On Protagonists Who Act Their Age and Readers Who Don't Like That

If there's one thing I can't stand about the literary world, it's bad reviews.

Now let me be clear. You, as a reader, are absolutely free to give a book a bad review. If you genuinely did not like a book, you are free to express that opinion in a non hateful way.

My issue is when you give a book a bad review because you don't understand literature.

Let me give you an example, which also happens to be the thing that made me want to write this post. I recently finished a book (and for the sake of the author and the reviewer, I won't say what the book was) that I absolutely loved. It was part of a series that is one of my favorites and this book lived up to the glory of its predecessors. I thoroughly enjoyed it. 

So, my first step upon completing the book was to freak out about the cliffhanger to add it to my "read" list on GoodReads. I happily added the book, gave it five stars, and was pleased to find that the average rating was about four and a half stars. Good. That book deserves it.

My mistake came when I scrolled down and started reading reviews.

The first review on the page gave the book one star. I was horrified, but curious. What could have provoked this person to give such a great book such a terrible review? I started to skim the review, but the more I read, the angrier I got.

The gist of it is that the reviewer did not like the main character. He thought she was bratty, selfish, immature, mean, and a million other things. Which is fine. You know why? She was supposed to be.

The whole point of that story was that she was self-centered and immature. That's what made the story so compelling. 

The point of the protagonist is not the be the perfect example of good character and likability. The point of the protagonist, or any character for that matter, is to feel real. If characters fall flat, the book suffers, no matter how good the story is. Real and relatable characters make all the difference in storytelling.

So yes, the reviewer is right that she was kind of bratty and very self-centered, and a little annoying sometimes with how immature she was. But here's the thing: She's eighteen. She's facing challenges that are beyond what an eighteen year old should have to deal with. 

I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a teenager who isn't a little selfish and immature.

Somewhere along the line, the notion that protagonists had to be 100% likable 100% of the time became popular, and frankly, I think it does literature a disservice. Some of the best books I've ever read have had protagonists who have made me actually yell at the protagonist for being stupid, annoying, selfish, rash, heartless, or a million other things. They have frustrated me, annoyed me, angered me, and, usually, in the end won me over. 

And that's a sign of really good writing. If this author really inspired this much anger and hatred in this reviewer, then clearly she is an excellent writer. 

Again, I don't say any of this to criticize the reviewer, but honestly, I kind of like when a character inspires that much emotion in me, even if it is annoyance. It means they're doing their job.