Unreliable narrator thread

post books where the protag: A) actively narrates the story through their point of view B) is deranged/inebriated/unreliable in some way C) contains an actually worthwhile plot

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Book of the New Sun

lolita

janine 1982

The Good Soldier

Heart of Darkness. Two "layers" of narration, both arguably unreliable.

Anything by Chuck Palahniuk. Though if you want a good plot, Fight Club is probably his best work.

His prose is so bad though.

The Remains of the Day is the classic unreliable narrator novel

I am not convinced the thread is about that. I think the thread is actually about how you have five /hm/ tabs open

The Fifth Head of Cerberus
Peace
Book of the New Sun

THE REPAIRER OF REPUTATIONS short story from 'The King in Yellow'
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hell yeah

Gone Girl

The Sound and the Fury

Cassandra at the Wedding

Pale Fire

the name of the wind

notes from the underground

American Psycho

Crypto-Buddhist bullshit without a hint of literary merit.
Oh man deconstructing the inherent spooky meaninglessness of life by means of narcissistic self-destruction/sabotage and radical impulsivity
Literally every seven year old boy with ADHD does this, and better.

The Sound and the Fury
Absalom, Absalom!

The Darkroom of Damocles by W.F. Hermans

My new Book

The Wasp Factory

Protagonist narrates through their point of view, check.
Very deranged and unstable, check.
Worthwhile plot, check.

It's a super short read, something for a rainy day.

>no one has posted Catcher In The Rye

The Bible.

Listen to the dubs.
Nabokov is gold material for this. Lolita and Pale Fire.
Yeah it seems like most people posting here are over 16 and have read enough to realise what entry-level shit that novel is. Rare for Veeky Forums innit.

Is Gatsby an example of this? Seems like Nick often makes himself seem better than he is.

Nah fuck off. There's nothing that suggests that Kvothe is an unreliable narrator other than the fact that he draws attention to his narration, and even then it's more about subverting narration tropes than it is about actually being untruthful.

Litterally everything Gene Wolfe has ever written

Still have to finish the rest of the stories, but really liked this one. the statue one was neat.

I don't know if I'd call Nick unreliable exactly, he's definitely limited in perspective, but he's not crazy or purposefully deceitful.
I feel like "unreliable narrator" implies a twist or some greater context, whereas Nick is just short-sighted. Are their more detailed terms for unreliable narrators? Something like character-perspective narration maybe?

Hjalmar Söderberg - Doctor Glas.

Written in diary form, it's like a Swedish C&P, pretty good.

Just browse /x/ for a while to be honest with you familito.

The Loser by Thomas Bernhard

Anything by Ellis really. The Rules of Attraction features multiple unreliable narrators.

The Butcher Boy

I'm not about to pretend Palahniuk is some kind of great writer but he is exactly what OP is looking for.

Gatsby is a narcissist and nick has codependent features. It's subtle, much if the narration indulges Gatsby's externalized self-image and treats his goals themselves, and support for them, as intrinsic moral good.

I guess. OP could just get smashed on benzos for a weekend and get the same though.

well surely the author wouldn't write an actual mary-sue :^)

>much if the narration indulges Gatsby's externalized self-image and treats his goals themselves, and support for them, as intrinsic moral good.
Yeah, I get that, but it's more Holden Caulfield style narration, than it is Bruce Willis was dead all along narration. I think there should be a greater variety in terms.

Definitely. "Unreliable narrator" is like "magical realism."