TTT: Unreliable Narrators

Top Ten Tuesday: Unreliable Narrators

In literature, an unreliable narrator is a narrator who can't be trusted because their credibility is compromised. I often enjoy reading novels with unreliable narrators because aspects of their personality are revealed as the story unfolds. There may be even be a plot twist when we the reader realizes thy've been snookered. Here are some of my favorites:

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides. 2019.
The narrator is a psychiatrist working with the silent patient who has an ulterior motive in keeping her silent.

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. 1955.
The narrator, Humbert Humbert, is obsessed with a twelve-year-old girl. This pedophile is not to be trusted in more ways than one. Lolita is the most depraved, beautifully written book I've ever read.

Atonement by Ian McEwan. 2001.
The narrator, Brionny, witnesses something she doesn't understand when she is twelve. Her innocent revelation ends up changing the trajectory of others' lives. When we recognizes her error she is too deep into the lie to do anything other continue to lie.

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. 2017.
Eleanor tries to hold herself together but sometimes mental illness makes her an unreliable narrator.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. 2020.
Is Piranesi having a mental breakdown or does he really reside in an alternate universe?

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. 1960.
The story is told from Scout's point-of-view, allowing readers to experience it though her innocence and naivety.

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. 2014.
A group of friends. A twisted tale. It is hard to know what to believe. After all the title gives us a hint as to why.

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. 1898.
A young governess caring for two children almost all alone when evil ghosts appear. Are they really after the children?

Life of Pi by Yann Martel. 2001.
Does Pi Patel really survive a shipwreck and 270 days at sea with a bengal tiger in hi lifeboat?

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie. 1926.
The narrator, a doctor, tries to assist Poirot in solving a murder, and then there is a plot twist which breaks all the rules.

-Anne