Who is the loneliest fictional character?

Use this forum for book and reading discussion that doesn't fall into another category. Talk about books, genres, reading issues, general literature, and any other topic of particular interest to readers. If you want to start a thread about a specific book or a specific series, please do that in the section below this one.
User avatar
nina_429
Posts: 10
Joined: 05 Jul 2014, 15:04
Bookshelf Size: 0

Re: Who is the loneliest fictional character?

Post by nina_429 »

I'm going to say Alaska from Looking For Alaska.
amen jamir
Posts: 214
Joined: 10 Jun 2014, 05:10
Favorite Author: Jane Austen
Favorite Book: Wuthering Heights
Bookshelf Size: 3
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-amen-jamir.html
Latest Review: "Immoral Society (Book One)" by Catherine Hudson
fav_author_id: 2379

Post by amen jamir »

I would say Heathcliff too.
Latest Review: "Immoral Society (Book One)" by Catherine Hudson
bekahh91
Posts: 36
Joined: 22 Jul 2014, 23:56
Bookshelf Size: 0
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-bekahh91.html

Post by bekahh91 »

tangowithParis wrote:Sorry, Fran, but compared to Quasimodo, Heathcliff is about as lonely as:
1. White on rice.
2. A bur on a saddle.
3. A pint on Pat's Day.
4. Fish and chips on Friday.
5. A colleen.......anywhere.

I agree. Quasimodo was quite a lonely character.
User avatar
jennader
Posts: 8
Joined: 23 Jul 2014, 12:38
Bookshelf Size: 0
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-jennader.html

Post by jennader »

What a great question. I would like to offer a few answers (these just come to mind at once; there are far more to discuss, of course):

Edna, from Kate Chopin's _The Awakening_
Carrie, from Theodore Dreiser's _Sister Carrie_
Oscar, from Diaz's _The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao_
User avatar
Fran
Posts: 28072
Joined: 10 Aug 2009, 12:46
Favorite Author: David Mitchell
Favorite Book: Anna Karenina
Currently Reading: Hide and Seek
Bookshelf Size: 1208
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-fran.html
Reading Device: B00I15SB16
fav_author_id: 3104

Post by Fran »

jennader wrote:What a great question. I would like to offer a few answers (these just come to mind at once; there are far more to discuss, of course):

Edna, from Kate Chopin's _The Awakening_
Carrie, from Theodore Dreiser's _Sister Carrie_
Oscar, from Diaz's _The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao_
Edna, excellent choice - how could I forget her? (What a marvelous book)
We fade away, but vivid in our eyes
A world is born again that never dies.
- My Home by Clive James
User avatar
MyBluMind
Posts: 2
Joined: 16 Jul 2014, 14:10
Bookshelf Size: 0

Post by MyBluMind »

Frederick Henry from A Farewell to Arms seems pretty lonely to me.
ghostpixie
Posts: 90
Joined: 21 Jul 2014, 16:59
Bookshelf Size: 2
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-ghostpixie.html
Latest Review: "The Dirt Bible" by Wiilliam Woods

Post by ghostpixie »

samuyama wrote:I'd have to say those kids from "Series of Unfortunate Events"
I second this! Those poor, poor children.

-- 23 Jul 2014, 20:21 --
nina_429 wrote:I'm going to say Alaska from Looking For Alaska.
I don't think Alaska was particularly lonely, I just feel like she purposefully distanced herself from others. But does that mean she was lonely? Because she seemed to LIKE being distanced from others.
Latest Review: "The Dirt Bible" by Wiilliam Woods
User avatar
BookFever
Posts: 101
Joined: 28 Jul 2014, 14:47
Favorite Book: I could not possibly choose.
Bookshelf Size: 1
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-bookfever.html
Latest Review: "You, in Your Green Shirt" by Barbara Monier

Post by BookFever »

I'll never argue for the most lonely fictional character but certainly one that came to mind is Sarah Walters from Katie Crouch's book Girls in Trucks.
Latest Review: "You, in Your Green Shirt" by Barbara Monier
Jabori
Posts: 24
Joined: 26 Jul 2014, 18:21
Bookshelf Size: 0
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-jabori.html

Post by Jabori »

samuyama wrote:
Intellijock wrote:I would have to say Ender, from Ender's Game. He is literally the only human to have experienced a connection with an alien civilization, one that he is solely responsible for annihilating.
I hadn't thought of him, but I think you're right... Dunno if you read through the whole series but he truly was a lonely person.
if you read all the books its heart breaking how long it is before he finds a true connection with a human besides his sister.
User avatar
HobbySeeker
Posts: 5
Joined: 23 Jul 2014, 05:34
Bookshelf Size: 0

Post by HobbySeeker »

Harry Haller from Steppenwolf. Poor Steppy, so lonely. :(
pagenumber394
Posts: 163
Joined: 14 Jun 2014, 15:38
Bookshelf Size: 0
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-pagenumber394.html

Post by pagenumber394 »

Intellijock wrote:I would have to say Ender, from Ender's Game. He is literally the only human to have experienced a connection with an alien civilization, one that he is solely responsible for annihilating.

I am determined to read the rest of the Ender series. I finished Speaker for the Dead a few months ago. I liked that one way more than Enders Game.
User avatar
lnygaard
Posts: 52
Joined: 28 Jul 2014, 19:38
Bookshelf Size: 5
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-lnygaard.html
Latest Review: "SCRUMstudy-SBOK-Guide-2013" by Scrumstudy

Post by lnygaard »

Winter wrote:Karana from Island of the Blue Dolphins was pretty lonely. Not sure she is the loneliest character ever, but still pretty lonely.
I had forgotten the Island of the Blue Dolphins. Karana was a lovely character... sweet memories of childhood.

I submit Mercutio from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Misunderstood soul, who couldn't really lay claim Montague's quarrel with Capulets. Probably not the loneliest in the literary world, but his name came to my mind.

And I'm in the middle of Harry Potter (July does that to me for some reason), and it occurred to me that Snape has got to be one of the most loneliest. Almost everyone is suspicious of his motives, no one really trusts him except Dumbledore, the girl he loves marries his nemesis from school (not to mention the evil bad wizard he was following, kills her). Tragic....
Latest Review: "SCRUMstudy-SBOK-Guide-2013" by Scrumstudy
User avatar
mskris
Posts: 8
Joined: 28 Jul 2014, 06:59
Bookshelf Size: 0

Post by mskris »

Roland from The Gunslinger
User avatar
RJohnReves
Posts: 1255
Joined: 27 Jul 2014, 12:21
Bookshelf Size: 0
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-rjohnreves.html

Post by RJohnReves »

Roland of Gilead (Dark Tower series)

-- 29 Jul 2014, 12:02 --

Points up and laughs*
User avatar
Charlotte Reese
Posts: 32
Joined: 08 Jan 2014, 21:40
Currently Reading: A Year in Provence
Bookshelf Size: 0
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-charlotte-reese.html

Post by Charlotte Reese »

mandap24 wrote:Do you have a list or something from the guardian article?

I actually think of Gatsby he seems like a pretty lonely character to me.
I found the "Top 10 Loners in Fiction" Guardian article. :) Here's the list:

1. Julius Winsome by Gerard Donovan
2. Miss Havisham in Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
3. Tom Oakley in Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian
4. Stevens in The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
5. Frederick Clegg in The Collector by John Fowles
6. Boo Radley in To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
7. The Grinch in How the Grinch Stole Christmas! by Dr Seuss
8. Meursault in The Outsider by Albert Camus
9. Barbara in Notes on a Scandal by Zoë Heller
10. The McPheron brothers in Plainsong by Kent Haruf


I was going to suggest Stevens, the head butler narrator of The Remains of the Day but the article beat me to it. :)
Stevens is a profoundly lonely, emotionally repressed man who can only look back on his life with regret over poor life choices and passed up opportunities.

Probably not the loneliest character but I would also like to add Barnet from Thomas Hardy's Fellow Townsmen. Loves another woman but trapped in a loveless marriage. Makes me feel depressed thinking about that character.
Post Reply

Return to “General Book & Reading Discussion”