5.10.2011

Top Ten Literary Jerks



Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

1. Harry Angstrom (Rabbit series, John Updike): To be fair I've only read the first book in the series and I've still got the second sitting on my nightstand, but in book one Rabbit is the ultimate asshole.

2. Victor Ward (Glamorama, Bret Easton Ellis): Completely pretentious and removed from real life, Victor's motto is "the better you look the more you see." He is both a jerk and quite shallow.

3. Dexter (One Day, David Nicholls): Throughout the majority of the book, Dexter shows disregard for others feelings and only concerns himself with, well, himself.

4. Scrooge (A Christmas Carol, Dickens): Ok so he's not all bad, but for the first half of the novel he's a money-loving scumbag who treats everyone around him like crap.

5. Draco Malfoy (Harry Potter series, Rowling): It's not Draco's fault that he was raised by jerks, but anyone who calls Hermione a mudblood is not cool.

7. August (Water for Elepahnts, Gruen): Animal cruelty, even if it was during the depression on a traveling circus train, is not cool. Serious asshole. His actions carry on toward humans as well.

8. Holden Caufield (The Catcher and the Rye, Salinger): Holden Caufield needs to get off his high horse and stop acting like he knows everything. Serious jerk.

9. Inspector Javert (Les Miserables, Hugo): Javert's number one priority is to uphold the law, which means he doesn't show sympathies towards others, even good people.

10. Stanley (A Streetcar Named Desire, Williams): This gent happened to appear on my literary crush list as well (red flag). He is good looking, but also quite mean, beating his wife and raping her sister. Jerk.

15 comments:

  1. Ooooh, I HATE Harry Angstrom! I couldn't read more than one of the Rabbit series. What a bastard.
    Great list.

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  2. Draco made my list too. I didn't even think of Scrooge. At least he's one of those jerks that learns the error of their ways.

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  3. Haha I love that you have Holden on here. He does deserve a smack

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  4. August from Water For Elephants is a great choice! As an animal lover myself, I kept wanting to hurl the book every time he would hurt Rosie or any of the other animals in his care.

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  5. Must we continue to have a battle in regards to the greatness of Holden Caufield?

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  6. Eclectic, Yes! We must continue the battle! :)

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  7. Holden seems to be a fave on this blog hop, so let the battles begin!
    And Harry - Hadn't thought of him for a while, and I agree with Birdie: jerk!
    Jalvert - fine choice.

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  8. Dexter is a jerk in One Day. Great list!

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  9. Great list. I'm with you on Holden (sorry Eclectic) and Dexter. I'm curious whether you think the Rabbit books are worth reading. They've been on my list forever, but everytime I try to start the first one I just can't seem to do it.

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  10. Victor is a jerk, but so are most of Ellis's characters. Have you read Rules of Attraction? It's been a while for me, but he is in that one as well.

    Read my list here.

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  11. Nice commentary on Holden! I'm about to start the Rabbit series... thanks for the heads up on Harry.

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  12. Ha. Holden seemed like you're typical teenage male mentality, but maybe I"m just jaded. Scrooge, Draco and Stanley, masters of devilry for sure, although you're right, at least Scrooge learns his dramatic lesson.

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  13. Yours is not the only list that Dexter Mayhew has shown up on... and I totally agree re Javert. Although the musical gives him a few good songs he really doesn't seem to have a nice side at all!

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