Kieryn Nicolas is a fantastic person and writer, and I was able to meet her last year for PAYA, a Pennsylvania book event. She's as interesting a person as her characters are, and I'm very excited to check out her newest book, Flawless Ruins.In 2238, life in America is finally perfect. The Wars are over and the CommWall is in place, blocking communication with what remains of other continents. The women are content to have great education, choice careers, and glamorous hair. Best of all, when every girl turns seventeen she’s given her Like; an adorable, perfect spouse tailor-made just for her.
Everyone looks forward to the day she gets her Like, and Morgan Waters is no exception—until she accidentally stays out past curfew and stumbles across someone who appears to be a Like but claims to be a man. Morgan’s perfect world crumbles down around her in the midst of a forbidden romance, forcing her to deal with the realization that her life may not be so flawless after all.
Mandy Hubbard, author of Prada and Prejudice, Ripple, and You Wish, says it's "Romantic, compelling, and impossible to put down."
She's stopping here on her blog tour to talk about her top five flawed characters in fiction.
5) Summer Finn & Tome Hansen from 500 Days of Summer. Summer is beautiful, smart, and independent, and Tom, the main character of the movie, takes that to mean she’s perfect (and his view of Summer is his major flaw). However, Summer isn’t perfect, and Tom skates over her flaws (until later in the movie, when he lists every flaw he hates, such as her cockroach-shaped birthmark) and doesn’t see how Summer’s preconceptions about love play into her actions. [I know those are two characters, but they pretty come in a set.]
4) Sydney Carton. The (best) character from Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities is lazy, self-loathing, and makes the biggest mistake of all: he lets the girl get away. However, he is able to see himself as flawed, and therefore eventually redeems himself--but not before being awesome along the way.
3) Temperance Brennan from Bones. Talk about being out of touch with one’s emotions! Brennan has a brilliant scientific mind, not to mention she knows, what is it, about three forms of martial arts--however, she’s totally inept when it comes to pop culture, jokes, and other aspects of life such as, well, her own life. Yet she’s an awesome character (and has shown potential for character growth!).
2) Chuck Bartowski. The main character from the NBC series Chuck is a nerd (who works on the “Nerd Herd” at the “Buy More”) thrown into the world of spies after he accidentally downloads government secrets into his brain. In many movies/shows/books with similar plots the character would probably adjust quickly and become an A-team spy, but not Chuck Bartowski--he doesn’t know how to use weapons, defend himself, and refuses to kill anyone, even in self-defense (something his bodyguards-slash-teammates don’t understand at all). To top it off, Chuck’s nerdiness (which is definitely adorable) serves to impede his social life / conversation skills, and he has an incredibly hard time figuring out how to get his cover-girlfriend-slash-bodyguard to go out on a real date with him. Still, Chuck is one of the most unique comedic spy characters on TV. Or ever.
1) Harry Potter. (Obviously from the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling.) This guy makes so many mistakes, yet readers are rooting for him all the way (even during his moody streak in book five). Plus, he’s a guy, and by that I mean utterly inept when it comes to girls. He blunders through getting a date to the Yule Ball, doesn’t know what to do on his first date with Cho, and has no idea how to navigate his feelings for his best friend’s sister. He’s not a straight-A student, he’s gotten caught when breaking the rules (yet continues to break them), and gets incredibly nervous. But doesn’t just reading that list make you grin? Despite--actually, probably due to--his flaws, Harry Potter is arguably the most fantastic character in the literary world.
5) Summer Finn & Tome Hansen from 500 Days of Summer. Summer is beautiful, smart, and independent, and Tom, the main character of the movie, takes that to mean she’s perfect (and his view of Summer is his major flaw). However, Summer isn’t perfect, and Tom skates over her flaws (until later in the movie, when he lists every flaw he hates, such as her cockroach-shaped birthmark) and doesn’t see how Summer’s preconceptions about love play into her actions. [I know those are two characters, but they pretty come in a set.]
4) Sydney Carton. The (best) character from Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities is lazy, self-loathing, and makes the biggest mistake of all: he lets the girl get away. However, he is able to see himself as flawed, and therefore eventually redeems himself--but not before being awesome along the way.
3) Temperance Brennan from Bones. Talk about being out of touch with one’s emotions! Brennan has a brilliant scientific mind, not to mention she knows, what is it, about three forms of martial arts--however, she’s totally inept when it comes to pop culture, jokes, and other aspects of life such as, well, her own life. Yet she’s an awesome character (and has shown potential for character growth!).
2) Chuck Bartowski. The main character from the NBC series Chuck is a nerd (who works on the “Nerd Herd” at the “Buy More”) thrown into the world of spies after he accidentally downloads government secrets into his brain. In many movies/shows/books with similar plots the character would probably adjust quickly and become an A-team spy, but not Chuck Bartowski--he doesn’t know how to use weapons, defend himself, and refuses to kill anyone, even in self-defense (something his bodyguards-slash-teammates don’t understand at all). To top it off, Chuck’s nerdiness (which is definitely adorable) serves to impede his social life / conversation skills, and he has an incredibly hard time figuring out how to get his cover-girlfriend-slash-bodyguard to go out on a real date with him. Still, Chuck is one of the most unique comedic spy characters on TV. Or ever.
1) Harry Potter. (Obviously from the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling.) This guy makes so many mistakes, yet readers are rooting for him all the way (even during his moody streak in book five). Plus, he’s a guy, and by that I mean utterly inept when it comes to girls. He blunders through getting a date to the Yule Ball, doesn’t know what to do on his first date with Cho, and has no idea how to navigate his feelings for his best friend’s sister. He’s not a straight-A student, he’s gotten caught when breaking the rules (yet continues to break them), and gets incredibly nervous. But doesn’t just reading that list make you grin? Despite--actually, probably due to--his flaws, Harry Potter is arguably the most fantastic character in the literary world.
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What are some of your favorite flawed characters? Comment and let us know!
You can find out more about Kieryn by heading to her website at kierynnicolas.com
Well in my mind flawed characters make the best characters because let's face it, we are all flawed and the best characters are the characters that we can see ourselves in. At least, this is how I see things. This is why as I look over this list, I am thinking, I love all of these characters because of the flaws so perfectly outlined by Nicolas.
ReplyDeleteHiya Kieryn! I don't think Chelsea mentioned that you're a fantabulous blogger at the YA Lit Six!!
ReplyDeleteFor all that I hated reading a Tale of Two Cities, Sydney Carton is the one reason I can look back fondly on that book. Tragic turn-arounds do amazing things for your rep.