Top 5 Wednesday: Characters You WOULDN'T Want to Trade Places With

Top 5 Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Thoughts on Tomes, created by Gingerreadslainey. Check out the Goodreads group here.

There's often speculation as to what character we'd change places with in our favorite books, but what if we take a moment this week to think about the characters we wouldn't want to change places with/ That's the prompt for this week's Top 5 Wednesday and I think I've got some picks you'll agree with wholeheartedly.

Paul Sheldon, Misery

I would love to be a writer. I wouldn't mind being a writer like Paul Sheldon. The man had a super successful romance series that sold millions of copies and made him exceedingly rich. However, I sure as hell wouldn't want to trade place with him in this book because look who he ends up stuck with for the majority of it? Annie freaking Wilkes, that's who. Obsessed fan who kidnaps and maims her favorite author after the death of a beloved character? No thank you, I'll stay poor and a non-writer for now if it keeps me safe from her.

Kamala Khan, Ms. Marvel

I could barely get through high school as a normal kid, but as a super powered kid (she's an Inhuman, right?) it would be damned near impossible. Kamala's got to somehow keep up her normal life while protecting Jersey City from a whole host of problems and then she becomes an Avenger too? Geez Louise, as much as I'd love me some super powers, I would not want the responsibilities that Kamala get along with them.

The Little Boy, The Strange Library

The main character in this book isn't named, if I remember correctly, but that doesn't make his terror any less real. Going to the library, a supposed safe place filled with stories and wonder, only to be kidnapped and held captive with others underground for who knows how long? Um, no thank. Plus, it would ruin my love of reading.

Gigi, Bette, or June, Tiny Pretty Things

I wouldn't want to switch places with any of these girls for a variety of reasons. There's an insane amount of pressure that each faces from different sources, whether it be from a parent, society, or themselves. There is no good for any of them in this book. There's backstabbing, constant self doubt, an insane amount of paranoia. How any of them will make it out of this school alive is beyond me, but I'll have to read the sequel to find out, if I can bear it.

The Small Boy, The Ocean at the End of the Lane

This is another book where the main character is not named, at least not that I can remember. I think that this is a plot device that makes their role even creepier because it makes it that much easier to imagine yourself in their shoes. Now, why would I NOT want to be in the small boy's shoes?

Well, for one thing, his new babysitter is like Dolores Umbridge as a young woman. Oh, and did I mention she nearly incites the boy's father to the murder of his son? And the worm the boy has to pull from a seemingly endless hole in his foot? There are too many psychological horrors in this book and at that age I wouldn't have been sane for long. Heck, I don't think I'd be able to stand his circumstances much at this point in my life either.

The point is, the babysitter character who is some sort of otherworldly creature inflicts all sorts of torture upon a fragile mind and I can say, quite without a doubt, that I would never want to be in that position.

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