An unreliable narrator is a protagonist who cannot be trusted to share events and recollections pertinent to the story accurately. Edgar Allan Poe used this device in the short story The Tell-Tale Heart, where a murderous narrator tries to defend his actions. Charlotte Perkins Gilman wanted to share the dangers of placating women and not believing their health issues in The Yellow Wallpaper, where the narrator has gone mad after being forced on prolonged bed rest for what was likely postpartum depression.
I never realized it until I did a bit more research, but there can be at least three different types of unreliable narrators. According to this article on Reedsy, a Deliberately Unreliable narrator is completely aware of their deception. Amy Dunne from Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl comes to mind with this one. One that is Evasively Unreliable is a character that unconsciously alters the truth. Josie from None of This is True, could fall into this category, along with Charlie from Riley Stager’s Survive the Night. The Naively Unreliable narrator is one that is honest but lacks a traditional, “greater” understanding (think five-year-old Jack in Rebecca Donoghue’s novel, Room.)
I’ve been trying to figure out if I have an unreliable narrator in the manuscript I completed this past year as I put together comp titles for my query letter. The book is about a podcaster trying to solve the disappearance of her sister from a summer camp years earlier. The only descriptions of the missing sister, named Addie, are given through the lens of the protagonist, her younger sister Nikki, and through Addie’s diary entries that are shared throughout the book. Addie is hiding a dangerous secret, so many of these entries are purposefully ambiguous, until the very end of the book, where she finally decides to leave a record of the facts behind. (Of course, this diary has been missing for many years and only the readers are privy to the information until the conclusion). I can’t decide if this makes her a Naively Unreliable narrator or not.
Other books with unreliable narrators include One of Us is Lying by Karen McManus, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins, Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, Life of Pi by Yann Martel, and The Murder of Roger Akroyd by Agatha Christie.
What do you think about using an unreliable narrator as a literary device? What books have you read where you thought it worked well? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Renee Roberson is an award-winning writer currently seeking representation for her suspense/thriller novel, “It’s a Miracle I’m Alive.” She also produces the weekly true crime podcast, “Missing in the Carolinas,” which receives more than 50,000 downloads per year. Learn more at FinishedPages.com and MissingintheCarolinas.com.
