Could anyone suggest me a book with actually unreliable narrators? I saw a post of someone saying that Bella Swan from twilight is an unreliable narrator and while i see what they meant, it made me wanna find a book where one of the storytellers might literally be unreliable
(Also no need for Silent Patient, already done and while a great idea didnt like it lol)
by throwItawayyyYokay
24 Comments
Everyone Here is Lying
problem is a lot of book recommendations for this could be a spoiler, depending on the unreliable nature.
I have no clue what you’re asking for. Are you using “unreliable” correctly?
Lolita
Rock Paper Scissors
Gone Girl
We Were Liars
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, maybe?
But this is a spoiler. I don’t want to know the narrator is unreliable until it’s revealed
This is a very common feature of Kazuo Ishiguro’s books.
The Great Gatsby
His Bloody Project
Wuthering Heights
Moravagine
Barney’s Version by Mordechai Richler
He captures the voice of an irresponsible old man who reimagines his past very well
The Membranes
Moby Dick
Trust Exercise. Fleishman is in Trouble. Theres one other I read in the last few years and I can’t remember what it is.
Try the [Ciaphas Cain](https://www.goodreads.com/series/42531-ciaphas-cain) series. The novels are presented as Cains’s memoirs coming to light after his death, which he claims is the “truth” behind the events that made him a hero of the Imperium and that he was actually motivated by pure cowardice that often had the opposite effects of what he intended. However, it’s clear that Cain himself isn’t exactly reliable, and may be downplaying his actions due to low self-esteem. This is compounded by the fact that the person editing his memoirs may *themselves* be an unreliable narrator. It’s all quite fun.
The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
The Wheel of Time series.
That’s literally one of the themes the author had in mind when starting it. How events are interpreted over time and distance and the unreliable narrators never having all the information and often interpreting what they have completely wrong.
Going Bovine by Libba Bray
The Secret History has an interesting take on unreliable narration (in a way that is intentional, unlike Twilight). It’s not really a spoiler because the narrator is pretty upfront about it from the get-go.
Dangerous girls by Abigail haas
Little monsters by Kara Thomas
It’s kinda spoiler-y, but since you asked…
None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell
Penance by Eliza Clark
for fantasy:
The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner
The Many Assassinations of Samir, The Seller of Dreams
The Traitor Baru Cormorant
The Locked Tomb(partially sci-fi)
Any Old Diamonds by KJ Charles