Post #9

The narrator, Tris Prior, in my book, Divergent, is likeable 50% of the time and annoying the other 50%.  The only time I'm not annoyed by her is when she's running off of adrenaline and in action. But when her thoughts are running wild and she's processing things, she's honestly insanely annoying. The decisions that she makes are irritating and irrational. In the book, she has a deep relationship with another character, Tobias. He's basically perfect, and his actions are always well thought out and he doesn't keep secrets from Tris, due to the fact that trust is important to him. Then you have Tris on the other hand, who keeps all of her secrets from him, such as killing one of her friends. When going through her thoughts not to tell Tobias this secret that's destroying her, as a reader it makes you want to jump into the book, wring her neck, shake her, and throw her out a window. But then again, she is human, so obviously her thought process will not be perfect. That allows a little bit of forgiveness. Tris definitely falls into Claire Messud's argument. I would never be friends with Tris. But that doesn't matter, what matters is that she appears alive and like an actual person. Not everyone can be likeable, so why should every narrator have to be a good match for a best friend? They don't. That's the answer. I also don't necessarily think that a book's genre has to connect with the type of narrator it has. The plot, setting, and other factors are what determine the genre. It doesn't have to connect to the personalities of the characters as well.