Who is your favorite fictional character from a book and why is it Jack Reacher?

The Narrator. I only chose him (presumably Vonnegut) because Slaughter House Five was the novel that got me to really enjoy reading. Kurt Vonnegut is the greatest American writer (sorry Hemmingway) to have lived. If anyone wishes to challenge me on that, I will send Maj Killer McCoy after you.
 
Bob Lee (Bob the Nailer) Swagger (the book dude, not the movie dude);
I'll 2nd the Tyrion Lannister nomination because of his dry wit and crossbow work;
 
Last edited:
Two "Reacher" books was my limit. I felt like the author was asking me to give "Jack" more credit than he had really earned. Have not seen the movie, and it is not on my "gotta see" list.

Finishing up " Smiley's People" by John LeCarre. I like the way George lets the room/event come to him. Having seen Gary Oldman in "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" helps too.
 
Two "Reacher" books was my limit. I felt like the author was asking me to give "Jack" more credit than he had really earned. Have not seen the movie, and it is not on my "gotta see" list.

Finishing up " Smiley's People" by John LeCarre. I like the way George lets the room/event come to him. Having seen Gary Oldman in "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" helps too.

I liked the Jack Reacher movie.
 
It's totally okay to drop a foot and 100 pounds from your main character, no one will have issues with that at all.


At the end of the day it's not much different than making your poor man no costume batman style lead character an MP and an officer.
 
The hardest part of the Jack Reacher movie for me was the fact I had read some of the books first... and Cruise did not fit ... at all.

I am not much of a Tom Cruise the guy, fan. Mr. Cruise has done good work as an actor, and I do have to credit him for that. Tom Hanks in "Angels and Demons" added some dimension to some Dan Brown novels. When I read the the "Reacher" novels, the character that I plugged into the story was Wes Studi, or maybe Kurt Russell ( a la Wyatt Earp/Tombstone). I'll just have to see if Mr.Cruise can measure up.
 
I am not much of a Tom Cruise the guy, fan. Mr. Cruise has done good work as an actor, and I do have to credit him for that. Tom Hanks in "Angels and Demons" added some dimension to some Dan Brown novels. When I read the the "Reacher" novels, the character that I plugged into the story was Wes Studi, or maybe Kurt Russell ( a la Wyatt Earp/Tombstone). I'll just have to see if Mr.Cruise can measure up.

J, it's basically a matter of size and demeanor.... Reacher is physically huge in the books, and intelligent, but not wordy... both of these traits are reversed by casting Tom Cruise. I would have gone with Ving Rhames, or Jason Stratham... the race thing would have been an easier stretch with Mr. Rhames.
 
J, it's basically a matter of size and demeanor.... Reacher is physically huge in the books, and intelligent, but not wordy... both of these traits are reversed by casting Tom Cruise.

They definitely made him too wordy. I think Josh Brolin or a beefed up Timothy Olyphant (he gets my vote because of how much I liked Justified) would have done alright on screen.
 
As for the Jack Reacher movie, I have not read any of the books, and personally like Tom Cruise movies. So it was entertaining. I have no idea what it is like when compared to the books. Most movies don't stack up to the book version i.e.: Starship Troopers, The Giver, Enders Game....et al.
 
Mack Bolan? :-)

I don't read much fiction and aside from the afore mentioned Curious George, I remember reading some of those books and liking him while growing up. Wonder what I'd think today?
 
Back
Top