Top Ten Tuesday, as always, is hosted at my other blog — The Broke & the Bookish
This week’s topic: Top Ten Most Frustrating Characters
Surprisingly this was harder than I thought. I know I’m frustrated whilst I’m reading but this took some time to remember which characters frustrated me and WHY. Sometimes I still LOVED them (Jessica Darling for sure!) but they frustrated me but other times I just despised them.
Bella Swan from Twilight
I know probably a lot of people are going to hate on her but I just really couldn’t stand her. I WANTED to like her because I knew she was supposed to represent “the average girl” but she just didn’t at all for me. She frustrated me with her too-stupid-to-function shenanigans and pretty much always needed the boys to save the day. And just UGH. She just frustrated me!
Jessica Darling from the Jessica Darling series by Megan McCafferty
Listen, JESSICA DARLING IS MY SPIRIT ANIMAL. One of my fave characters ever!! But that girl FRUSTRATED me sometimes. I just wanted to be like WHY ARE YOU MAKING BAD DECISIONS?? I wanted to lovingly smack her. But still, she’s my homegirl.
Micah in Liar by Justine Larbalestier
This is a case of frustrated and DID NOT LOVE. Everything about her frustrated me and the whole book just killed me so my annoyance level was already high. Also, I listened to this on audio and Micah just grated my nerves.
Zoe in Nobody But Us by Kristin Halbrook
I don’t hate nor did I connect with Zoe but she was so frustrating. I wanted to like her but I just couldn’t She was supposed to be so smart but she made REALLY dumb decisions that I just shook my head all too often in that book. I had complicated feelings and you can read about them further in my review of Nobody But Us by Kristin Halbrook.
Mia from Send Me A Sign by Tiffany Schmidt
I really did like her but felt so frustrated throughout the WHOLE novel with her. Sometimes I thought she was being selfish and immature but then other times I really understood her and why she might feel the way she does or be doing the things she did. Also, she relied on Gyver SO MUCH. You can read my long, rambly review of Send Me A Sign to get a better idea of why I had frustrations with her! But I definitely, at times, GOT her! Just a back and forth and I commend Tiffany Schmidt for having me interact with a character in this way!
Natalie from Not That Kind of Girl by Siobhan Vivian
In my review of Not That Kind of Girl I said the reason I was SO frustrated with Natalie was because she reminded me SO MUCH OF MYSELF at that point in time. I love Natalie though. I really really do but she frustrated me like no other because she was so judgy and self righteous sometimes but I loved watching her grow!
Tally from The Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
I read this a LONG time ago but I just found her so incredibly frustrating while I was reading that I never ended up moving on in the series. I can’t even tell you why lol. That’s how long ago it was. It is also to be noted that was NOT a YA reader then.
Hannah from 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher
This one might seem odd but I honestly felt so frustrated by her and how she sent the tapes to Clay. Like I felt SO bad for her that she felt that horrible about herself that she committed suicide but I just felt like she was really frustrating in explaining what made her do it and how she was involving Clay. Ultimately I felt sad for her but I really grappled with feeling frustrated and feeling bad.
Lydia Bennett from Pride & Prejudice
I just wanted to punt her! SO HARD!
Belly from The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han
Belly was one of those characters I loved but frustrated me SO MUCH. She was such a little brat sometimes and uber whiny. I hear that she grows up a bit in the next books but sometimes she was just so moody and jumped to conclusions and I was like WHYYYY?? STOP! You can read my review of The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han here!
So tell me…did any of these characters frustrate you? Are there any other characters that you can think of that were incredibly frustrating that you’ve encountered? I’m SURE I’m forgetting some!
Judith says
Bella Swan is on every list I’ve seen today hahaha. And I agree on Hannah from 13 Reasons Why. Also: have you seen the Lizzie Bennet Diaries? Because I can guarantee you that you won’t find Lydia frustrating there! She’s actually become my favorite character. 🙂
Daphne says
OMG, Lydia. She needs a kick in the face with a chair. The most childish, self-involved, annoying twit in literature. good call.
Stormy says
Ah, Tally made my list as well! So many people loved the Uglies series, and while there were certainly parts I liked, and I enjoyed the idea, by the end of the series I could not stand Tally. She was only mildly annoying in the first book, but she, in my opinion, got much worse by Specials.
Kristen says
I had to laugh about Lydia from Pride and Prejudice. That girl annoyed me to no end. She stay true to herself until the very end. And I was secretly glad her marriage ended up being horrible. haha
Totally agree about Bella. Can.not.stand.her.
Lori says
I actually haven’t read most of these. There are a couple I think I’ll steer clear of now. But I totally understand what you’re saying about Hannah from 13 Reasons Why. Reading her part was very difficult. I felt both sad that she felt the way she did and angry that she left those messages to people afterwards when there was nothing they could do about it. And especially with the way they affected Clay. It was emotional.
And yes, Bella is on my list as well.
Here’s my TTT
Lianne @ rulethewaves.net says
Great list Jamie! I forgot to add Lydia Bennet on my list but oh man, I agree, especially after she caused all that trouble with running off and coming back to visit them like nothing had happened O_o
Katie says
I didn’t put Bella on my list, I put Ana Steele, which is basically the same thing. Also I wish I’d thrown Lydia on my list now because YES. Ugh. What a brat!
Loni says
Lydia Bennet! She was very frustrating.
Elizabeth @ Don't Take My Books Away says
I totally agree with you on Jessica Darling– she drove me crazy at many points, but I still liked her, especially early on in the series…. later in the series I lost my patience with her!
Rachel says
We don’t share any (but I also only had five because I struggled with this one), but I would definitely agree with Bella Swan. She always acted so helpless all the time and I couldn’t stand it.
Fiona says
Jessica Darling is also one of those characters I love but she frustrates me so much sometimes! I feel the same way you do about Belly too.
The Book Voyage
Ashling says
It seems that Bella is on everybody’s list today. She didn’t make it on mine simply because I’d actually forgotten about her. I think I just blocked her from my memory. Lol.
And so true about Lydia (and most of the Bennett family, but mostly Lydia). She’s SUCH a pain. Every time she started speaking, I just wanted to throw the book.
Here’s my TTT.
Kait says
Great list. There were a few books on your list that I’ve never read, but want to. Jessica Darling is my number one YA female character, but she was absolutely frustrating at times! I wanted to beat her for the majority of Charmed Thirds and Fourth Comings. Tally definitely frustrated me in the Uglies series, but I liked her. I read the entire series a while back, and she does get much better in Pretties/Specials. And I just told my blogmate, I can’t believe we didn’t think of Bella! We did more recent reads.
You can check out our TTT here if you’d like.
Christina (A Reader of Fictions) says
Ahhhh, I’m reading the Jessica Darling books right now, and I know I’m going to want to smack her a bunch while reading Charmed Thirds, because I just KNOW she’s going to eff things up with Marcus, and WAHHHHH.
Zoe’s on my list too! She and Will were a matched set in mine.
Oh man, I found most of the characters in Uglies frustrating. I was not a huge fan of them.
Bahaha, mental image of Lydia Bennet being punted. *snorts*
Alexa Y. says
Oh Bella Swan. I really just never could like you or root for you because you annoyed the heck out of me! (I would totally have put her on my list if I’d made one this week.)
Lesley says
Lydia is the worst! Even in the film versions, as soon as she’s on screen I just seethe.
Jennifer @ A Librarian's Library says
Man the Uglies series! I completely forgot just how much that entire series FRUSTRATED me! sheesh! Good list today!
Lola (Reading by Lamplight) says
Bella is topping many TTT lists today (understandably so)! I almost put Tally on my list as well!
Jac @ For Love and Books says
I had forgotten about Micah in Liar… UGH! She drove me so nuts I almost didn’t finish that one!
-Jac @ For Love and Books
Emma @ Hopeful Happiness says
I’m so happy to see all the hate on Bella. I’m surrounded by so many people who don’t understand my dislike and it drives me loco! Jessica Darlings did SO many stupid frustrating things!
Shannon says
YES! HANNAH!! She rubbed me the wrong way. And *SPOILER ALERT*, when she was like I’m too sad to stop this rape, I was done. DONE. ( and yes, Bella made my list too. )
Erica says
Hannah! yes! Ruined the book for me. It was a case where I felt like she was a realistic character, but reading her was so frustrating. When I read this for book club I think I even tried to make the argument to everyone that she was actually a psychopath.
kelly says
BELLA!!!!! I wanted her to pull a Kelly Taylor and go all “I chose me.” And then save herself. She was so freaking accident prone. I get that was setting her up to be the perfect vamp but…. Come ON!!! Wasn’t there some other device she could have used????
Casey says
You are so right about Bella! That girl got under my skin and I had a hard time finishing the series because of her. Thank goodness for the other characters in Twilight. Great list!
Heather@ The Flyleaf Review says
TOTALLY with you on Jessica (and I LOVE her still), Lydia and Belly (that’s a great one I forgot about) All extremely high on the frustration scale:)
Asheley Tart (@BookwormAsheley) says
I’m with you on Jessica Darling, although I love her as much as I am frustrated with her. BUT I’m only two books into that series so I can imagine that either my frustrations will grow or my love will grow. Or maybe both? Grr. I don’t know. She’s definitely a handful, that’s for sure.
DannyBookworm says
Oh I perfectly agree with you on Zoe in Nobody But Us… But… I had more issues with the book than just with her…
and Bella… I saw her making it Top 3 day on quite a few blogs. Honestly? I couldn’t truly remember if she annoyed me.. all my focus was on Edward 🙂
Lauren @ Hughes Reviews says
I had Bella on my list too… I feel like she was an obvious pick for everyone. haha
Tally was a good choice. I think what frustrates me about Tally is how the operations she underwent made her an entirely different person in each book. I felt like her whole outlook and personality were different, and so you wanted to shake her and be like “Don’t you remember that these things used to matter to you?!?!”
Oh Lydia! She’s a great one for this topic! Def want to punch her! Or slap her! OR SOMETHING.
Great list!
Lauren @ Hughes Reviews
Brittany @ The Book Addict's Guide says
Agreed about Zoe! Both Zoe and Will made it really hard for me to like NBU…. which is a shame because they ARE the whole book. I agree – She was supposed to be smart but she was suuuper naive and it really turned me off.
Jenni Elyse says
Lydia Bennet made my list too. I HATED her! And, while I don’t agree with you about Bella Swan, I can totally see it. I really can. I understand the hate, lol.
My Top Ten Tuesday Post
Lori says
I adore your list! There’s so many on here that I didn’t even think about, but they are the epitome of frustrating. Like Micah? OMG! I loved that book though. 🙂 Natalie is also perfect for this list.
Eva says
I haven’t read any of this, so I have no idea. Well, I hated the about 20 pages of Twilight I got through.
I just noticed that these characters are all girls. Do you have a 10 most frustrating guys list too?
Kristen Evey says
I haven’t read most of these, but LOL at your inclusion of Lydia Bennett. I kind of love that girl, in a I-totally-would-slap-you-in-real-life sort of way. 😉
April Books & Wine says
LUL Lydia Bennett, I just audio-ed P&P and then watched the 1995 mini series, and lol Lydia. But I found her mom way more annoying.
Hannah @ so obsessed with says
I cannot stop laughing at your two sentences for Lydia Bennet! She really is such a frustrating a character, especially because she never learns from her mistakes. Have you seen The Lizzie Bennet Diaries? They’ve someone managed to stay true to the spirit of Lydia while also making her into my favorite character. It’s amazing!
Hannah @ so obsessed with says
I cannot stop laughing at Lydia Bennet! She really is such a frustrating a character, especially because she never learns from her mistakes. Have you seen The Lizzie Bennet Diaries? They’ve someone managed to stay true to the spirit of Lydia while also making her into my favorite character. It’s amazing!