anti-heroines

love to hate them or hate to love them

Mar 05, 2024

All right, let’s move on from all that sappy, lovey dovey, happily ever after crap and dive into some stories with morally ambiguous heroines that some may find difficult to be on board with. Personally, I savor these shades of grey personalities because they can be rich, exciting and home to all sorts of traits that I can live vicariously through. Now, I’m thankful they stay on the page and not in my friend group, but I really do relish the chance to understand and look for myself in some of these characters, dark as they may be. I find myself jealous of their deep understanding of themselves, their drive and ambition, their clarity of motivation and cheeky observations. Sometimes I enjoy my time with them immensely and other times I cannot wait to finish the book so I can get out of their heads but either way, I consistently crave novels with difficult to love anti-heroines as they are just so damn captivating.

If you too want to step into a psyche that is unapologetic about their agenda and full of questionable decision making skills then set yourself up however you damn well please and crack open one of these.

Bad Men by Julie Mae Cohen

Saffy is handsome, clever, rich and a serial killer. BUT! She is a feminist serial killer. She only kills bad men who really deserve it, sort of a gender swapped Dexter. Inconveniently, she’s recently developed an intense crush on Jon, a true crime podcaster/author and will stop at nothing until they have their happily ever after. When a body in a bag finds its way onto Jon’s doorstep, Saffy’s schemes for her happily ever after are thrown into chaos. Can she land her man, kill who needs killing, avoid being caught by her one true love and remove this bloodstain from her designer bag all at the same time?

This is fun, fast and pulpy with an adorably wicked psychopath as our narrator who is a delight to witness even when she is trapping a dog in a well.1 I zipped through this because I couldn’t look away and kept wanting to see what she’d do next. Maybe I even cheered her on a few times. The way it pairs intense subject matter, appalling behaviour with the blithely snobby yet endearing voice of a murderous socialite was a just tickling. Nothing groundbreaking here, just a merry ol’ time watching and wondering what Saffy will do next as she gets in and out of ridiculous scrapes. It’s got some of the con-artisty, lovable murderess, fashion icon vibes of Killing Eve’s Villanelle 2. While plot is predictable and not super inventive, this is still a jolly good time all around. It could be a safe form of catharsis for a certain type of reader…

A Novel Obsession by Caitlin Barasch

Naomi is a 20-something woman living in NYC and an aspiring novelist, though she doesn’t really have anything to say much to her frustration. She eventually finds herself dating Caleb and thinks that love could finally be some juicy fodder for her writing. When she discovers that his ex-girlfriend and her have a suspicious amount in common, she begins an intense fixation with this erstwhile rival/fellow sister that has her increasingly blending fact and fiction throughout her own life, relationships and sanity.

I read this while on a trip overseas3, and anytime I was not reading it due to forced touristing, I was crabby. JUST LET ME READ IN PEACE. It is darkly funny and twisty with a steady rising tension that gripped me from the first line until the last. Naomi is a deliciously unsettling narrator who is so fucking funny, weird and out of control; I just loved observing her thoughts, actions and justifications. A bat shit crazy roller coaster of a time. This one plays with themes of identity, art, the female gaze (and more) with some real, incisive wisdom from a stark, wry voice I could not get enough of. Just fantastic. I should re-read this when I’m not as subject to a tour bus schedule. 4

Isn’t this cover just mwah, chef’s kiss? I love it.

Extra Credit: Read while listening to the Spotify playlist that the author created.

“Writing down every worst-case scenario allows me to forgo their effects, to skip right over the pain. I will already be prepared, armored against hurt -- told you so, from my future self.”

The Guest by Emma Cline

Over the course of one week Alex grifts and drifts her way around Long Island avoiding responsibility and manipulating everyone she comes in contact with as she attempts to survive and thrive within a world at odds with her moral acuity.

Being inside Alex’s head is an addictive train wreck of pretzel psychology, providing tiny beats of backstory but only just enough to sketch together an vague understanding of our protagonist. I fluctuated from immense pity to abject distaste but was never bored of observing her from the safety of the page. She is compelling, confusing and shocking but consistently provides amusing and eyebrow raising arguments for her behavior that make it hard to outright revile her. When I finished I was happy to escape her POV, but was bummed for whoever has the misfortune to come across her path next as she is a veritable disaster with major self destructive traits. But, on the other hand, she also possesses a deeply keen and sharp understanding of people: what they want, who they are, how they will act and then uses this knowledge unapologetically for her own ends. Not laudable, but visceral and somewhat dizzying in her powers.

“ …the thrill was familiar. The giddy anxiety of watching yourself and waiting to see what you would do next”

“a bad idea had its own relentless logic, a momentum that was queasy but also correct”

ALSO

Another book that falls perfectly into this category is Yellowface, which I highlighted in my “retreat to move forward” post last month as one of my favorite 2023 books. Add that one to your list if you haven’t already.