Women who refuse to play nice:

Jamie Canaves, author of the list 100 Must-Read Books with Unlikable Women, writes that she loves unlikable female characters in novels:

“They refuse to be boxed into the idea of what girls, women, mothers, sisters, and girlfriends should be. They refuse to smile through their problems, to not be a burden, to make the right decisions, to play nice. They are human. They are hot messes. They have mental illnesses, are addicts, are aggressive, violent, complicated, and flawed. They are many times products of abuse and/or gaslighting. Sometimes they are killers.”

Yes! Three cheers for unlikable women! After all, why should male characters get to have all the nasty fun? Women can be complicated and compelling and just as nasty. Unlikable, though? I believe most readers enjoy those unlikable characters. As writers, giving your characters unlikable traits can add spice to a story.

For me, however, one glaring error in this list is the inclusion of Marcy Dermansky’s recent novel, The Red Car, over her previous book, Bad Marie. Bad Marie is a dark story with a deliciously flawed narrator who goes to frightening extremes in truly bad behavior, whereas the narrator in The Red Car seems more lost or flawed than truly unlikable. I’m guessing Jamie Canaves isn’t familiar with Dermansky’s work.

Also sadly missing is Francine Proust’s Olive Kitteridge. As Booklist Review states, “Anyone who gets in Olive’s way had better watch out, for she crashes unapologetically through life like an emotional storm trooper.”

Take a look at the list and let me know who, if anyone, you think is missing!

Here’s Canaves’ list:

• 32 Candles by Ernessa T. Carter
• A Good Idea by Cristina Moracho:
• After Birth by Elisa Albert
• Alena by Kim Andersson
• Always Happy Hour: Stories by Mary Miller
• Cover for American Housewife: Stories by Helen Ellis
• Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• Anya’s Ghost by Vera Brosgol
• Asking For It by Louise O’Neill
• Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough
• Bitch Planet Vol 1 by Kelly Sue DeConnick
• Blood Defense by Marcia Clark
• Burn Baby Burn by Meg Medina
• Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• Confessions by Kanae Minato
• Dare Me by Megan Abbott
• Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
• Dead Letters by Caite Dolan-Leach
• Debbie Doesn’t Do it Anymore by Walter Mosley
• Delicate Monsters by Stephanie Kahn
• Difficult Women by Roxane Gay
• Downers Grove by Michael Hornburg
• Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy
• Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh
• Everything You Want Me to Be by Mindy Mejia
• Falling Into Place by Amy Zhang
• Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff
• Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews
• Follow Me Down by Sherri Smith
• Girls on Fire by Robin Wasserman
• Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
• Gone Without A Trace by Mary Torjussen
• Green Girl by Kate Zambreno
• Hausfrau by Jill Alexander Essbaum
• Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn
• Homesick for Another World: Stories by Ottessa Moshfegh
• Hot Little Hands by Abigail Ulman:
• I Hate Fairyland Vol 1 by Skottie Young (Writer, Artist), Jean-François Beaulieu (Colourist), Nate Piekos (Letterer)
• In Her Shoes by Jennifer Weiner
• Innocents and Others by Dana Spiotta
• Lady Killer by Joëlle Jones, Jamie S. Rich
• Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel, Thomas Christensen (Translator), Carol Christensen (Translator):
• Love Her Madly by M. Elizabeth Lee
• Love Me Back by Merritt Tierce
• Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll
• Millennium Series by Stieg Larsson, Reg Keeland (Translator)
• Mockingbird Vol 1 by Chelsea Cain, Kate Niemczyk (Illustrations)
• Modern Lovers by Emma Straub
• Not a Self-help Book: The Misadventures of Marty Wu by Yi Shun Lai
• NW by Zadie Smith
• Only Ever Yours by Louise O’Neill
• Out by Natsuo Kirino, Stephen Snyder (Translator)
• Paulina and Fran by Rachel B. Glaser
• Penance by Kanae Minato
• Real World by Natsuo Kirino, Philip Gabriel (Translator)
• Rich and Pretty by Rumaan Alam
• Rooms by Lauren Oliver
• Sarong Party Girls by Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan
• Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
• Signal to Noise by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers
• Sorry to Disrupt the Peace by Patty Yumi Cottrell
• Still Mine by Amy Stuart
• Sula by Toni Morrison
• Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler
• Tampa by Alissa Nutting
• The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
• The Child by Fiona Barton (June 27, Berkley)
• The DUFF: Designated Ugly Fat Friend by Kody Keplinger
• The End of Everything by Megan Abbott
• The Expatriates by Janice Y.K. Lee
• The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
• The Girls by Emma Cline
• The Invaders by Karolina Waclawiak
• The Life and Death of Sophie Stark by Anna North
• The Perfect Stranger by Megan Miranda
• The Red Car by Marcy Dermansky
• The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel
• The Trespasser by Tana French
• The Vegetarian by Han Kang
• The Widow by Fiona Barton
• The Woman Next Door by Yewande Omotoso
• The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud
• This is Your Life, Harriet Chance! by Jonathan Evison
• Tiny Pretty Things (Tiny Pretty Things #1)by Sona Charaipotra, Dhonielle Clayton
• Treasure island!!! by Sara Levine
• Try Not to Breathe by Holly Seddon
• Ugly Girls by Lindsay Hunter
• Unbecoming by Rebecca Scherm
• Under the Midnight Sun by Keigo Higashino, Alexander O. Smith (Translator)
• Vengeance Bound by Justina Ireland
• We Could Be Beautiful by Swan Huntley
• We Love You, Charlie Freeman by Kaitlyn Greenidge
• What You Don’t Know by JoAnn Chaney
• When Watched: Stories by Leopoldine Core
• Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
• White Oleander by Janet Fitch
• Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware
• You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine by Alexandra Kleeman
• You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott

What do you think? Are there books you would add to this list?

If you want to read descriptions of each book with links to buy them, here is a link to the original post on Book Riot.

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Linda K. Sienkiewicz is the author of the award-winning novel In the Context of Love, a  story about one woman’s need to tell her truth without shame.

2017 New Apple Book Awards Official Selection
2016 Sarton Women’s Fiction Finalist
2016 Eric Hoffer Book Award Finalist
2016 Readers’ Favorite Finalist
2016 USA Book News Best Book Finalist

“…at once a love story, a cautionary tale, and an inspirational journey.” ~ Bonnie Jo Campbell, author of National Book Award Finalist, American Salvage, and critically acclaimed Once Upon a River,and Mothers, Tell Your Daughters