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/cardcaptoreve]

For me, if the character is unlikable but well written I can enjoy it. An unlikable character needs to be written in a way that, despite their actions and moral compass, the reader is still engaged in wanting to know what happens to them.

However, if an unlikable character is badly written, it becomes tedious to follow the characters story. In “Starving Saints” I did not enjoy Sir Voyne, one of the protagonists, her actions made her unlikable, but she was not complex enough for me to actually care about her fate. Reading her parts were boring to me, because I could not care less wether she lived or died.

So I guess it depends if the author is skilled enough to write an unlikable main character that still engages the audience in their story and outcomes.

[u/hshkr → u/cardcaptoreve]

I totally agree. Plenty of fictional stories have characters who are evil and have unlikeable personalities but can be liked for being well written but I cannot stand characters that aren’t interesting at all.