UKC

What books/characters would come to mind for you if asked to name which come to mind for "strong female protagonist"?

In reply to Flicka@work:
Lyra from the 'His Dark Materials' trilogy

In reply to Flicka@work:

Eliza of Qwghlm but only cos I've been ploughing through the Baroque Cycle for months now.

In reply to Flicka@work:

Elvenbane, Northern Lights, Mirror of her dreams.

In reply to Flicka@work:

Morvern Callar (from 'Morvern Callar' by Alan Warner), 'Amber' in Ali Smith's 'The Accidental', Boise from Joanne Harris's 'Five Quarters of the Orange' (I mention this one as I've just read it)

will be back with more once I've had a think.

In reply to CJD:

Cool, the more the merrier!
Two reasons for this thread:
1)interested in who people identify as strong female protagonists
2)gives a source of ideas for possible near future reads (when have finished current pile of library books!)

In reply to Flicka@work:

oo, you've got me thinking now!

In reply to Flicka@work:

Matilda
Sophie (BFG girl, I think that was her name)

In reply to Flicka@work:

Anything by Jeanette Winterson.

Alexander McCall Smith - No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency and 44 Scotland Street series both have strong female leads.

Atonement

In reply to thomasadixon:

Actually maybe not Mirror of her dreams - she wavers between strong and weak all through the book, which is half the point of the story. Comes out as strong at the end...hmm. Definately Elvenbane though.

In reply to Flicka@work:

Liesel in The Book Thief. Comes to mind because I have just read it. Clare in The Time Travellers Wife...not necessarily the main protagonist but a key character with a lot of strength. Both Mariam and Layla in One Thousand Splendid Suns.

There is something else on the tip of my tongue that I have read recently but neither the name of the book or the character are coming to mind...grr!

In reply to kathrync:

Not the one I was thinking of, but Pelagia in Captain Corelli's Mandolin

In reply to kathrync:

Keep 'em coming, folks! Interesting selection so far

In reply to Flicka@work: The Alien

In reply to Flicka@work:

DS Siobhan Clarke in the Rebus books. Rumour is that when Rebus retires, Rankin will keep writing with her in the main role.

In reply to mike swann:

Oh yea - Alien vs Predator (the books).

Strata (Pratchett)

In reply to Flicka@work:


Nausicaa, Penelope, Circe, Athene

In reply to Flicka@work:

Anna Karenina

In reply to Flicka@work:
The ultimate... Lady Macbeth of course.

Maggie Hobson in Hobson's Choice.

In reply to CJD:

Hmm, I need to read that.

In reply to kathrync:

I got halfway through and got distracted. It's on my list to read this year.

In reply to Flicka@work:

The Colour Purple, Alice Walker

In reply to Erikka:

Byyyyyy HECK!

In reply to Flicka@work:

I realise that Circe may be more of an antagonist than a protagonist, at least in The Odyssey.

Ditto Lady Brenda Last in A Handful of Dust.

Is this only about books? The OP says books/characters. Plenty of strong female protagonists in cinema...

In reply to CJD:

Ditto

I read War and Peace while watching Condors in Patagonia...there wasn't anything easier to go at that I hadn't already read and there wasn't much else to do...I think I need a similar project to tackle Anna Karenina!

I'm re-reading Anne Frank's diary at the moment...there's another strong female protagonist for you, although I'm not sure that really counts as she wasn't fictional....

In reply to Blue Straggler:

a few posts down, Flicka mentions that she needs some inspiration for her next visit to the library. I reckon it's book-orientated.

In reply to kathrync:

oo, Rebecca, in Du Maurier's book of the same name.

a few Thomas Hardy novels spring to mind but I'd rather someone else suggested them. What about Edith Wharton, or Henry James (Portrait of a Lady)? Or the Brontes - The Tenant of Wildfell Hall in particular?

In reply to Flicka@work:

Do they have to be strong throughout or can they develop and waver?

I am thinking of Scarlett O'Hara. Not that I have read Gone With The Wind.

In reply to Flicka@work:

Hanna in the English Patient.

In reply to Flicka@work:

Mrs. Twit

In reply to John Wood:

I've discussed this in the past with the missus re Modesty Blaise.
She reckons she's just a male fantasy figure & it's sexist rubbish
whereas I just think she's James Bond in a dress but bettr written (which admittedly makes it male fantasy but I don't get the sexist bit)

In reply to i.munro:
I'm glad someone else mentioned Modesty Blaise! I think she's a great character - if males really fantasise about women who are competent and decisive that can't be a bad thing. I'd give my eye-teeth to have half her skills.
Admittedly the books could be desribed as a bit kitsch, but I think they're quite well written and I like them.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Can develop throughout! If they end stronger than they begin, that's good. E.g. Marianne Flowers in Yesterday's Houses by Mavis Cheek (recently finished reading).

In reply to CJD: Have read Anna Karenina cos I had to for Eng lit degree, was a good read though! (Lots of people didn't bother...) Also enjoyed Middlemarch, by George Eliot, thought Dorothea was strong.

In reply to all:

Cheers and keep 'em coming, am finding this most interesting

In reply to Flicka@work:

I'm gonna come up with some more when I get home and can look at my bookshelves (it's so much easier to think when staring at books!)

In reply to CJD:

Coolio! (Know what you mean, when I posted the thread my mind was pretty well blank of ideas!)

In reply to Flicka@work:

Um, Judith in Clive Barkers Imajica

Most of the women in Anne Rice's Vampire books are "strong" like Mona and Merryk.

Death in The Sandman graphic novels by Neil Gaiman

Granny Weatherwax from Terry Pratchett

In reply to Flicka@work:

Barb wire?

In reply to climbingcritter:

I am surprise that no one has mentioned Elisabeth Bennett or Becky Sharp, although it is fairly likely that Flicka has already read P&P and Vanity Fair.

In reply to kamala:

As brainless 'thriller' type books go I think the're hard to beat. Quite suprised theere's only been one attempt at a film.
I take it you (in contrast to my missus) didn't find that 'no woman would ever think or behave like that'.

In reply to Flicka@work: The lead from Iain Bank's "The Business". Can't recall her name though!

In reply to i.munro:
quite a lot of Iain (m) banks books have strong female leads..
one I'm not going to mention as its a spoiler
the buisness
whit
excession
a song of stone

probably a couple more as well, oh of course,

canal dreams

there are strong female characters in a lot of
ursula k le guinn's stuff - especially the "hainish" ones

In reply to Flicka@work:

Th 2 ladies from "fries green tomatoes...." - although this might be a rare one where the film is better.

Boda and Sybil Jones from Pollen - http://www.amazon.com/Pollen-Jeff-Noon/dp/0517599902

In recent reading - the Night watch by sarah waters has 3 strong female leads and - half of a yellow sun is hel together by its female characters.

In reply to Flicka@work:

Briony Tallis in Ian McEwan's 'Atonement'.
Anyone said Jane Eyre, Jane Austen's eponymous Emma, almost all of DH Laurence's women, Bathshebe Everdene in Far From the Madding Crowd.

In reply to Flicka@work:

Off the top of my head...

Granny Weatherwax (Terry Pratchett's witches books)
Molly (William Gibson's Neuromancer series)
Sharrow (Iain M Banks, Against a Dark Background)
Death and Rose Walker (Neil Gaiman's Sandman)

But then I tend to forget "proper" literature characters far too quickly.

In reply to Flicka@work:

Not an obvious choice, perhaps, but Nicola Six in London Fields (Martin Amis). A dark, rather twisted and manipulative character but all the same, very compelling and a definite force to be reckoned with....

And I like Lucy in JM Coetzee's Disgrace; resisting the march of progress, the threat of being pushed off her land. The things that happen to her are horrible and perhaps her way of dealing with it isn't inspiring, but she shows a determination that's hugely appealing.

In reply to Flicka@work:

Oh just thought - if you want a great fun female character try the final confessions of mabel stark - she's totally fab

***************************************************
In the 1910s and 1920s, when circus was the most popular form of entertainment in North America, Mabel Stark made her name in a man’s world as the greatest female tiger trainer in history, the centre-ring finale act for the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus. Brazen, courageous, obsessed with tigers and sexually eccentric, Stark survived a dozen severe maulings — and five husbands. Now, at age 80 and about to lose her job, she decides that there is one last thing she needs to do: Mabel Stark wants to confess.
http://www.randomhouse.ca/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780679311324

In reply to Rosie A:


Hmmm, not sure I'd agree about Briony, possibly in the middle section.

How about Clarice Starling in Silence of the Lambs?

In reply to Flicka@work:

Cassandra from 'Middlesex' by Jeffrey Eugenides
Cecile from 'Bonjour Tristesse' by Francoise Sagan
Esther from 'The Bell Jar' by Sylvia Plath

In reply to Flicka@work:

Susan (Death's granddaughter) Terry Pratchett.

My Posse Don't Do Homework
by Louanne Johnson. Doesn't count as it is non fiction, but a good story anyway (Dangerous Minds was the film based on the story)

Women's murder club series by James Patterson
1st to Die
2nd Chance
3rd Degree
4th of July
5th Horseman
6th Target

Kay Scarpetta books by Patricia Cornwell (quite gruesome depends if you like that kind of thing)

Judy Hammer / Virginia West also Patricia Cornwell (Hornets nest, Sothern Cross Isle of Dogs)

In reply to marsbar:

Oh and Coraline by Neil Gaiman.

In reply to Flicka@work:

And you can't forget Friday Next - fantastic heroine in the inspired madness of Jasper Fforde's stuff

Was also thinking of Door in Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere if you're into fantasy although she's not the central character.

In reply to Flicka@work:
Depends what your criteria for strength is, really..... Memorable? Well written? Strong moral purpose? Muscles like the Incredible Hulk?
Toni Morrison and Alice Walker have a strong line in strong female protagonists, as in strong personalities that make their own, tough decisions and deal with what life gives them.
George Eliot: Dorothea in Middlemarch has a quiet strength of purpose and self.
Becky Sharpe in Vanity Fair: sheer determination to survive!
Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing: witty and, like Benedict, prepared to stand for what she believes in rather than follow others.
Loads more coming to mind, as well.... Would be good to include some of the strong female characters in children's books.

In reply to Flicka@work:

Elizabeth Benett - Pride & Prejudice.

Sally Lockhart -the Sally Lockhart detective series (Pullman again)

Cecilia Tallis - Atonement

In reply to practicalcat:

Harriet the Spy!

In reply to i.munro:

Despite being desperately law abiding myself, I find it considerably easier to empathise with MB than with those women I'm told exist who feel naked without makeup!

Anyway, dragging the thread back to less highbrow fiction, there are dozens of strong female leads in detective series of all sorts of qualities. VI Warshawski, the woman in Sue Grafton's books, and many more - they're almost more common than male detectives these days.

(I was never that impressed by Elizabeth Bennett as a strong character. Or perhaps she's strong but muddle-headed...)

In reply to Flicka@work:

Linden Avery in the second (and third) series of The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen Donaldson...

Plus, of course, The First of the Search, although she has got a fairly flowery name - Gossamer Glowlimn... (from the 2nd series)


You won't have heard of this one, but Rae from Robin McKinley's "Sunshine", a rather good vampire book.


Hermione Granger gets Harry Potter out of no end of trouble in the Harry Potter series


Morgaine in CJ Cherryyh's The Chronicles of Morgaine, and Exiles Gate
(two of the best fantasy fiction books you'll ever read - the first is a collection of three books, so four books, really)


Cayce Pollard in William Gibson's Pattern Recognition

Another Morgaine in The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley - as in Arthurian legend.

Andromache in David Gemmel's Troy series

In reply to practicalcat:
Now I've been reading back through the thread to see what other people wrote!
Anna Karenina was an interesting suggestion, as she seems to me to be a study in the effect of social mores and subsequent frustration on an intelligent woman rather than a study of a strong character, IMHO (which I'm more than happy to have challenged).
Definitely agree with Elizabeth Bennett plus many of the other Jane Austen characters, such as the older sister in Sense and Sensibility (whose name I've forgotten - I'm rubbish with names).
Angela Carter's female characters tend to be assertive and strong! Wise Children and Nights at the Circus come to mind. Her interpretations of fairy tales are also pretty empowering for the female characters.

In reply to Flicka@work:

Isabel Archer, Portrait of a Lady. Phwooooooaaaaaaaaar

In reply to Flicka@work:
Offred in The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Attwood
Chris Guthrie in Sunset Song (actually all of the A Scots Quair trilogy) by Lewis Grassic Gibbon
And a second to Morvern in Morvern Callar by Alan Warner as mentioned already by CJD

In reply to:
Buffy the vampire slayer! Definitely some sister moments there

In reply to kamala:

In regard to Elizabeth Benett, she gave up Collins because didn't want to marry him despite the security he would provide. Basically she stood by her principles. Also admitted her flaws, seems a pretty strong character to me

In reply to practicalcat:
Betty from Betty Blue, Phillipe Djian.
Ida Arnold from Brighton Rock

In reply to morbh:

Was just thinking of Atwood.

Edible Woman, Alias Grace, The Blind Assasin.. all strong female leads.

In reply to Removed User:
I won't deny she had her good points, but the way she dithered about Darcy seemed a bit missish to me. I suppose it's partly a question of how strong we want 'strong' to be.

I'm trying now to think of any *lead* female in a novel who could be definitely described as weak. Any suggestions?

In reply to Flicka@work:

queen elisabeth I

laura croft

jenna jameson

erin brockawitz

that ugly bird that sails boats alone