Why Do You Hate Me? – Top Ten Mean Girls In Books

This is a great idea for a list. The Broke and The Bookish present, The Top Ten Mean Girls In Books. This was a fun, but difficult list. It was a stretch for me to get to ten. Because of a couple of the girls I chose there might be minor spoilers while describing them, but hopefully none of them give away too much. In no particular order…

1. Galinda from Wicked. Galinda at first is the typical popular girl and school who makes life difficult for Elphaba, the girl who doesn’t fit in. I really like Galinda, however. She learns real life lessons from her time with Elphaba.

2. Serena Joy from The Handmaid’s Tale. Serena Joy fought for a world that has now subjugated her; taken away all her power and recognition. She fought for a world that has made her into little more than an object. How could she do that to herself and to every woman?

3. Lucy Steele from Sense and Sensibility. I think most people who have read S&S love to hate Lucy Steele. She manipulative and cunning. She’s so mean to Elinor, who doesn’t deserve it.

4. Kitty Bennet from Pride and Prejudice. I almost couldn’t decide between Kitty and Caroline Bingley. Caroline at least wasn’t Lizzy & Jane’s sister! Kitty is self-centred and is constantly looking at herself as better than her sisters, when it clearly isn’t the case.

5. Bernice from The Year Of The Flood. I know Ren and Amanda did a bad thing to her family, but Bernice was never a really good friend to Ren. She pushed Ren around a lot, controlled her, then got jealous when Amanda came along. I thought Bernice’s behaviour was terrible, but there was obviously no parental guidance. Maybe I wouldn’t dislike her so much if she had just let Ren apologize or something when they met again later in life. I almost didn’t include her, but she was definitely a mean girl.

6. Cuckoo from The Good Earth. I always wonder why people in the lower classes try to best each other instead of working together.

7. Prince Ronald from The Paper Bag Princess. Okay, I know he’s not a mean girl. He’s a mean boy. Princess Elizabeth goes through all the trouble of rescuing him and he turns out to be entirely superficial. The Paper Bag Princess was on my list of books I want to see turn into movies, but I can see why they haven’t made this into a movie. Not everyone will want to see the male lead be a loser in the end.

8. Arlene from the Southern Vampire Mysteries. This probably only makes sense if you’ve read up to at least the eighth book, but you would especially need to read the ninth. If you’ve never read the books and only watched the television series, you’re probably wondering what I’m talking about. Let’s just say, if you were Sookie, you’d want to do more than punch Arlene.

9. The Seeker/Lacey from The Host. Stephenie Meyer has a knack for creating really annoying female characters. The Seeker is supposed to help Wanderer. Instead she just infuriates her. By the end you wonder if it was really The Seeker’s personality coming through or Lacey’s annoying behaviour that drove The Seeker crazy.

10. Elinor Sherman from Shopaholic Ties The Knot. Elinor Sherman isn’t a mean girl, she’s a mean adult. She is a nightmarish mother/mother-in-law. Elinor Sherman wants her son, Luke Brandon, to be more like her and is constantly on the watch, wondering if loveable Becky Bloomwood is just in it for the money. You’d cross your fingers that your boyfriend/husband wasn’t into spending a lot of time with his mother.

I enjoy and author who can create such hated characters. These girls definitely deserve a good punch.

Who are your favourite mean girls?