Unreliable Narrators

Having an unreliable narrator is one of my favourite narrative devices that authors use and I think this sentiment is shared by lots of bookworms. Never knowing what information you can trust raises the stakes and tension throughout a novel and sets you up for lots of surprises along the way. A lot of the time it’s the negative traits of narrators that can make them unreliable; perhaps their self absorbed, judgemental maybe even psychopathic and this skews their descriptions of the scenes and plot within a book. However, narrators can be unreliable through other traits such as naivety and youth. This is a great way to set up a highly emotive plot structure where we as a reader and our narrator discover how wrong they’ve been about what's going on in the plot. For this week's blog I’ve made a list of some of my favourite unreliable narrators. As a warning, there may be spoilers ahead.

Irina- Boy Parts 

First of all, I would recommend Boy Parts by Eliza Clark to anyone who hasn’t read it yet. Irina is a character who gradually becomes more unhinged the more you read. Clark explores power dynamics, particularly between men, women and sex, through her use of Irina’s narration. To begin with she is a slightly bitchy yet relatable character. She has a very comical, raw narrative voice that feels genuine. However, her views about men and how she mistreats them, including potential murder and dismemberment, is narrated in a similar way which is effective in showing her spiraling mental state. She is a complex and cruel character, who can be both victim and perpetrator. Through her unreliable reporting of the plot she challenges our perspectives of how we expect women to behave in her attempt to regain power. It’s through her being an unreliable narrator that we are taken on that journey with her, whether we want to be or not. Going from finding her relatable to being increasingly horrified does a great job at making us as the reader question our own viewpoints, especially towards the themes of the novel. 

The Narrator- Fight Club 

The opening image of fight club is quite a startling one and tells us straight away that our narrator is going to leave us with lots of questions. The character has a meandering mental state, he is an exhausted, challenged and frustrated man. His certainty about reality is wavering and we are placed in his shoes as a reader. The narrative voice is bright and energetic making it a fun read which makes those shocking moments, and twists, have even more pay off. I genuinely think the book is far better than the film because of this. It is through the unreliable narration that we see the ultimate twist that the reality of the novel hinges on. It’s one of the best uses of the device in my opinion. (sorry for breaking the first rule of f***t c**b)

Bruno- The boy in the Striped Pyjamas

I’m aware that this is a book that a lot of people feel unsure about, however, it is a great example of an unreliable narrator. It is Bruno’s privilege and youth that make him untrustworthy. His awareness of the horrors around him is minimal due to his childish point of view and social status. What makes this more interesting is how we as a reader are so sure of what is happening. We don't need to be told how terrifying and disturbing a death camp is, we already know. This creates a high level of tension when we witness this through a naive child’s eye who is completely unaware of the system of monstrosity that his father is complicit in. This use of narration  makes the ending that much more of a punch in the gut when the reality is discovered by Bruno in the worst way possible. 

Briony- Atonement 

Atonement by Ian McEwan is probably my favourite use of this type of narration. Briony, for a lot of readers, is a hated character and narrator. Within the plot itself her reporting of events is untruthful but also influenced by her age, emotion and privilege. Her love of stories and drama as well her immature naivety skews her perspective of things and makes her ignorant of the real consequences her action may have. It's her narration of the events in the first segment of the book that lead to much of the tragedy. Although, it is worth remembering that we are given multiple viewpoints and, as a reader can comprehend the adult’s interactions far more than Briony can as a child. It could be argued that it’s her misunderstanding of events that makes her so unreliable. This still is by no means a redeeming factor of her character though, as she does have some awareness of reality and chooses to lie or mislead people, leveraging the privileged social standing she has to do so. 

 It is through her unreliable narration within the plot that she becomes the antagonist of the story. It’s made even worse when the factual truth of the plot has been revealed to us at the end, where Briony has lied to us in real life as much as she lies to the characters. This is a very unique and exciting way to use this form of narration, where both within the world of the novel and out of it her unreliability betrays everyone, even us as a reader.