The most unlikable people I've ever read about: Man Who Loved Children

100+ pages (of 500), 3+ chapters (of 10 I think, the chapters are long), and that's as far as I'm ever going to go in Christina Stead's "The Man Who Loved Children." I wouldn't say it's a horrible book. In fact, I can see how some might say it's a great book. The writing is smart and compelling and funny at times, the family and the long-gone community (Georgetown in the 1940s when it was not so posh) are beautifully evoked, and I'm sure that Stead accomplished her goal of creating a vivid portrait of a nasty husband and a bitter wife, fighting it out to the end and the rest of the world, their six children included, be damned. I'm not getting to the end. These are the most unpleasant, unlikable people I've ever read about. There are books about serial killers and despots and psychopaths - but none is as awful as this one, because what makes those characters frightening and distinct is the world they're set against - they're unique, they're the freaks. Stead's world is populated by horrors, by Gargoyles - except for the children, and you have to wonder how that could be - what happens to them between childhood and adulthood? No matter, her world isn't real - it's some kind of projection of the horror she must have felt inside. What a sad woman, lonely woman (I'm guessing - haven't read anything about her life). That's the kindest way I can put it. I suffered one book review in which the writer said he loved my story (thanks) but hated the characters - uh oh. I love my characters - all authors feel that way, I think. Why write about hateful people except in satire or low comedy? I don't know. The real question is: why read about them?