Characters

I don’t agree with Jennifer Weiner when she says the best books have the most likeable characters. I believe books with characters that are always happy and always likeable are boring. I like drama; I like intensity in my books. If a character is evil, then I tend to want to read the book more to find out what happens to the villain or what they end up doing themselves. I find books more interesting if they have variation in characters. Books with characters that are always likeable are just too boring. I need excitement.

I’m currently reading the book Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult. The book is told in 3^rd person so there’s not one certain narrator. Throughout the book you get to know each and every character and how they are affected by this tragic event. There’s not really any character(s) that I dislike. But there is one guy, Peter, who you want to like but deep down you know he’s a terrible person but at the same time you feel bad for him. I believe characters like Peter are the most interesting/ likeable. Even if you know they do terrible things, the author makes you feel empathy towards them, so you want to like them.

If I had to say there was villain in my book, I would have to say it is Peter Houghton.  Peter is just a misunderstood teenage, who has been bullied his whole life, he doesn’t have any friends, and finally one day he snaps and reacts in a very violence way. Peter follows all 6 of the steps of “becoming a villain”.  He was wronged for being bullied (injustice), he became obsessed with the idea of someday getting back at his bullies. He isolates himself from everyone at his school and even his parents. He starts to hate people (detachment). And finally one day he finally snaps and reacts in such violence/ cruel way. He might not have a cape but Peter definitely classifies as a villain. You can tell Peter has many problems and you want to feel sorry for him, but in reality he’s a psychopath and there’s no excuse for what he did. Peter reminds me of Holden Caulfield because they’re both depressed, misunderstood teenagers who are just trying to fit in. Even though Peter is “evil”, he’s still one of my favorite characters in Nineteen Minutes because he’s one of the most mysterious/ interesting characters of them all.