[Book Club #1] The Art of Unlikable Characters

Featuring an obligatory Emily in Paris cameo

Oct 30, 2024

When I’m not watching films, I’m reading. I read on my commute. I read in the evenings over dinner. I even read in cinemas if I get there early enough to have time for a chapter or two before the film starts. As much as I’d say I am a cinephile first these days, I’ve been a book lover since the day I learned how to read. So, even though I primarily write about film, I am thinking of introducing this Book Club series to occasionally — once every few months, perhaps once a quarter — share some of my recent reads and my thoughts on them. It won’t be too structured, and will likely connect with or complement some of my film ramblings, but it also might offer a respite from straight up film talk every now and then.

I moved to Berlin at the beginning of this month and at the top of my to-do list – right up there with figuring out residence registration and opening a bank account in my new country – was figuring out the bookstore situation in the city. There are very few things in life I enjoy more than getting a fun drink, usually boba or a chai, and walking into a bookstore to spend half of an afternoon perusing every single section in search of my next read. Admittedly, sometimes I don’t buy anything, and sometimes I only walk in to point out every single book I’ve read or want to read to whoever will listen without any intention of adding to my TBR list, but going to a bookstore is an essential pastime for me, a weekly ritual if you will. So, I walked into a bookstore about three weeks ago and stumbled upon their “books set in Berlin” display. That’s where I found Calla Henkel’s Other People's Clothes.

I read the book last week but this won’t exactly be a review. My review, in short, would be that the book worked pretty well as a thriller and wasn’t nearly as bad as my next few paragraphs might make it seem but the main character was so deeply unlikable that it made me want to throw the book into a wall multiple times. And that is what this post is about.

There is no doubt that the protagonist in Other People's Clothes was supposed to be unlikable. Think of every single unlikable person you’ve ever encountered in your life, put their most unlikable traits together, and you get Zoe Beech. It’s fine, though. I got the feeling this is what the character was going to be like pretty early in the book, within literally two pages, but I was certainly hoping for better execution, hoping to find something that I could enjoy about this character. Because the truth is, there are ways to have likeable unlikable characters, ones that have all these insufferable traits but you ultimately find yourself not only tolerating them but actively rooting for them.

I recently returned to the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series1 and the undeniable fact is that Greg is insufferable. The entire series – now 19 books long – is essentially about his inability to make friends. Reading the books as an adult, it is very clear why he can’t make any friends. He is, to put it bluntly, an asshole. When I was reading the books for the first time as a ten year old, however, I was highly entertained. To be fair, I still think the books are a lot of fun, even if I am mature enough to comprehend the nuances of our main character and his situation. For the target audience of preteens, though, Greg is relatable. He is insufferable but he shares their struggles. He is insufferable but he makes good jokes. There is a lot about the way his story is presented that is appealing even if his character on paper isn’t.

Succession is another great example of this. It’s among my favourite TV shows of all time and I love the Roy siblings dearly but they are all flawed. Very flawed. And the whole show hinges on them being the way they are, meaning that they are indeed horrible people on purpose. Many of their character traits could easily be written off as unlikable, rightfully so, but the way in which these characters are presented to the audience and the ways their flaws are used to humanise them ultimately make them compelling characters, even if they are not necessarily good people. Of course, they might not be everyone’s cup of tea but there is a reason the show was as popular as it was – the majority of the audiences found appeal in their flaws.

When thinking back to Zoe from Other People's Clothes, she is a lot like Emily from Emily in Paris. Zoe is an American exchange student in Berlin, Emily is an American immigrant in Paris. Neither speak the local language, both somehow think their ‘American ways’ make them stand out from the locals. In personal experience, I think there is a very realistic insufferableness to both characters as they manage to embody the essence of an average American immigrant quite well. And in both cases, the story is heavily driven by the character being unlikable. That said, Emily’s presentation within the series is camp. The series takes all those unlikable traits and presents them in a way that feels exaggerated and absurd, and it gets the audience to laugh at them. I started watching Emily in Paris years ago thinking there is no way of getting through a season without ripping my hair out and, yet, I now look forward to new seasons with more excitement than I do for any other ongoing series.

Unlikable characters are probably some of the most complex out there. There is a thin line between being appealingly unlikable and so insufferable that the audience has to look away. I found Other People's Clothes to be the latter – although I did get through the whole book and even managed to enjoy parts of it – but I also think some of my all time favourite characters are inherently unlikable and that it is precisely their flaws that make them so appealing to me personally. At the end of the day, no human is entirely likable. We all have our flaws and traits that won’t appeal to everyone and it’s often those traits that allow us to relate to fictional characters.

I’d be curious to hear what everyone else’s favourite ‘unlikable’ characters are!