Becky Sharp (Vanity Fair): Becky is an unapologetic relentless social climber who thinks nothing of manipulating wealthy men to get their affection and is about a billion times more compelling than her sweet-natured friend Amelia.
Amy Dunne (Gone Girl): She and her husband Nick are both awful people, but honestly I'm always glad that Amy gets away with it.
Jaime Lannister (A Storm of Swords): Jaime was a fairly straightforward villain in the first two books, but when we start getting his perspective in the third one...he's still terrible but he's much more sympathetic.
Nick Naylor (Thank You For Smoking): The gleeful amorality with which this tobacco lobbyist/spokeman plies his trade is delightful.
Humbert Humbert (Lolita): He preys on a child and actively seeks to isolate her so he can continue to take advantage of her. But there's something captivating about him, a testament to Nabokov's skill as a writer.
Hannibal Lector (The Silence of the Lambs): He's suave and sophisticated and totally brilliant and eats people. Shame about the last.
Lisbeth Salander (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo): Lisbeth is violent and doesn't care about most people. She's amazing and terrifying and enthralling.
Thomas Cromwell (Wolf Hall): He's basically the male version of Becky Sharp in his eagerness to throw morality aside to climb the ladder and then stay at the top, except he's real and since he's a dude he doesn't have to play the marriage game to get power.
Henry Winter (The Secret History): He's rich, obscenely smart, and dynamic, and it's easy to see him through Richard's enchanted eyes and forget that he killed a person accidentally and then killed his own friend when he thought he might have to face consequences for the first death.
Alex DeLarge (A Clockwork Orange): Alex so enjoys his life of rampaging around fulfilling every cruel urge he has that you almost feel a little sad when he's brainwashed into being unable to do it anymore.
Jaime gets so interesting as the books go on! I love when you start getting chapters from his point of view and bits of his backstory when he first joined the Kingsguard. And I should really read Wolf Hall, loved the series :)
ReplyDeleteMy TTT: https://basedonthebook.blogspot.com/2018/10/10-harry-potter-villians-that-arent.html
I still haven't watched the series! I heard good things, though, so it's on my list
DeleteI do love a good antihero! :) Jaime- so true. Like Catherine mentions above, I love it when we see him interact with the Kingsguard, and the insight he provides into Aerys and the events that only he knows about. Good stuff. And I so need to read Gone Girl, I hear so much about Amy lol!
ReplyDeleteGone Girl launched a billion less good domestic thrillers, but having recently revisited it on audio, it does hold up...it's really good!
DeleteJaime Lannister is such a complex character - he's obviously really terrible at the beginning, but I think he starts to come around and can at least recognize that he does crappy things and maybe he should stop.
ReplyDeleteIt's one of the things I love about GRRM...his characters are so layered and interesting!
DeleteHenry Winter is a good one! I forgot about him and am long over-due for a Secret History re-read!
ReplyDeleteME TOO! It's been ages since I read it through
DeleteI agree with you about Jaime Lannister. I hated him in the beginning, but now I just hope that he kills his evil sister.
ReplyDeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
He was the woooorst and then we started getting his POV and now he's so sympathetic and fulfill the prophecy and kill her!
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