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By: Valerie Trueblood

Valerie Trueblood — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 15:52:08 +0000

Steve’s choices are so good!–though I wonder if Tony, and indeed every character in THE SENSE OF AN ENDING, had any appeal from the start. John Dowell in THE GOOD SOLDIER was an early “deteriorating narrator,” and I’d add Sam from THE MAN WHO LOVED CHILDREN, who began as a comic figure and gradually emerged as an unforgettable monster.

By: Steve Masover

Steve Masover — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 03:42:01 +0000

I think I’m on a roll. I just finished Per Petterson’s I CURSE THE RIVER OF TIME … and there he was, another protagonist who becomes more pathetic and less sympathetic with each new chapter. Hmmmm … maybe it’s me? Am I a misanthrope, or do I just happen to be reading through a string of loser protagonists???

By: Siri Kirpal Kaur Khalsa

Siri Kirpal Kaur Khalsa — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 23:28:42 +0000

I very much enjoyed meeting you at the conference and look forward to sending you the proposal.

The Writing on the Wall by Lynne Sharon Schwartz is two books in one. The book about the 9/11 attacks through the eyes of an average New Yorker is good. Unfortunately, the book about the need for clear communication and straightforward language is blindsided by the main character, who promotes these beliefs about communication, but is nonetheless a habitual liar. I don’t think the author intended the main character to come off so badly, but that character grows more loathesome as the book progresses.

By: Kristin Laughtin

Kristin Laughtin — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 20:13:21 +0000

Belinda in THE QUEEN’S BASTARD became much less likeable for me by the end of the book, due to the way she manipulated several people with none of the remorse or horror I felt she (or any human) should have experienced. I’m not 100% sure if the author intended this, or at least intended me to loathe her as much as I did; part of my dislike could be me reading further into some of the character’s actions and her implications than was intended, or holding her more responsible for them than the author would have liked. It kept me from reading the sequel, though.

By: Steve Masover

Steve Masover — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 04:01:15 +0000

My nominations: Charles Arrowby in Iris Murdoch’s THE SEA, THE SEA, and Tony Webster in Julian Barnes’ THE SENSE OF AN ENDING. I happened to read these two Booker Prize winners back to back earlier this summer, and found the parallels striking — including the matching protagonists who become harder to like with every turned page.