Monthly recommendations: relatable characters

Find out more about the Goodreads group here! This month is relatable characters, which I think is such a fun topic!

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Starfish by Akemi Dawn Bowman

The protagonist of this book, Kiko, has social anxiety. And parts of it were painfully relatable. Like holy shit, I’d never read something that I related to more. Especially the part about not knowing where to put her hands. Too relatable.

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The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

I don’t relate to a lot of the depressive feelings the protagonist, Ester, feels, but I related a lot to her feelings about the future. Like this quote, which is long but I’m going to put the whole thing so you understand:

“I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn’t quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn’t make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.”

I’ve never related to anything more.

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Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

There’s one quote in this book where Lazlo basically says he feels small and insignificant but not in a bad way, and I relate so badly. I talk a bit more about this in an upcoming post later this month, so look out for that!

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Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

I related so much to Satrapi in this book. The emotions she felt were something I totally understood. Here’s a few quotes, again:

“I want to be justice, love and the wrath of God all in one.”

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“I had learned that you should always shout louder than your aggressor.”

Relatable.

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The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Again, I don’t relate so much to the mental illness part Charlie feels, but when he talks about his friends, wooooow. Like this part:

“I don’t know how much longer I can keep going without a friend. I used to be able to do it very easily, but that was before I knew what having a friend was like.”

I relate so badly. And there are so many other parts about nostalgia and being happy and sad, and it’s just so good.

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So those are my recommendations based on characters I relate to! I highly recommend all these books if you haven’t read them already. And if you have, please let me know your thoughts! What characters do you relate to? Which books have the most relatable characters? Let me know!

Thanks for reading! xx