The Library

The Unreliable Narrator

Published March 12, 2015 Submitted by: Miranda

An unreliable narrator is a character who can’t be trusted to tell his or her story with complete accuracy. Whether from ignorance or self-interest, this type of narrator has a distorted view of the events, giving the reader an extra challenge to work out the truth for themselves. One of the more recent examples of this literary device is in Gillian Flynn’s wildly popular thriller, Gone Girl. To find more ways a narrator can trick you, check out these great reads:

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Atonement by Ian McEwan

Find this article at http://thelibrary.org/blogs/article.cfm?aid=3677&lid=45