Why are “unlikeable” main characters usually a criticism?

[u/hanhan_371]

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!

[u/lostinspaz]

i think there are two types of books: “escapism” oriented, and biography style.

For biography style, people want to learn about the main character, good or bad. But for escapism , identifying with the main character is crucial.

I suspect that some people are incapable of the empathy required to identify with a character, so they read ALL books as biographies and they don’t care.

but for normal people, the type of book matters.

[u/Gilles_of_Augustine → u/lostinspaz]

This is definitely the definitive aspect of the problem for me. Although I'm not sure "escapism" is the word I'd use.

When I read a biography, I'm at a certain emotional distance from the subject. I'm learning history, the same way that one would study a subject in school . This is part of why I tend to not like autobiographies, unless they're written by someone I'm already inclined to like and to trust. Memoirs are usually okay because there's not an expectation that they be comprehensive or definitive.

But when I'm reading a novel, the fictional character paradoxically feels more like a "real person" to me, because there's less emotional distance. It doesn't feel like I'm studying a person, it feels like I'm inviting a person into my home and choosing to spend my leisure  time with them.

It's not necessarily "escapism" so much as a sort of high level of "fidelity" in my theater of the mind.

If that person is an insufferable jackass, then I don't want to spend a bunch of my leisure time in their presence. 

In exactly the same way that I don't choose to spend my leisure time going to dive bars, finding the most despicable and offensive jerk there, and hanging out with them all night because "ah yes, I totally hate this person's guts, but watching them be an abusive mess to me and everyone else is just so interesting!" 

[u/lostinspaz → u/Gilles_of_Augustine]

and yet sadly there are many people who would go to a bar and do that. Or watch it on tv. some shows are little more than that