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Great Novels About Terrible People

If every hero were as gentle and wise as Atticus Finch, every heroine as noble and resourceful as Katniss Everdeen, every villain as dastardly and irredeemable as Lord Voldemort, well . . . we might as well just all watch reruns of "The Brady Bunch" since we'd be living in one simplistic universe. It's easy to write bad books about bad people (I'm looking at YOU, Bret Easton Ellis), but it takes talent and insight to create a complex, attractive, and thoroughly detestable protagonist. And then there's Dreiser.
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The 120 Days of Sodom
The 120 Days of Sodom
1
All the King's Men (Robert Penn Warren)
All the King's Men
2
Robert Penn Warren
An American Tragedy (Theodore Dreiser)
An American Tragedy
3
Theodore Dreiser
And Then There Were None (Agatha Christie)
And Then There Were None
4
Agatha Christie
Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy)
Anna Karenina
5
Leo Tolstoy
Babbitt (Sinclair Lewis)
Babbitt
6
Sinclair Lewis
Blood Meridian (Cormac McCarthy)
Blood Meridian
7
Cormac McCarthy
The Bonfire of the Vanities (Tom Wolfe)
The Bonfire of the Vanities
8
Tom Wolfe
Brighton Rock
Brighton Rock
9
By Nightfall
By Nightfall
10
The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
The Catcher in the Rye
11
J.D. Salinger
A Clockwork Orange (Anthony Burgess)
A Clockwork Orange
12
Anthony Burgess
Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoevsky)
Crime and Punishment
13
Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Day of the Jackal (Frederick Forsyth)
The Day of the Jackal
14
Frederick Forsyth
Death in Venice (Thomas Mann)
Death in Venice
15
Thomas Mann
Double Indemnity
Double Indemnity
16
East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
East of Eden
17
John Steinbeck
Elmer Gantry
Elmer Gantry
18
Fight Club (Chuck Palahniuk)
Fight Club
19
Chuck Palahniuk
The Godfather (Mario Puzo)
The Godfather
20
Mario Puzo
Gone Girl (Gillian Flynn)
Gone Girl
21
Gillian Flynn
Gone With the Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
Gone With the Wind
22
Margaret Mitchell
The Grifters
The Grifters
23
Ironweed (William Kennedy)
Ironweed
24
William Kennedy
Journey to the End of the Night (Louis-Ferdinand Céline)
Journey to the End of the Night
25
Louis-Ferdinand Céline
Last Exit to Brooklyn (Hubert Selby Jr.)
Last Exit to Brooklyn
26
Hubert Selby Jr.
Lolita (Vladimir Nabokov)
Lolita
27
Vladimir Nabokov
Madame Bovary (Gustave Flaubert)
Madame Bovary
28
Gustave Flaubert
My Life as a Man
My Life as a Man
29
Mystic River (Dennis Lehane)
Mystic River
30
Dennis Lehane
Native Son (Richard Wright)
Native Son
31
Richard Wright
No Country for Old Men (Cormac McCarthy)
No Country for Old Men
32
Cormac McCarthy
Perfume (Patrick Suskind)
Perfume
33
Patrick Suskind
The Picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde)
The Picture of Dorian Gray
34
Oscar Wilde
The Postman Always Rings Twice
The Postman Always Rings Twice
35
Requiem for a Dream (Hubert Selby Jr.)
Requiem for a Dream
36
Hubert Selby Jr.
Revolutionary Road (Richard Yates)
Revolutionary Road
37
Richard Yates
Room at the Top
Room at the Top
38
The Shining (Stephen King)
The Shining
39
Stephen King
Solar
Solar
40
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