Top ten evil narrators

Leo Benedictus was born in London and graduated from Oxford University. He worked as an advertising copywriter and as a freelance sub-editor for the Guardian. His work on immigration issues has earned him widespread recognition: his article “London: The World in One City” won the Amnesty International UK Media Award (2005) and the Race in the Media Award (2006). His work has appeared in Prospect, The Observer, The New Statesman, The London Review of Books and The Literary Review.

Benedictus’s debut novel The Afterparty was long-listed for the 2011 Desmond Elliott Prize. His second novel is Consent (in the UK and Commonwealth, and Read Me in the US and elsewhere).

One of the author's ten top evil narrators, as shared at the Guardian:

Patrick Bateman in American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

Bateman represents a hated stereotype: the late-80s plutocrat, greedy and indifferent to others. And he does embody those things, but what gets forgotten is the unhappiness. Being Bateman is an endless, looping anxiety nightmare of missed reservations and unreturned videotapes, of the effort to feel superior, just to feel OK. It’s the best book on this list, in my opinion.

Read about the other entries on the list.

American Psycho appears on A.F. Brady's list of seven literary anti-heroes who expose the underbelly of New York City, John O'Connell's top ten list of kitchens in literature, Seth Grahame-Smith's list of six favorite books about literal and metaphorical monsters, Ginni Chen's list of the eight grinchiest characters in literature, Whitney Collins's top sixteen list of totally awesome books that every Gen Xer needs, Chrissie Gruebel's top six list of fictional fashion icons, Jonathan Lee's list of the ten best office dramas in print and on screen, John Mullan's lists of ten of the best bankers in literature and ten of the best zoos in literature, Richard Gwyn's list of ten books in which things end badly, Nick Brooks' top ten list of literary murderers and Chris Power's list of his six top books on the 1980s. It is a book that Nick Cross "Finished Reading but Wanted My Time Back Afterwards."

--Marshal Zeringue