WARNING: insufferable male protagonists
not "morally ambiguous/unlikeable characters", no I'm talking about I want to smack his incel ass-levels of dkhjfdbhjgj
created by Viettley
last updated July, 2026
Comments
ViettleyOP
honorary femcel mention: Girls against God [Jenny Hval]
delicious
Ich liebs
Holden being first on the list absolutely tracks lmao
ViettleyOP
sometimes I think about re-reading Catcher in the Rye but------ Holden
I love that Hamlet made this list. Thinking about it, he does remind me somewhat of my ex-husband....
ViettleyOP
genuinely can't fathom people thinking it's one of the best shakespeare plays
There are so many better ones!!
ViettleyOP
exactly!!! (also condolences bc of your ex-husband oh my---)
haha thanks :) all good, he's very very ex at this point lol. Also seeing Hamlet here helped me put my finger on the specific kind of navel-gazing, melancholic narcissism he embodies in a way I haven't been able to before. Now I can say, yeah, he was just like Hamlet, and that makes me laugh quite a lot!
ViettleyOP
Haha good for you!!!!
I would add a Hungarian classic, The Man with the Golden Touch by Mór Jókai. The MC is a jerk who takes advantage of everybody he encounters, he is a cheater, a pedophile, and still keeps up the image of the ideal man (the original title literally means The Golden Man). This dude has been my no. 1 opp since I had to read the book in the 7th grade
If you want three insufferable men, misogyny, and homophobia at once you should check out "Nacht, Mutter des Tages" (Natten är dagens mor) by Lars Norén. It was written for theatre and I had to read it for uni, hated every second 👍 (und ganz vielleicht...gibt es das irgendwo als pdf... 👀)
