Having horrible crushes on characters in books

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I have a sort of a crush on Rogozhin in 'The Idiot'. Now why is that, why is that. Why is that.

― maryann (maryann), Wednesday, 25 February 2004 08:09 (twenty-one years ago)

The young beatknik lady from 'Sputnik Sweetheart'.

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Wednesday, 25 February 2004 08:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice was my first book crush, but many others have followed, the oddest probably being Stephen Dedalus from A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.

― Sara Leonard (Tara Too), Thursday, 26 February 2004 04:53 (twenty-one years ago)

How did you develop a crush on young Mr. Dedalus? I mean, I guess explaining kind of indicates that I haven't the foggiest notion, but I'd think he's too much of an odd-duck to be romantically interesting. Justify?

― The Second Drummer Drowned (Atila the Honeybun), Thursday, 26 February 2004 05:42 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't really understand it myself, so this will not be a very good justification. It probably began with a mix of sympathy for him and identification with him (perhaps a case of an odd duck being attracted to another odd duck). His intelligence is probably one of the main reasons, though. I read Ulysses for him though, so it is a pretty powerful attraction :)

― Sara Leonard (Tara Too), Thursday, 26 February 2004 21:28 (twenty-one years ago)

I just read that 'Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man' can be seen as a sort of combination of George Moore's 'Confessions of a Young Man' (1886) and G.S. Street's 'Autobiography of a Boy' (1894) - Autobiography of a Boy was a parody of Confessions of a Young Man (aesthete's bildungsroman) and Joyce's book a modernist synthesis of the seriousness and irony in the two so perhaps you'd enjoy those two books if you haven't read them already.

― maryann (maryann), Thursday, 26 February 2004 23:47 (twenty-one years ago)

No, I haven't read them. Thanks for the recommendation.

― Sara Leonard (Tara Too), Friday, 27 February 2004 15:18 (twenty-one years ago)

"Beatnik Lady"!

― the bellefox, Friday, 27 February 2004 20:27 (twenty-one years ago)

i kinda liked anne from famous five when i used to read them!

― gaol clichy (clichy), Tuesday, 2 March 2004 13:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Marion Cole in John Irving's A Widow for One Year. Audrey Livingston in Matt Segur's Soft Power.

― Frank Marcopolos, Wednesday, 3 March 2004 02:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Et tu, Frank? Audrey was so intimidatingly Audrey...

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Wednesday, 3 March 2004 03:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Nick Andros from "The Stand" (say what you will about King, he writes some great characters).

Johnny Truant from "House of Leaves" (it must be that part of me that wants to take care of all the sad damaged men...bah)

Whoever mentioned Sandman, you're not alone =)

― Natalie (Penny Dreadful), Wednesday, 3 March 2004 13:46 (twenty-one years ago)

D'oh - and how can I forget Poppy Z. Brite's Ghost, the fair haired, tormented psychic with a voice like "gravelly gold"? Swoon!

― Natalie (Penny Dreadful), Wednesday, 3 March 2004 16:16 (twenty-one years ago)

we should start a support group for women in love with the sandman. he's so dreamy...

[groan]

― Vermont Girl (Vermont Girl), Wednesday, 3 March 2004 16:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes, Vermont Girl! You beat me to the punch! Morpheus is haunting. The older one. Not the new young one.

His sister, Death is quite something too :) I had a secretary once who was a dead ringer for her.

Excuse all the puns; they arrived by accident.

― Margo B99, Thursday, 4 March 2004 15:16 (twenty-one years ago)

... and I also didn't quite HAVE my secretary either ;-)

― Margo B99, Thursday, 4 March 2004 15:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Livingston just buzzes with an appealing energy. Just like someone else I know.

― Frank Marcopolos, Friday, 5 March 2004 00:23 (twenty-one years ago)

First of all Anne, I found your confession strangely arousing, and wish you might elaborate.. but all that aside, here's a good story: my advisor in college, Dr. Skinner, actually told his wife, just after he asker her to marry him, that he had another love in his life:

"Who is it?" she asked.

"Elizabeth Bennett." he replied.

"Well, OK," his new fiance said.

They had been together for 38 years when she died last fall.

― McDowell, Friday, 5 March 2004 07:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Love and Rockets! All of them!

― PuzzleMonkey (PuzzleMonkey), Saturday, 6 March 2004 11:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!! I purposely buy Hopey sunglasses so maybe a Mags can find me.

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Monday, 8 March 2004 00:48 (twenty-one years ago)

My latest fictional crush is, unhappily, Ann Sterzinger.

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Monday, 8 March 2004 01:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Eh?

(Unable to tell whether that means he dislikes me or likes me but doesn't believe I exist... scratching head, pinching arm to make sure it's solid... I pinch, therefore I am... well, they say you can't make friends with everyone... back to work... grunt...)

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Monday, 8 March 2004 02:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Don't worry - he doesn't exist neither.

― the bluefox, Tuesday, 9 March 2004 16:25 (twenty-one years ago)

It could be the suggestion of a bit of lady on lady love action that's getting the Nipper all aglow, Ann.

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Tuesday, 9 March 2004 16:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh dear, that will teach me to post on ILX after a bottle of wine.

Erm... I think all those words from unknown people on message boards lend themselves to imaginatively cohering into fictional characters, but there's something especially vivid about Ann - the name, the enthusiasms, the writing - that has evidently cohered more than most! Sorry for any embarrassment caused!

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Wednesday, 10 March 2004 01:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh, IIIIII get it now. Yeah, even people I know in the real world tell me I'm a living cartoon character; maybe I'm sick in the head, but I don't find that insulting. No harm, no foul.

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Wednesday, 10 March 2004 01:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes, I've said it often enough -- you should always get through at least two bottles before posting.

― the bellefox, Wednesday, 10 March 2004 14:37 (twenty-one years ago)

If you both post photos, I'll make a decision on your suitability.

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Wednesday, 10 March 2004 14:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Actually I think I can now reconstruct my drunken tram of thought from the other night: that getting crushes on fictional characters is really just a difference of degree from getting involved in long distance relationships where words start standing in for people, and you're threaded together by email and AIM and you end up ~~wasting two years of your life, countless thousands of pounds, and getting your heart comprehensively smashed to crazy paving~~ unhappy.

So not to be recommended, all in all.

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Wednesday, 10 March 2004 14:52 (twenty-one years ago)

But how do you know that Ann is a long way away?

I for one have seen her many times on the opposite platform at Purley Oaks, thumbing her Barthelme and blowing her... nose.

― the bellefox, Wednesday, 10 March 2004 15:47 (twenty-one years ago)

When i was younger I used to fall in love with characters in books, now that I am older and wiser and harder to satisfy I fall in love with writers of books. To date I have loved, Hemingway (for obvious reasons), John Grisham(he's cute what can i say), Oscar Hijuelos ( he knows what women want) and the all time true love of my life till the day I die Gabriel Garcia Marquez (oh baby). I'm starting to crush on Cormack McCarthy, I've only had him once (All the Pretty Horses) and it was GREAT!!! (Shhh, I don't kiss and tell).

― Priscilla Esquivel, Thursday, 11 March 2004 16:07 (twenty-one years ago)

I always thought Jane Austen would be a goer after a couple of glasses of wine. All that repressed sexuality lurking behind the curtains.

The Bronte sisters too come to think of it, although it's either all three at once or not at all. Branwell can sit this one out.

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Thursday, 11 March 2004 16:13 (twenty-one years ago)

>> .... at least two bottles before posting.
>> -- the bellefox

And here I thought it was during posting! [hurriedly clinkes bottles away under desk]. That's what you get for starting your typical evening's surfing at alt.drunken.bastards, I suppose. no wonder the posts and blogs get more interesting as the evening wears on. [hic]
[/hic]

― PuzzleMonkey (PuzzleMonkey), Thursday, 11 March 2004 21:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh, and Mikey, don't think we don't see you eyeing the Elliot girl while pretending you're busy with the punch bowl. A word of advice, remember to floss, and just for safety check under the bonnet before engaging her gears. [You might want to check out the tran/xdresser thread before sauntering over to her. errr, him. no, wait,....]

― PuzzleMonkey (PuzzleMonkey), Thursday, 11 March 2004 22:29 (twenty-one years ago)

nine months pass...

This never used to happen to me!

But um right now I am reading S/Z and the dancer girl is totally hotttening it up. I mean, I realise this is poncey and unbelievable but, like, *totally*.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 03:30 (twenty years ago)

Well Ann, to answer your original post, what woman could resist a man whose rallying cry was "Cozy Moments will not be muzzled"?

― Ken L (Ken L), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 03:51 (twenty years ago)

I'm not sure I get these crushes any more. Too wary after Dick from The Famous Five broke my heart.

― Archel (Archel), Tuesday, 4 January 2005 10:55 (twenty years ago)

'stop being a girl'

― the bellefox, Thursday, 6 January 2005 11:51 (twenty years ago)

I can't remember if I mentioned this is the other cruch threafd, but I used to have the biggest crush ever on Jessica Atreides from the Dune books. I'm not sure what that says about me, or about Jessica, for that matter.

― Johnney B (Johnney B), Thursday, 6 January 2005 12:37 (twenty years ago)

I used to get crushes on characters a lot more when I was younger than I do now: Starbuck, Gilgamesh, and Josef K. to name an odd few.

Most recently it was Vronsky, but he turned out to be a bit of an ass.

― zan, Thursday, 6 January 2005 16:45 (twenty years ago)

I never get crushes on characters in books because I never visualize the book, and I am one of the unwashed multitude for whom the visual aspect is important in these things.

― Ken L (Ken L), Thursday, 6 January 2005 16:53 (twenty years ago)

She remained pensive! I miss her.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Thursday, 6 January 2005 21:04 (twenty years ago)

Ah! Hiro Protagonist, indeed. swoon.

And Dick from High Fidelity. Geekily swoonerific.

― sparkle j (sparkle j), Saturday, 8 January 2005 23:58 (twenty years ago)

kitiara from dragonlance chronicles/legends
rogue from uncanny xmen
marie morgan from to have and have not

― amorous poster, Sunday, 9 January 2005 02:54 (twenty years ago)

Mr Darcy

― Nellie (nellskies), Friday, 14 January 2005 14:46 (twenty years ago)

Phlox, from The Mysteries of Pittsburgh.

(And I had a weird thing about the Little Princess when I was a child, but the less said about that the better.)

― The Mad Puffin (The Mad Puffin), Friday, 14 January 2005 15:28 (twenty years ago)

very embarassing, but true: from when I was 14 to 16: Raistlin the magician from the Dragonlance Chronicles.
since then, a little something for the black Armadale in Armadale by W. COllins

― misshajim (strand), Saturday, 15 January 2005 14:48 (twenty years ago)

misshajim that is not embarrassing that is inspiring!
did you read Legends? his ultimate sacrifice is the most epic sexy thing conceivable

― amorous poster, Saturday, 15 January 2005 22:10 (twenty years ago)

yes, exactly, that's what I mean. it is disturbing about myself!
but after all it could help explain my deepest admiration for Nick Cave...

― misshajim (strand), Monday, 17 January 2005 08:23 (twenty years ago)

seven months pass...

I had a long crush on a rat (!) called Justin in Mrs Frisby & The Rats of Nimh by Robert C O'Brien and various male characters from Virginia Andrews (both when I was much younger!)

― Flora Royson, Tuesday, 30 August 2005 01:19 (nineteen years ago)

Ahh, Puffin. "...I could never be a world as Phlox was a world, with her own flora and fauna, atmosphere and birds. And I am left...with this glittering dream world, and a sock". I am both excerpting and misquoting but whose heart doesn't break at that last passage?

Flora, I had a crush on Justin, too!! Not from when I saw the movie as a youngster, but from upon reading the book in high school or college -- because it's almost impossible to remember that the characters are rodents.

And F'nor the Dragonrider, from the McCaffery series. And I know there were more, but I'll have to ponder.

― Laurel (Laurel), Thursday, 1 September 2005 20:20 (nineteen years ago)

I see your Justin and raise you Piccadilly from the Deptford Mice trilogy.

― Mog, Friday, 2 September 2005 09:50 (nineteen years ago)

Alma in Auster's The Book of Illusions Birthmark or no birthmark, that woman is sexy.

― Matt (Matt), Friday, 2 September 2005 11:30 (nineteen years ago)

Waitwait Anna Bak from The History Of Danish Dreams is totally my answer for this!

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Sunday, 4 September 2005 03:33 (nineteen years ago)

eighteen years pass...

not a character in a book, but i totally have a crush on (translator of homer, etc) emily wilson

― mookieproof, Friday, 29 September 2023 00:17 (one year ago)

Angus Wilson’s daughter, no?

― Dose of Thunderwords (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 29 September 2023 01:16 (one year ago)

Ha, no, sorry, of course not. A.N. Wilson’s daughter.

― Dose of Thunderwords (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 29 September 2023 01:17 (one year ago)

I had a huge crush on Lord Peter Wimsey as a child, which is not surprising because Lord Peter Wimsey is pretty much designed for twelve-year-olds to get crushes on.

I also had a crush on Mr. Rochester, but that was because I was ten and Jane Eyre was the first love story I'd ever read and I was too young to understand the difference between being invested in a romance and being into the hero of the romance.

And I will never forget my cousin S. introducing me to K.M. Peyton's Pennington by going into a very loud summary of The Beethoven Medal at a baseball game while everyone else was being quiet for the National Anthem. "So this HORSY GIRL hooks up with a SUPER HOT DUDE WHO PLAYS PIANO..." On getting glared at she lowered her voice to a piercing whisper and hissed, "HE'S REALLY BYRONIC!"

― Lily Dale, Friday, 29 September 2023 04:06 (one year ago)

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