Worst Book Friends

[Spartan Girl]

Who are some of the worst friend characters in literary fiction? 

Janie and Sport in Harriet the Spy were actually pretty awful. While it was mean girl Marion who stole and read Harriet's journal, in the original novel it was JANIE who did it. You could argue that they were hurt about what she wrote about them, but let's not forget that YOU DON'T READ SOMEONE'S JOURNAL. So Janie had no right to be upset when she knew that reading the journal out loud to their classmates was horrible to begin with. And then they proceed to make Harriet's life miserable for most of the book. God, kids are awful.

And then there's Lilly in The Princess Diaries series. You thought she was annoying and rude in the movie? Oh you sweet summer child. In the books, she frequently humiliates Mia when it suits her. I understand that she was upset when the first boy she slept with, JP, turns out to be using her to get to Mia, and I get why she'd be too embarrassed to warn Mia. But that does NOT excuse her posting a horrible website about Mia when she thinks Mia betrayed her. It was pretty big of Mia to forgive her when she finally found out the whole story, but I still have a hard time buying that she'd want to rekindle their friendship after that -- although to be fair, Lilly had vastly improved in the Royal Wedding novel.

[andromeda331]

20 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

Who are some of the worst friend characters in literary fiction? 

Janie and Sport in Harriet the Spy were actually pretty awful. While it was mean girl Marion who stole and read Harriet's journal, in the original novel it was JANIE who did it. You could argue that they were hurt about what she wrote about them, but let's not forget that YOU DON'T READ SOMEONE'S JOURNAL. So Janie had no right to be upset when she knew that reading the journal out loud to their classmates was horrible to begin with. And then they proceed to make Harriet's life miserable for most of the book. God, kids are awful.

And then there's Lilly in The Princess Diaries series. You thought she was annoying and rude in the movie? Oh you sweet summer child. In the books, she frequently humiliates Mia when it suits her. I understand that she was upset when the first boy she slept with, JP, turns out to be using her to get to Mia, and I get why she'd be too embarrassed to warn Mia. But that does NOT excuse her posting a horrible website about Mia when she thinks Mia betrayed her. It was pretty big of Mia to forgive her when she finally found out the whole story, but I still have a hard time buying that she'd want to rekindle their friendship after that -- although to be fair, Lilly had vastly improved in the Royal Wedding novel.

I hated Lilly in the movie and couldn't believe how much worse she was in the books (I watched the movie first and then read the books).  I kept waiting for Mia to realize how horrible she was and tell her off. 

[Spartan Girl]

Rachel in Something Borrowed/Something Blue. You can argue that Darcy was a bad friend too, but honestly Emily Giffin wrote Darcy as a bitch as a cheap way to absolve Rachel of sleeping with her friend's fiancé so that she'd be the underdog of the story. It still doesn't change the fact that Rachel spent years resenting Darcy and for all her hemming and hawing, the inordinate amount of guilt she felt wasn't enough to stop her from carrying on the affair behind her friend's back.

It would have been a much better book if Rachel had been more a more openly horrible anti heroine -- or Darcy wouldn't have been one-dimensionally written as a mean girl so that Rachel's dilemma would have been more complex. Then Rachel would eventually realize that Dex was a spineless douche and not worth losing her friend over...only to have Darcy find out about the affair and dump both of them, leaving Rachel with nothing. 

[scarynikki12]

For some reason I was thinking about The Wedding Ringer. I liked the book but I read it a couple years ago so I don't know why it reentered my brain today. The backstory is that Willa walked in on her fiance and best friend having sex mere days before the wedding and, fast forward to the present, she's struggling to put her life back together when she gets hired to be a bridesmaid for a woman she meets at random one day. 

Ok so my thing is not the main story. The main story is fine and I enjoyed Willa making new friends and find a new boyfriend. My thing is the betrayal of the former best friend. I forget the character's name so I'll just call her EBF (ex best friend). We get a few follow ups on EBF when Willa runs into her at a party, Facebook pictures of EBF and the ex fiance when Willa gets curious, and then a final confrontation at a restaurant when Willa and her date run into them and learns EBF is pregnant. One thing the book makes clear is EBF's betrayal and the loss of that lifelong friendship hurt Willa more than losing her fiance and EBF is hoping there's a way they can be friends again.

My two questions are:

1) how could EBF justify the affair in any way? 

and

2) how delusional can she be if she thinks there's a chance Willa would want to be friends again?

I wanted more from this part of the story and would read a follow up that explores EBF's mentality. Not having her be the hero or anything but just trying to figure out how she justified her actions to herself. Willa remembers EBF giving a tearful toast at her bachelorette party and how moved she was at the time but now that memory is tainted because she believes EBF was in tears knowing it was only a matter of time before the affair was revealed. When she walked in on them in bed the wedding was days away and they had no idea she would do that so I want to know if ex fiance was doing that thing where he would have gone through with the wedding and wanted to keep EBF as his sidepiece. In their final confrontation at the restaurant I got the impression EBF didn't really like ex fiance much so I suspect they ignore any number of problems in order to prove they aren't like other cheaters. Once the excitement and danger of the affair went away I bet they privately started realizing they don't have much in common but admitting that would mean they were the bad guys and did something wrong. There had to be people in both of their lives who ripped them apart for cheating on Willa and they probably dug their heels in and insisted "we're in love so it's different!!!!" Again, EBF, it was days away from his wedding to Willa and there was no indication he was going to break it off with her! Was the actual plan to stand up and object in the ceremony? Or was he just stringing you along and hoping you wouldn't notice he still married her despite claiming to be in love with you? 

Even if it was just a few pages I would have liked some insight to what EBF was thinking.

[Spartan Girl]

Athena and June in Yellowface are made for this thread. June always resented Athena being a more successful writer than her, but Athena was no prize either: when June got date raped in college, Athena made a big show of being a supportive friend, only to use it for a short story behind June’s back—not cool. But that still doesn’t justify June stealing Athena’s unfinished manuscript and ideas after her death and passing it off as her own. So yeah, both terrible toxic friends, though June is the bigger bitch by a mile. 

[Spartan Girl]

Linnet and Jackie in Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile. They could be considered the (more) evil versions of Rachel and Darcy in Something Borrowed. Jackie and Simon plotting to scam Linnett by having Simon murder and marry her was a million times worse than Linnet “stealing” Simon from Jackie. It doesn’t matter whether Jackie was the mastermind or just going along with it in order to keep Simon rich and happy. Either way, terrible friend.

Miss me with the the “Linnet always took everything she wanted from me” excuse. Yeah, well, you used her for her money, and oh yeah: you’re a fucking murderer! All for some asshole, no less!

Edited September 17, 2023 by Spartan Girl