Unreliable Narrators?

[TheIT]

I'm wondering whether I should put a "SPOILER ALERT" on this thread. Can anyone recommend any novels or short stories with unreliable narrators?

My main character in my fantasy WIP is turning out to be unreliable with respect to one major issue, but is reliable otherwise. I was wondering how other authors might handle similar situations.

Thanks in advance!

[Rolling Thunder]

I've been told I'm unreliable. Does that count?;)

[jbal]

ok----Spoiler Alert!!!----



The Catcher in the Rye is probably a good example of unreliable narrator (all the way through though).
In Dean Koontz's Life Expectancy, he switches to a different narrator to imply that the MC is dead when he's not. (and to cheesy effect IMO).
That's the first ones that come to mind, I'll see if I can think of some better ones.

[alleycat]

I've looked up a similar question before. Wiki has a listing for "Unreliable Narrator" with several dozen examples.

Hope that helps.

[Marlowe]

Nabakov does a lot of this sort of thing- probably the ultimate version is Pale Fire, but Pnin and Lolita are rife with it.

[maestrowork]

Most first-person novels have unreliable or semi-reliable narrators.

All 3rd POV narrators should be reliable.

[TheIT]

Most first-person novels have unreliable or semi-reliable narrators.


Could you expand on this? This is exactly the situation I'm running into in my first person POV WIP. My narrator has a blind spot, a particular problem which she blames everyone else for, but the problem is actually within her. In all other aspects she's reliable.

[maestrowork]

By nature, first person narrator is biased and can only observe or note something he or she knows. That makes the POV "incomplete" at best, and evasive/deceiving at worst.

When you have a "semi-reliable" narrator, his observation or conclusion might be impaired by his misunderstanding or lack of knowledge, etc. It doesn't mean he lies -- just that he doesn't always know. A first-person detective in a mystery novel, for example. Or a coming of age story in which the narrator is always questioning himself.

When you have an unreliable narrator, he may be withholding information from the readers, or he may even lie about things, or is very opinionated about certain issues (for example, if your narrator is a serial killer or a teenage delinquent). Basically, what it means is that the readers can never really trust the narrator to be always telling the truth.

Catcher in the Rye is a good example.

3rd person narrators ALWAYS tell the truth without bias. The characters might be lying, cheating, scheming, not knowing, but the narrator must not withhold information or lie.

[zarch]

Montressor of Poe's "Cask of Amontillado."

[Toothpaste]

**Spoiler**

There's an Agatha Christie book where the narrator turns out to be the murderer. I think that's a pretty unreliable narrator.

[UrsulaV]

The narrator of the recent "The Strange Incident of the Dog in the Night-time" is autistic, and thus there's a lot that the narrator reports but doesn't appear to understand, which the reader does.

It's definitely worth reading.

[maestrowork]

The narrator of the recent "The Strange Incident of the Dog in the Night-time" is autistic, and thus there's a lot that the narrator reports but doesn't appear to understand, which the reader does.


It's challenging but satisfying to create something like that, when the narrator is clueless, while the readers get it.

[blacbird]

A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess
The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner
Little Big Man, Thomas Berger

caw.

[batgirl]

The Mirror Crack'd by Agatha Christie?

Instance of the Fingerpost, by Iain Pears, has three unreliable narrators - each first person.
-Barbara

[LeeFlower]

Fight Club.

Huckleberry Finn is often cited as an unreliable narrator as well, but it seems to me that most child-narrators are.

[maestrowork]

A Painted House by John Grisham. The narrator is a 7yo boy who lies.

The Pacific Between by *ahem* moi. The narrator is semi-reliable.

[blacbird]

As long as Ray brings it up, who here is actually trying, consciously, to work with such a technique? I confess I am. It intrigues the bejesus out of me. Most of my stuff is done with third-person limited POV (and I think I'm pretty sensitive to and careful about POV in general), but I've become interested in using a non-autobiographical narrative character in first-person, and he's not at all reliable. He's a 19th-Century con artist who is so accustomed to lying as part of his profession that he often fools even himself. It's being kind of fun.

Especially since, like all the other stuff I do, it has no conceivable market, and isn't likely ever to be submitted anywhere, and therefore frees me to do whatever I damn well please.

caw.

[aadams73]

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver--all of the narrators are unreliable or semi reliable

[beezle]

Yeah blacbird, I've experimented with unreliable narrator once or twice, but only in short stories.

[Zolah]

The Mirror Crack'd by Agatha Christie?
-Barbara

No! It's 'The Murder of Roger Ackroyd'! Wow - this is the first time that I've ever known something you didn't, B. Does this mean I'm a grown-up now?

[ORION]

A new YA that is coming out soon by Jacquelyn Mitchard is called "Now you see her" (harper collins) I read an ARC and it's a great example of an unreliable narrator.
I suggest it would be a good read as an example of how it is done well...

[Neeli]

All 3rd POV narrators should be reliable.

I disagree. If you have tight 3rd person POV, you are showing everything from that person's POV--they ARE the narrator but in 3rd person. They are only as honest to the reader as they are to themselves--which can be deceiving.

For Example: Your MC might think she is a spectacular writer who is writing a best-selling novel, but she is hopelessly deluded. Your reader might understand from what other characters say (in dialog or email for example) or from the setting (there are 3000 rejection slips tacked to her wall) that MC is not as good as she thinks.

The point is your narrator never LIES, but it is not necessarily the truth--therefore she is unreliable.

I haven't read George RR Martin's "Game of Thrones" but as I understand it, the "truth" is different from everyone's point of view. I LOVE that kind of writing.

[maestrowork]

No. 3rd person narrator is separate from the character. The narrator might not be "visible" and maybe this phantom creature sitting on the MC's shoulders, but the narrator is NOT the character. The readers might not trust the character as reported, but the readers can always trust the narrator to report truthfully.

In your example, the narrator reports what the other characters say about the character or mention the 3000 rejection slips. The narrator is NOT biased, in that the narrator does not say, "MC is a lousy writer" or "MC is a great writer" because that would be narrative intrusion. But the narrator will say, "MC has 3000 rejection slips tagged on her walls" or "MC thinks she's a great writer."

As opposed to an unreliable narrator: "I am a damn good writer and I only got two rejections so far." The narrator won't tell you that she has 3000 rejection slips on the wall. She's not only delusional, she's also not very truthful.

That's the difference.

[Selcaby]

No! It's 'The Murder of Roger Ackroyd'! Wow - this is the first time that I've ever known something you didn't, B. Does this mean I'm a grown-up now?

Endless Night does it too. Seems Agatha Christie liked it. :)

[Vomaxx]

The Good Soldier, by Ford M. Ford

[civilian chic]

No. 3rd person narrator is separate from the character. The narrator might not be "visible" and maybe this phantom creature sitting on the MC's shoulders, but the narrator is NOT the character. The readers might not trust the character as reported, but the readers can always trust the narrator to report truthfully.

That's a succinct way of putting it, Maestrowork ... The only truly unreliable narrators are in the first person, right? The author can not be untruthful, unless s/he is transparent; ie, "I."

I love the unreliable narrator, too... voracious readers are so anxious to suspend belief and follow the narrator wherever he goes... and then it dawns on you... Hey, that's not quite right! Then you flip back, and discover inaccuracies... and then you become suspicious but follow all the more closely. I love it.

Anyone read Jim Thompson?