Traditionally, the Unlikeable Character in fiction is created with authorial intention. You, as the reader, recognize the cues that the person you’re reading about is alienating or reprehensible, and it’s clear that such characterization is part of author’s aesthetic project… But what if a character isn’t Unlikeable, but unlikeable?  What if you just didn’t like him or her?

Part of the critical and reader response to Edan Lepucki’s California has been aimed at the (un)likeability of her characters. At The Millions, Lepucki examines this response, explores the difference between Unlikeable and just not likeable, and wonders if she would be an unlikeable character, herself.