Eight novels that center women who are mean, mad, & miserable

Molly Pohlig graduated from James Madison University with a BA in English, and from University College Dublin with an MA in Film Studies. She is the associate editor for Vogue Knitting magazine, and has written humorous pieces and personal essays for Slate, The Toast, Racked, and The Hairpin. Originally from Virginia, she currently lives in Brooklyn.

The Unsuitable is her first novel.

At Electric Lit Pohlig tagged eight novels that celebrate unlikable women, including:

The End of Alice, A.M. Homes

You certainly don’t want to identify with the protagonist of this novel, a 19-year-old girl who has set out to seduce a 12-year-old neighbor boy, and exchanges letters with an imprisoned child killer. It’s a twist on Lolita in a way, presenting us with a horror of a human being, asking if anything human remains therein.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue