coraa: (carmen sandiego)
coraa ([personal profile] coraa) wrote2010-10-13 08:09 am

(no subject)

I have a reason for this inquiry, which will be explained in the fullness of time!

I'm looking for suggestions of books with unreliable narrators where the narrator is female (besides Larbalestier's Liar, which I've already got in mind). I'd prefer speculative or historical fiction, but if you have a great example from another genre, by all means share it.

Secondarily, I'd love suggestions of books prominently featuring female liars (or con artists) regardless of whether they're unreliable narrators. Again, speculative or historical fiction preferred, but great examples from other genres would be useful too.

The books don't necessarily have to be good, for what it's worth.

([livejournal.com profile] rachelmanija and [livejournal.com profile] sartorias and I tried to think of examples in the car, but with limited success.)
oursin: Brush the Wandering Hedgehog by the fire (Default)

[personal profile] oursin 2010-10-13 07:02 pm (UTC)(link)
For a wonderful and neglected novel about a female con-artist, I highly recommend G B Stern's The Woman in the Hall - this was published around 1939 which probably told against its making a mark. I will give further thought to the question of unreliable female narrators.
Edited (typo) 2010-10-13 19:07 (UTC)
oursin: Brush the Wandering Hedgehog by the fire (Default)

[personal profile] oursin 2010-10-13 09:19 pm (UTC)(link)
There's at least a couple of Tanith Lees in which, at the very least, what the female narrators think turns out not to be the way things are - The Birthgrave and Electric Forest.

Does 'having amnesia' count? The events of Mary Gentle's Ancient Light rely rather heavily on the narrator having memory problems (I think something to do with long term effects of the accelerated language learning for her job as a diplomat) and not remembering large amounts of what happened in Golden Witchbreed.
legionseagle: Lai Choi San (Default)

[personal profile] legionseagle 2010-10-13 09:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Probably one of the reasons I strongly prefer Golden Witchbreed (though the moment when the static noise stops is supremely chilling in AL).