Patrick Bateman, American Psycho.

Hiro Protagonist from Snow Crash, but Charly from Flowers for Algernon is a close second.

Harry Potter. No one comes close.

That is a really good point. We shouldn't forget that we are supposed to read her diary. As others mentioned, I think Parable of Talent really adds to her character, since we get the perspectives of other people, like her daughter, who sees her mother in a much different way.

I have also only read Sower, but I think the importance of Lauren as our protagonist AND narrator can’t be understated.

Everything we are told about her and the world is her opinion, voice, best recollection. I don’t think she is necessarily an unreliable narrator, but she does minimise her faults and maximise the ill actions of others in her narration (particularly regarding Keith for example). I think this adds to her humanity, rather than detracting from it.

[deleted]

In Cold Blood, brilliantly written in parts, but I found some of the creative liberties it took pretty infuriating.

Finally, someone else who thinks the same as me.

The main character is infuriating in this book!!! I wanted to throw them across the room.

The van was approaching from the opposite direction. He was struck head on, not from behind. The van driver swerved over the line and across the oncoming traffic lane due to being distracted by his dog. King did nothing wrong why could not have predicted it or avoided it.

Lol, I noped out of those books far sooner. They're so thin and boring, with little of any real importance happening in them. Seriously, The Space Merchants, a novel not even 150 pages, has more plot than the first three books of Eragon.

Lol, did that this morning. David Drake is a highly questionable writer, if all his books are written like Bird of Prey. So often he'll describe a character saying something or making an expression, and then in the next sentence he explains the meaning behind the expression. Things to the nature of "he smiled. This was an emotionless, reflex-like smile, not a true show of emotion." So. Often. Uggghh....

[removed]

I would have liked it more if I was like 11 or 12 yrs old

I adored Song of Achilles too. It made me so sad in a really beautiful way. And then I was mad at myself for being sad, since I've read the Iliad! I know what happens! But still... beautifully written.

A case can be made arguing that most if not all of her MCs are Mary Sues, lol. But I still enjoy her storytelling immensely. Just not so much the individual characters.

I read Sower and Talents pretty recently and IMO Lauren's characterization was pretty flat, especially before the climax. I felt like I was taking crazy pills when my cousin was reading it and she didn't notice. Hearing about your students' opinion makes me not feel crazy.

I also thought the empathy was inconsistent.

This is going to be a tangent but it will be relevant. My wife has really been into the anime Demon Slayer. I watched it and the main character, IMO, is pretty flat to me but I started to realize that a lot of main characters can be like that. Basically a blank slate for the story to drive their development.

Going back to Sower, Lauren seems like your typical boring kid. And another revelation I had, is that there probably exists many real people like that. Yet, the most interesting stories will have a main character with lots of flaws who actually isn't like your typical everyday person.

I liked her character in Talents though.

[removed]

I’ve always felt like he writes human beings as quintessentially human better than most authors. It seems like it comes from a place of a lot of empathy and life experience; his characters’ voices jump off the page at me in a way other authors don’t quite capture.

There’s a couple of bits that don’t entirely line up between the two but I forgive that because they were written so far apart, but realistically it’s a great continuation and explores more of the shining talent that the main characters have and fills in some loopholes about the overlook!

I love Doctor Sleep! I’ve read it about 5 times and never fails to bring me joy and chills!!

Well, if the book conects with my feelings I tend to look up the author's inpos and their life story. I think this kind of research makes the book even more intense, because you start to realise where some aspects of the book came from.

I worked for someone who would bring it up at every meeting so I read it and thought “meh.” Turns out he was a sociopath.

No plain text spoilers allowed. Please use the format below and reply to this comment once you've made the edit, to have your comment reinstated.

Place >! !< around the text you wish to hide. You will need to do this for each new paragraph. Like this:

>!The Wolf ate Grandma!<

Click to reveal spoiler.

>!The Wolf ate Grandma!<

Quick read and made me feel good when I was younger, gave an ounce of hope. Now I think it's meh whateva, but appreciate that long lost positive jolt.

Wild Seed is amazing but I didn’t care for any of the rest of the Patternist series