Today’s Booking Through Thursday question is a tough one:
Who is your favorite female lead character? And why? (And yes, of course, you can name more than one . . . I always have trouble narrowing down these things to one name, why should I force you to?)
I’ve read so many books that, inevitably, I only remember the strongest, most well-defined characters after all these years. As such, these are the women who stand out to me, even though they were far from perfect. I loved them despite (or perhaps because of) their flaws, even the ones on the list who ultimately committed suicide:
Francie Nolan (A Tree Grows in Brooklyn), Tess Durbeyfield (Tess of the d’Urbervilles), Amy Dorritt (Little Dorritt), Brett Ashley (The Sun Also Rises), Anna Karenina (Anna Karenina), Holly Golightly (Breakfast at Tiffany’s) and Edna Montpelier (The Awakening).
Obviously there are too many here for me to give specifics about why I liked these characters, but to generalize, I think most of them were strong in their own ways, be it sheer presence, force of will, or a quiet strength/endurance. These are the characters that stand out to me, and whose stories I would willingly read again and again.