I wonder what Friday thought of Robinson Crusoe
Oliver Twist from Fagin’s perspective (and with his back-story).
Gone With the Wind from the point of view of Rhett (almost done by Pat Conroy, but he dropped out)
The Scarlet Letter from Prynn/Chillingsworth’s perspective.
The Miracle Worker (a play, not a book) told from Helen’s perspective. (“Who the hell is this bitch and why does she keep playing with my hands and hitting me?”)
There’s actually a Peter O’Toole/Richard Roundtree movie from the 70s, Man Friday, on this. It ends with O’Toole becoming Friday’s slave (as opposed to the books- in DeFoe’s first sequel to Robinson Crusoe Friday is killed shortly after rescue).
Sorry, it was a joke. I thought by picking such obscure characters that it would be obvious-- especially since I picked both of them.
Especially since Erie simulposted the same joke with more winking
I would like to read the first *Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever * books from the POV of Lord Mhoram.
Unless I’m also being whoosed, that’s already been written as The Wide Sargasso Sea. It’s also been made into a movie.
On a shallower note, I’d like to see the Harry Potter series from Draco’s POV. The books attempted to show him as this over-priviledged character but he never got away with anything and seemed to get the short end of the stick more often than not. It seemed obvious JK Rowling disliked the character sand she even made a point of pointing out Draco’s “receding hairline” in the epilogue. Of course, I’m sure some thriteen year old has already written it…
Rashomon.
*Death at the Bar * was first narrated by one of the characters and switches to another after the first narrator is murdered. :eek: Not content to let it be, the author finally reveals that the second narrator is the murderer. :eek: :eek:
I came in to mention this. Good book.
In response to the question in the OP, no one book in particular comes to mind for me (though it’s kind of a hobby of mine to read most things from the perspective of the antagonist) but the Grimm brothers spawned a hell of a lot of one-sided stories. All those wicked stepmothers, witches and evil queens… people just aren’t like that! I want to see psychological studies done on these characters.
The author of Wicked has several other similar books, I forget the titles, but there’s one of Cinderella from the view of the step-mother (IIRC, I couldn’t get through it) and a couple of others.
I thought about mentioning this one, but it would basically be his tale of watching the children from behind a window. Sort of like Charlie in “Flowers for Algernon.” It would require a skillful writer.
Harper Lee does give us a glimpse of Boo’s point of view when she has Scout standing on his porch after walking him home in the final pages. It’s an excellent paragraph, starting with “the children” and then after he describes seeing them run to meet Atticus “his children,” and ending with “Summer came and he watched his chldren’s hearts break. Autumn again, and Boo’s children needed him.”
So far, my favorite suggestions are Huck Finn from Jim’s view, and Oliver Twist from Fagin’s. Both would be wonderful, I expect.
There’s almost a genre of hero tales told from the villain’s point of view. Although I’ve not read a bunch of them, I’m guessing that the king of the genre is Grendel.
I was thinking that Treasure Island from Long John Silver’s view would be good, but then I remembered that i’ve watched the Johnny Depp trilogy. It’s been done, more or less.
Hmm. It’s hard to come up with good ones. It might be fun to see the Willy Wonka chocolate factory told from the view of an oompa-loompa, to whom the change in masters is almost insignificant.
Daniel
Indeed it is.
Which is why I’m going for the book of the movie Alien told from the Alien’s point of view.
I was curled up asleep in an egg when a guy in a spacesuit came along and stared at me for simply ages. Then he swallowed me. He and his henchmen kidnapped me and kept me prisoner in the first guy’s stomach on a space ship. After a while I woke up covered in coleslaw (which I so hate btw) so I had to get out of there pretty damn quick and hide somewhere safe. Then I was attacked by a cat…
I want to see the applicable Vorkosigan books (Shards of Honor, Barrayar, and The Warrior’s Apprentice) written from the POV of Bothari.
It would make writing TKAM from “Boo” Radley’s POV look easy, but it would still be a fascinating read, I think.
It’s been done at least once: Renfield
GRRM could have written at least one volume with narration from Sandor Clegane. If he had to scrap Bran or Sansa to make room for it, I could live with that. It would also be interesting to see some Joffrey chapters, though they would have scared away half the fan base.
Atlas Shrugged narrated by the moocher element instead of the Galtists.
Every now an then, I will be channel-surfing, and I will come across a station playing Animal House. As I get older and crankier, I often find myself feeling sympathy for the dean. “Fat, drunk, and stupid, is no way to go through life.” Yes, I know, he was an Evil Authority Figure, but he had a point.
I would like to see Animal House or If… , told from the POV of the schoolmaster.
Mary Stewart’s The Wicked Day was the story of the fall of King Arthur…told from Mordred’s point of view.
Parke Godwin’s Sherwood was the story of Robin Hood… told from the Sheriff of Nottingham’s point of view.
I figured as much. I just thought that on the off chance you weren’t (or there were other people who didn’t get your reference) that I’d cite the play anyway. 