What characters from novels stay with you?

May 19, 2021 6:56 AM

Riffing off of last week's question (which novels do you reread), which fictional characters do you find stick with you long after the reading, and why do you think they do?

Heroes or villains, makes no never mind, only that they have become all but real acquaintances. (NB, however, written characters only. Once actors get involved, the entire equation changes.)

posted by BWA to Writing & Language (26 answers total)

Kiva Lagos from John Scalzi's Interdependency Series. At the start of the first book, she just seems like a selfish jerk; but as the story proceeds, it becomes clear that she's just a very specific type of personality, and I don't feel like I've ready many books (or maybe any books) with a character quite like her.
posted by neushoorn at 7:23 AM on May 19, 2021 [1 favorite]

Lewis Barnavelt from the books by John Bellairs because I don't know why precisely. He has always been the most "real" character I've ever read. Something about his inner narrative has always rang true for me.

Harriet M. Welsch from Harriet the Spy because children are not stupid and they know that relationships are important and complicated. Also they would like for people to tell them the truth.

Dickory Dock from The Tattooed Potato and Other Clues by Ellen Raskin because of her name mostly but also I love the book so maybe that's why.

Hagga from The 13 Clocks by James Thurber because she's a well-written powerful wise woman and because of her refrain "I weep no more."

Peter Watson from the story The Swan by Roald Dahl (CW: bullying, gun violence) because his experience in the story was so disturbing and because I can personally relate to his feelings about guns.

Cimorene from the Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede because she doesn't take any shit ever but she's also totally nice. Also her relationship with her dragon is super memorable.

The creature from The Doubtful Guest by Edward Gorey was the very first character I latched onto as a kid. I think there's a perfect sense of feeling 'out of place' that 's caprtured by the story and I've always related to the creature.*

(*I try not to lay on the floor in front of the door or drop objects of which I am fond into the pond but you know how it goes)
posted by RobinofFrocksley at 7:30 AM on May 19, 2021 [4 favorites]

Gordon Comstock from George Orwell's Keep The Aspidistra Flying.
Colin Laney from William Gibson's Bridge Trilogy.
Antoine Roquentin from JP Sartre's Nausea - to such an extent that I can no longer read that book. (It's a great book and I thoroughly recommend it, I think. It might fuck up your brain a bit).
posted by pompomtom at 7:51 AM on May 19, 2021

Not sure why this comes to mind first- a lot of the characters that stick with me are from books I read as a teen or in childhood - when books made a stronger imprint on me.

But the main characters from The Hotel New Hampshire all stick with me. They are so ... specific, and compelling, each written to have a sort of odd charisma, and the way life events impact and transform them slowly over time felt very real at least at the time I read it.
posted by latkes at 8:06 AM on May 19, 2021

Oh, yeah: hadn't really thought of kids' books. In which case, for me, it's Biggles.

NB: I have complained to my own employer about re-selling Biggles books in the "children's" section, because... well... if you've read Biggles, you'll know. Do not let children read Biggles unsupervised.
posted by pompomtom at 8:16 AM on May 19, 2021

Dr. Tom More from Walker Percy's Love in the Ruins and its sequel The Thanatos Syndrome. There are some scenes and sentiments expressed that could have come from within my own head. The Moviegoer's Binx Bolling to a lesser extent, and for the same reasons.

Love in the Ruins in particular - it's a satirical look at the future (ie, the late 1980s) written in 1971. Reading it now is a look back at the future-that-could-have-been and it was...well...pretty spot on. Thanatos isn't quite as gonzo, but still a neat return to the character's life.

I'd also add Stephen Maturin from the the Aubrey-Maturin novels. Both characters are very well developed over the series but I identify more with the good doctor than with Lucky Jack.
posted by jquinby at 8:24 AM on May 19, 2021 [1 favorite]

Johnny Tremain. Being blessed by talent, brains, and luck, being knocked down and having to reset his expectations, finding a new set of friends and a new direction in life: this character spoke to me since I was younger than him and is still resonant into my fifties. Thanks for the question!
posted by olopua at 8:46 AM on May 19, 2021 [1 favorite]

Years ago I read an abridged version of James Jone's 1958 novel Some Came Running, and never forgot 'Bama Dillert; as this blogger put it ...a local gambler and all-around low-life, who is also one of the greatest creations in 20th century fiction. As to the why, I've always had an affinity for people who make their living outside the system. Typical lone wolf stuff, I guess. Travis McGee, John D. MacDonald's long-running character, also fits the bill.

If we're doing kid's books, gotta be Robert McCloskey's Homer Price, my introduction to magic realism.
posted by Bron at 8:49 AM on May 19, 2021 [1 favorite]

Well, assuming the reader in audible books isn't an "actor" (???) all of the primary characters in J. D. Robb's "In Death" series have stuck with me (Dallas, Mavis, Roarke, Peabody, Sommerset, Baxter, Morris, Mira, McNab, Nadine, etc.) My wife and daughter and I can even describe someone in real life as being like "character x" or a blend of "characters x and y".
posted by forthright at 9:33 AM on May 19, 2021 [1 favorite]

Several characters from Les Miserables: the bishop, Valjean, Javert, Enjolras, and Grantaire. I think it has something to do with their personifying different philosophies or ideals, so that when I think about duty-based ethical theories I can’t help but think about Javert; I’m reminded of the bishop whenever I think about serving others at my own material loss; etc. Also, like others have mentioned, I think they’ve stuck with me so strongly because I met them in my formative years, and they were my first introduction to so many ideas I hadn’t come across before.
posted by chaiyai at 9:39 AM on May 19, 2021

Little My from Tove Jansson's Moomin books. It's a rarity to come across a female character so cheerfully self-confident, self-centered and self-sufficient.
posted by Redstart at 9:44 AM on May 19, 2021 [4 favorites]

I remember thinking that Cathy from John Steinbeck’s East of Eden was The Most Horrifying villain I had ever read. I dreaded her on the page! I can still very vividly visualize her, pregnant, watching the men she’s manipulating from the background, eating chalk....
posted by Dressed to Kill at 9:49 AM on May 19, 2021 [4 favorites]

Omg also for Most Evil Character whose actions I dreaded every moment? The Judge from Cormack McCarthy’s Blood Meridian. If you’ve read the book, the first scene with the judge, the account of the Judge’s “origin” and the final scene of the book will stay with you forever
posted by Dressed to Kill at 9:51 AM on May 19, 2021 [1 favorite]

Filth, Betty, and Veneering from Jane Gardam's Old Filth, The Man in the Wooden Hat, and Last Friends are living, breathing people with whom I often have imaginary conversations. Also, Jack Shaftoe from Stephenson's Baroque Trilogy is my own personal Imp of the Perverse.
posted by minervous at 10:04 AM on May 19, 2021

This may sound odd, but the character my mind frequently returns to is the Blair Witch from The Blair Witch Project. If you've ever watched the companion "documentary," The Curse of the Blair Witch, there's a scene with a local historian who scoffs at the notion. "Whenever anything strange or mysterious occurs, they blame Blair Witch." Which I find very thought provoking. We never see the Blair Witch, we don't even know for sure that there is a Blair Witch, yet we somehow find comfort in naming the thing and giving it a "history" (the Elly Kedward "origin story"), as if that will give us power over it. The human mind is constructed to solve problems and a problem that cannot be solved is unnerving, to say the least.
posted by SPrintF at 10:17 AM on May 19, 2021

Great question, it's been really interesting to reflect on this! A few characters stood out for me as being utterly memorable:

Another Harriet, from Donna Tartt's "A little friend", because she is just so real and her thoughts and behaviors really capture that liminal space between childhood and adolescence;

Nighteyes the wolf from Robin Hobb's books, because Nighteyes is amazing and perfect and beloved;

Ender, especially in "Ender's Game". I know Orson Scott Card's beliefs are deeply problematic but Ender's character had a huge impact on me as a child/adolescent. As a somewhat smart and neurodivergent kid, Card's portrayal of intelligent children who think and reason like young adults (but who are still bound in their knowledge and development because they are children) just really resonated with me;

Blue from "Special Topics in Calamity Physics", perhaps for similar reasons as Ender... but I also really love how Pessel shows Blue trying to navigate adolescence from her unique vantage point;

Most of the characters in Harry Potter because (again, not endorsing her problematic beliefs) damn, Rowling does a great job making her characters come to life and they still feel like old friends when I reread them as an adult;

Jude and Willem from "A little life", because the tenderness with which they entered and sustained their relationship is so beautiful and I found it incredibly moving (also the horrors of Jude's life are not the sort of thing you can easily forget);

Ann and Sax from Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy. I just loved them both to death, I think partially because they were so flawed in the rigid lens they each saw the world through. And I loved seeing how they navigated the world through their respective lenses, and how they changed through time. I especially loved seeing the world through Saxifrage's perspective.

Boris from Tartt's "The Goldfinch", because of how he lives his life with wild abandon and just kind of.... follows his every whim? The freedom of spirit that he personifies really made him an enchanting and memorable character.

There are probably others but these are the ones who came to mind. Thanks for the question, now I want to re-read all of the above!
posted by DTMFA at 10:58 AM on May 19, 2021 [4 favorites]

Elena and Lila from Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan series. God I was so sad when I finished those novels. The series covers their friendship (and life) from childhood through old age, so it really felt like I was saying goodbye to people I knew my whole life. And the writing is such that you not only connect to them in terms of big life events, but also little idiosyncrasies and maddening traits and facial expressions and all those personal details that bring you closer to a person. When Italy was struggling to battle Covid last year I had the passing thought of "I wonder how Elena and Lila are faring right now".
posted by thebots at 12:39 PM on May 19, 2021 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: When Italy was struggling to battle Covid last year I had the passing thought of "I wonder how Elena and Lila are faring right now".

Well put, and the gold standard of what I had in mind, if ne'er so well expressed. (Which is not downgrade other answers. I'm interested and intrigued that I am unfamiliar with many of these, so that's a bonus. For me at any rate.) Anyone?
posted by BWA at 2:51 PM on May 19, 2021 [1 favorite]

Viktor Shtrum's mother, who has little other part in the novel except as the author of a delivered letter, in Vasily Grossman's Life and Fate. It's a completely devastating piece of writing and characterisation, and of someone's life and death.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 6:06 PM on May 19, 2021

Francis Crawford of Lymond in Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles books.
posted by Joleta at 8:34 PM on May 19, 2021 [1 favorite]

Pat Rin, from Sharon Lee and Steve's Miller I Dare, one of the Liaden books. Everyone doubted him, everyone thought he was a lightweight - he wasn't the favored one or the one to whom things came easily - but he never stopped trying. And he triumphed.

Emily Webster in Maud Hart Lovelace's Emily of Deep Valley. Smart, not pretty, not popular, with a non-typical home life, but she figured things out for herself and helped others at the same time.

Cecily, Philippa, and Abbess Catherine from Rumer Godden's In this House of Brede. It's been intriguing to see who I identify with in this story as I grow older.
posted by dancing_angel at 11:03 PM on May 19, 2021 [1 favorite]

Anne Shirley. She saw beauty in everything. As a child that spoke to me - children notice tiny details so I understood her - but having it spelled out made it stick with me. And reading through all of the books one after the other she became a grown up much more quickly than I did but she stayed an adult who was as whimsical as a child.
posted by kitten magic at 12:26 AM on May 20, 2021 [1 favorite]

Terry Pratchett created a universe. And I would dearly like to listen in (and be ignored) as Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg have at their latest adversary.
posted by TrishaU at 7:06 AM on May 20, 2021 [3 favorites]

Perhaps this is a little pedestrian but I always had a fondness for the character Atticus Finch in Harper Lee's novel "To Kill a Mocking Bird". I also enjoyed Gregory Peck's portrayal in the film adaptation. I like the character's moral lessons, golden nuggets words of wisdom, and his humility and perseveration for protecting and defending his client. Also, it is interesting that the character is from the South and one of the major themes in the novel addresses racism and prejudice, and Finch still chooses to defend and stand with Tom Robinson's innocence with racial injustice. I have always been fascinated with the law, and always wanted to go to law school, and this novel kind of makes me reflect on law, especially since the character Finch seems to care and define what is right and wrong and attacks racial injustice during a time that was still prejudice and racialized black people.

It is one of the best law-oriented novels, and all of the characters are unique in their own way!
posted by RearWindow at 8:02 AM on May 20, 2021 [1 favorite]

Fuckhead from Jesus' Son stays with me as he's the closest fictional character I've found to myself. He's the only character that seems normal to me -- to think the way I imagine most people think because it's the way I think.

However, when I read critics or reviewers of the book, they make it clear they think it's just because he's a heavy drug user (I am not a drug user).

I remember once saying to my doctor, "You know when you cough and sparks shoot out your eyes? What causes that and how come I never see the sparks coming out of other peoples' eyes?" He looked at me like I was mad. A decade later, I randomly opened Jesus' Son at a bookstore and read, "When I coughed I saw fireflies." and I clearly remember feeling such a kinship with Fuckhead that I very loudly said, "OH MY GOD!" It was the first of many such declarations I had reading the book.

I listen to the audiobook over and over as if it's a favorite record and it's like spending time with a friend.
posted by dobbs at 6:16 PM on May 20, 2021

Winston Smith, the main character from 1984. I first read 1984 in my teens and didn't really get it, but reread it recently at 41 and was absolutely astonished by it. I somehow had filed it away as just another "classic" you didn't really need to read, because OK, there is newsspeak, there is big brother, I already know about that.
But I was wrong, this book so well describes aspects of our current life and is the most horrifying dystopia I ever read. I never felt so hopeless and dejected by the ending and the fate of the main character, I frequently go back to it and reflect on that.
One small detail of it especially stays with me. When George Orwell in the last scene describes the utter defeat and complete brainwashing of Winston Smith he sits alone in a bar and drinks the cheap, acrid and nauseating Gin the masses are fed and I just can so taste this in my mouth everytime I think about it.
For a naturally positive person who thinks that there is a solution to every problem, contemplating this absolute society with total control and the people in it, where there is just no hope of ever overcoming it, is a bit like Zen meditation.
posted by SweetLiesOfBokonon at 1:27 AM on May 21, 2021