why do authors write these books?
The books in question are the ones that continuously make you enraged and/or depressed. And I'm not talking about fiction that has some sad parts that further the story, characters dying, breakups, etc. I'm talking about books where the main character has no redeeming qualities – a character who messed up their whole family and throughout the rest of the book continues to act like the victim.
I recently had to mark a bookclub selection, The River is Waiting by Wally Lamb, as a DNF. I just couldn't push myself through it. Yet the book had a 4.3 on Goodreads with 127k ratings.
It could be a me problem, but I need help understanding how I was supposed to view the main character. I will say that I tend to lean away from anti-hero characters.
I read to escape the stress of the world and enter into another world, hence my favorite genres being fantasy and sci-fi.
If you can explain what I am missing from these types of books please reach out! 📖