Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Love the character = Higher rating or................. Hate character = Lower rating



Blogging Friends,

I have been thinking about this for awhile now.

When you love a character in a book do you automatically give a higher rating?

and/or

When you really dislike, almost 'hate' a character do you give a lower rating?

For me it really depends.  Sometimes I feel like the author did an amazing job if I love or hate a character so much that it is a focal point of the story.  eg. Flavia from Alan Bradley's Mystery series (positive) or Annie from Chevy Steven's graphic thriller, Still Missing (negative)

When reviewing does character(s) get a whole rating, is it a huge part of the package for you?  I actually prefer plot driven stories so when the character stands out I consider it a bonus.

Share reviews that you feel have had amazing memorable characters that you loved or hated.

You can link your reviews here. (Put P for positive or N for negative) eg. Still Missing-N (Marce)





Let me know what your thoughts, thanks for visiting Tea Time with Marce

15 comments:

  1. Oooo good question. I think characters play a huge roll to me and definitely affect my review. However, even if I love a character if the plot doesn't move along or hold me - I will not give it many stars.

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  2. Can you think of a specific review that had a character good or bad that affected the rating?

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  3. I am a character gal. Sometimes it makes or breaks it for me. But when reviewing I'll include other things about the book that I enjoy too. If it's well written or the plot was intricate...that sort of thing. But I generally remember the characters the most. That was my problem with Dismantled by Jennifer McMahon. I felt they were spoiled characters and didn't care too much about all the bad things that happened to them. !

    Good question!

    I'm reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett now and I just love the characters so far, except for one but that's okay1

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  4. Characters are the most important to me! More than the plot, it's characters that make me love/hate the book. Even if the plot is lacking, I ca still like a book if I can connect to the characters.

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  5. This is a good question! It probably depends on my mood. I really disliked the characters in Nick of Time, but I also thought the plot was over the top. I gave it three stars.

    I will have to think about this with future reads, but my guess is character is more important to me than plot.

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  6. To me, some books rely on characters to drive the book while others rely on the plot. If it's a character driven book, then yes, whether I like or dislike a character will affect my rating. If it's a plot driven book (mysteries, usually, for example) than liking or disliking a character may still affect my rating, but definitely not to the extent of a character driven book. I can be willing to overlook certain aspect of a character I didn't like in a book with an amazing plot.

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  7. I would say that most of the time liking the main character boosts the overall rating of the book for me. Then again, what if it's a character you love to hate? Or if it's a book like Lolita where you can't stand the main character (Humbert Humbert) but the book is very well written? Interesting question!

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  8. Thanks for responding everyone, some of you gave our example but didn't link your reviews.

    Readerofthepack - I can't handle over the top unbelievable plots, sigh, that is why I didn't enjoy Still Missing.

    Thriller and Mystery is my favourite genre so for me that is why the plot is more important but there are some books I only remember because of the character.

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  9. Plot is more important to me than characters. But of course ideally, both should be good :) E.g. Sweetness at the bottom of the pie - I really like Flavia, but the plot was a bit lacking, so 3.5 only. I think I give a high score when I am EMOTIONALLY affected (mostly make me cry), or have such a big twist or great ending that I couldn't foresee it. E.g. Shutter Island, I feel indifferent about the characters, but was blown away by the twist. I would have given it a 4 star (I think I read that before I started blogging).

    A good example of both good characters and plot? The Hunger Games.

    I know you didn't care much for the Hunger Games or Shutter Island though :)

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  10. I think I've had several where I did like the characters but unfortunately the story fell short. Most of Nicholas Sparks' books seem to do that for some reason. Also Room by Emma Donoghue.

    Also, I've had times when I absolutely disliked the protagonist, but loved the book as a whole. Like Feed by Mira Grant,

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  11. I don't "hate" Quirke in the Behjamin Black series, but I often dislike him. Sometimes it's fun to hate a character but disliking one and still loving the series takes an awfully skilled writer, I think.

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  12. Ah, agree with Jillian about Room. Like Ma and Jack, but the plot could be better.

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  13. I just finished the new book by Ann Patchett-State of Wonder - the characters downgraded the rating of the book for me. It could have been a really great book.

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  14. It really depends on how the story goes. ;) If I'm loving the story, but not so much the character I will give the book a high rating, just not five stars. ;)

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  15. Christa - I agree the plot wasn't great but Flavia was so memorable, she definitely helped with my rating.

    Shutter Island issue for me is that I figured it out. Hunger Games I think both were great, just not for me, was hard to rate that one.

    Jillian, I considered reading Room but think I am going to pass.

    Karen - I agree if the author makes us not like or love a character intentionally they get a higher rating for sure.

    Overall, it seems most of us are fairly similar when rating considering characters.

    Thanks for participating.

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