[honyock]

I just finished reading Khaled Hosseini's "A Thousand Splendid Suns" a few days ago (this isn't meant to be a review, but it was wonderful, and since Afghanistan seems to be staying front-and-center in America's foreign policy, it is almost required reading to get it about what actually has gone on in their country for the past 30 years).

One of the characters, Mariam, has really stayed with me, in a way that not too many characters do. I haven't been able to get her off my mind for several days, and I think I'll be rereading passages over time, just to revisit her. I won't go into too many details, for those of you who plan on reading it, but she definitely wormed her way into my brain and is bouncing around in there and plans to stay awhile.

I've been thinking about other characters that have had this effect on me, and there really aren't a lot that I come up with. Atticus Finch for sure (and maybe Scout, and for that matter just about everyone in "To Kill a Mockingbird"), Arkady Renko and Irina Asanova of the "Gorky Park" novels, maybe Gus McCrae of "Lonesome Dove" and Paul Atreides of "Dune". If there are others, I'm forgetting them at the moment.

So I'm curious - what characters in novels have had similar impacts on you?

Sam

 

[luvmy4brats]

Jamie & Claire in the Outland series
Eve, Roarke, Peabody, Mavis & Summerset in the In Death Series

I hate quite a bit of trouble putting Liesel away after the Book Thief.

Jacob wanted to stay with me as well after reading Water for Elephants.

Still Alice was finished last night, but Alice is still here with me.

Not suprisingly all of the students and teachers at Hogwarts visit all the time.

This is why I re-read books. I've made all of these friends and like to go visit with them again.

 

[MichelleR]

I recently read a romance novel with a main character named Low Down that I really enjoyed. She was not at all the typical romance novel heroine, definitely rough around the edges, but easy to root for. She nurses a gold-mining camp back from a smallpox infection, and they ask her to pick her reward -- she hesitantly says she would like a baby. Nobody exactly volunteers.

 

[Bacardi Jim]