Top ten injustices inflicted on fictional characters

Jonathan Meres is based in Edinburgh. A former stand-up comedian, he has won a Time Out award for comedy and was nominated for The Perrier Award. Having left behind his stand-up days, Meres now classifies himself as a writer and an actor, strictly in that order.

For the Guardian he shared his top ten books that are so unfair, including:

Matilda by Roald Dahl

When it comes to being treated unfairly, Matilda Wormwood has been there, done that and got the proverbial t-shirt. Well, she would have got the t-shirt, except Miss Trunchbull - a headmistress who makes Mr. Sir from [Louis Sachar's] Holes look like Alan Bennet – and who wreaks revenge on her pupils for the mildest of misdemeanours - would have probably confiscated it. Just as well then for the fragrant Miss Honey. And for Matilda's special powers of course. They always come in handy.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Matilda appears among Sara Jonsson's seven worst fictional kids to babysit, Nicole Hill's ten top fictional tricksters, Chrissie Gruebel's top ten actually insane children’s book characters, Jeremy Strong's ten funniest fictional families, James Dawson's top ten books to get you through high school, and Christopher Timothy's six best books.

--Marshal Zeringue