Whip Hand, Come to Grief, and Under Orders. He makes stupid/brave decisions, is often vulnerable, and has heaps of integrity.
The Count — A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. I love the way he gave meaning to his days by helping others.
Natalie Marx — The Inn at Lake Devine by Elinor Lipman. She's a firecracker with a fierce sense of humor and kind core. (This is a very fun book, BTW.)
The fictional version of Thomas Cromwell — Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall trilogy. Mantel's version is simultaneously kind and cunning. I know he's supposed to be a bad guy but somehow I get all swoony about the fictional Thomas Cromwell? Brains are weird.
Plum — Dietland by Serai Walker. She is just not taking anyone's sh*t anymore, and I'm here for it.
I would posit Woodrow McCall from Lonesome Dove for his inner strength, and George Smiley from John LeCarrre novels for his plodding chin up perseverance.
Hi Jeremy such a good question! Several have remained with me really from teen years it would be Belgarth from the Belgariad series by David Eddings; Nevyn from Katherine Kerr’s Deverry series.
The biggest though has to be Lan Mandragon from Robert Jordan’s epic Wheel of Time series “Death is lighter than a feather. Duty, heavier than a mountain.”
Holden Caulfield - "The Catcher in the Rye." This is a mirror I like to hold up every once in a while to see how much/little I've matured since being a teenager.
John Grady Cole - "All the Pretty Horses" and "Cities of the Plain." Just a man trying to find his place in a world more awesome and terrible than he can comprehend.
Oberyn Martell - "A Storm of Swords." Arrive. Raise Hell. Leave. All while being and doing the MOST. Oberyn is a lit match in a room full of gasoline.
East of Eden - Both Sam and Kathy for opposite reasons. Especially Kathy. I had a full 20 year interval between reads of East of Eden and I could still remember that line about someone being born a monster.
Alyosha Karamazov, The Brothers Karamazov; Joe Gargery, Great Expectations; First Servant, King Lear; also Samwise Gamgee, Lord of the Rings; Asher Lev, My Name Is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok; Atticus Finch, To Kill a Mockingbird; Marlowe, Heart of Darkness.
Will McLean from Pat Conroy's "The Lords of Discipline" is my personal yardstick for being an honorable human being and for struggling against conformity for the sake of belonging. I read this when I was a teen (reread it many times as well), and very much identified with Will. We share struggles, outlook, personality, and even character flaws. He's very much my favorite literary character.
Jane Eyre (#TeamJane4Ever) — I love her so much, I can't really talk about it.
Sid Halley — Dick Francis' horse-world mysteries Odds Against, Whip Hand, Come to Grief, and Under Orders. He makes stupid/brave decisions, is often vulnerable, and has heaps of integrity.
The Count — A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. I love the way he gave meaning to his days by helping others.
Natalie Marx — The Inn at Lake Devine by Elinor Lipman. She's a firecracker with a fierce sense of humor and kind core. (This is a very fun book, BTW.)
The fictional version of Thomas Cromwell — Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall trilogy. Mantel's version is simultaneously kind and cunning. I know he's supposed to be a bad guy but somehow I get all swoony about the fictional Thomas Cromwell? Brains are weird.
Plum — Dietland by Serai Walker. She is just not taking anyone's sh*t anymore, and I'm here for it.
I would posit Woodrow McCall from Lonesome Dove for his inner strength, and George Smiley from John LeCarrre novels for his plodding chin up perseverance.
Carrie White - Carrie
Jay Gatsby - The Great Gatsby
Zaphod Beeblebrox - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Olive Kitteridge, for all of her beautiful complexities.
Dill (from To Kill a Mockingbird) because he is just so real and vivid to me.
Alex (from Everything is Illuminated) because that character made me laugh and cry like no other.
Raymond (from Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine) for his tenderness.
(There are TOO many! I might have to come back for round two...)
Aragorn -- Lord of the Rings
Elizabeth Bennett -- Pride and Prejudice
The Wife (our narrator) -- The Yellow Wallpaper
Amy Elliot Dunne -- Gone Girl
Kaladin Storm-blessed and Lord Dalinar -- Way of Kings
Hadrian Blackwater -- The Riyria Revelations
Siegfried Farnon and James Herriot - All Creatures Great and Small
The Man - The Road
Peyton Farquhar - An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
Boo Radley - To Kill a Mockingbird
Hi Jeremy such a good question! Several have remained with me really from teen years it would be Belgarth from the Belgariad series by David Eddings; Nevyn from Katherine Kerr’s Deverry series.
The biggest though has to be Lan Mandragon from Robert Jordan’s epic Wheel of Time series “Death is lighter than a feather. Duty, heavier than a mountain.”
Holden Caulfield - "The Catcher in the Rye." This is a mirror I like to hold up every once in a while to see how much/little I've matured since being a teenager.
John Grady Cole - "All the Pretty Horses" and "Cities of the Plain." Just a man trying to find his place in a world more awesome and terrible than he can comprehend.
Oberyn Martell - "A Storm of Swords." Arrive. Raise Hell. Leave. All while being and doing the MOST. Oberyn is a lit match in a room full of gasoline.
Gus and Sam are in my top 5 as well. I’d also add:
Piranesi - Piranesi
Howard Roark - The Fountainhead
Raskolnikov - Crime and Punishment
Dorothea Brooke from Middlemarch
Sancho Panza from Don Quixote
The Judge from Blood Meridian (Not exactly a favourite, but most impactful)
Horatio Hornblower/Jack Aubrey/Stephen Maturin from the Hornblower & Aubrey Maturin novel series about the Royal Navy
Bruno Courréges from the Bruno chief of police series
East of Eden - Both Sam and Kathy for opposite reasons. Especially Kathy. I had a full 20 year interval between reads of East of Eden and I could still remember that line about someone being born a monster.
Gus and Sam -Lonsome Dove
all of the Kopp sisters - Kopp sisters series ( Amy Stewart)
Masie Dobbs - Masie Dobbs series
John Ames_ Gillead
Here are two of mine:
Innokenty Petrovich Platonov in Eugene Vodolazkin’s The Aviator
Orual, Queen of Glome, in C.S. Lewis’s Till We Have Faces
Alyosha Karamazov, The Brothers Karamazov; Joe Gargery, Great Expectations; First Servant, King Lear; also Samwise Gamgee, Lord of the Rings; Asher Lev, My Name Is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok; Atticus Finch, To Kill a Mockingbird; Marlowe, Heart of Darkness.
Will McLean from Pat Conroy's "The Lords of Discipline" is my personal yardstick for being an honorable human being and for struggling against conformity for the sake of belonging. I read this when I was a teen (reread it many times as well), and very much identified with Will. We share struggles, outlook, personality, and even character flaws. He's very much my favorite literary character.