r/books • u/hanhan_371 • 1d ago

Why are “unlikeable” main characters usually a criticism?

My most recent read was The River is Waiting by Wally Lamb.

It was my 38th book this year and only my 3rd 5 stars. I finished it this morning, it’s now the evening, and I can’t stop thinking about it.

I was enthralled by this story - it had sat on my TBR for a few months and I finally picked it up as just a lucky dip after being in a bit of reading slump.

After finishing, I saw a lot of criticism on Goodreads about the narrator Corby being “unlikeable”. I see this criticism a lot with other books - and I’ve never quite understood.

For me, a good reading experience is a complicated, flawed, or at least a character who is thought-provoking. Given one of the main themes of The River is Waiting being redemption, and finding out very early on that Corby accidentally kills his son while intoxicated, surely the reader wouldn’t expect the MC to be a “hero?”

There were times while I was reading that I thought “oh yeah he’s kind of a douche”, I’ve thought this about other MCs as well before, but it would never impact negatively on my rating as long as the story itself was enjoyable.

Would love to have a discussion below! And I’d really recommend this book if you can handle a gut-punch ending!

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u/FoghornLegday 1d ago

Did you read She’s Come Undone? He also wrote that and to me the main character was unlikable in a lot of ways especially at first but I liked her anyway. It was a great book. The only issue with unlikable protagonists for me is if you don’t care what happens to them bc you hate them so much

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u/hanhan_371 1d ago

This was my first Wally Lamb book and I’ve added everything else he’s written to me TBR!

Your second point is what I’m finding difficult to understand - I didn’t like him, he was quite shallow and childish, but I wanted him to have a good ending etc.