# Generally speaking, can you enjoy fiction without any sympathetic characters? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 10, 2011, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-can-you-enjoy-fiction-without-any-sympathetic-characters/577884 "2011-04-10T18:28:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2011, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-can-you-enjoy-fiction-without-any-sympathetic-characters/577884/61 "2011-04-13T04:19:30Z")
I need sympathetic characters, but only in the broadest sense of “sympathetic”. - 7 Years in Tibet (movie) was watchable despite the main character being a boring prick, because it was based on a real story and, hey, we’re going to Tibet to meet the Dalai Lama. But I can’t say I “enjoyed” the movie. - Eat Pray Shit (movie) was unwatchable because the main character is a boring prick doing boring, prickish stuff. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2011, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-can-you-enjoy-fiction-without-any-sympathetic-characters/577884/62 "2011-04-13T04:28:15Z")
If they’re loathsome and funny, yes. [_Curb Your Enthusiasm, [Help, a Bear is Eating Me](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2943370-help-a-bear-is-eating-me)_] If they’re loathsome and interesting, yes. [_The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner_, _The Trial of Elizabeth Cree_] If they’re just loathsome, no. [_The Corrections_, _Wuthering Heights_] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generally-speaking-can-you-enjoy-fiction-without-any-sympathetic-characters/577884.md?page=3)