Character Lounge: Sookie Stackhouse
Sookie Stackhouse: Love her, or love to hate her?
by Saluki & SarahBella
Season 3 of True Blood is picking up steam so SarahBella and I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to talk about the heroine of the series, Sookie Stackhouse. Whether you have read the books or only know her through the television series, our guess is that you have a pretty solid opinion formed about her. She is one of those characters that people seem to either love or hate, so today we are going to explore both sides of the coin.
Saluki’s opinion
After reading all ten books and watching the show, I can’t say that I love Sookie. There are things about her I admire, but on the whole her character, especially in the book, tends to rub me the wrong way.
One big gripe I have with her is the fact that she is totally judgmental. Even the nicest people at one time or another have cruel thoughts about others. Because of her telepathy and the unsavory thoughts she picks up in the minds of others, she seems to take humans as a whole and stick them in the “bad” category because of the thoughts of a few bad apples. I have no doubt that listening to every thought that runs through a person’s mind would be down right depressing at times, but she seems to have no problem casting stones when her own mind is not always the most pleasant place to be. And, I wish she wouldn’t use her telepathy as a crutch. It’s not a disability. I have no doubt it made paying attention in class difficult, and knowing a boy thinks your butt is big or what a friend really things about you has to suck, get over it! There are people with all sorts of social disabilities that over come them without whining and blaming them for every ill in their life. I wish Sookie would do the same.
And good lord, for being a mind reader you would think she would be slightly less clueless about sex. At the age of 25, the whole naive act just didn’t wash with me at all.
That gets us to the next issue – she seems to have no issue being a pawn in a game controlled by men. For all of the independence her Gran tried to teach her, she walks into situations willingly, all the while making a point of telling Eric and Bill she doesn’t need them. If she’s so independent, why in the heck do they keep getting her out of trouble? This whole bit of living her life 75% in the supernatural world yet whining when shit hits the fan just doesn’t fly with me. IMO she needs to be in or out. I’m not saying she should give in and become a vampire. I just think she needs to make peace with the fact that she has chosen to put herself smack dab in the thick of the supernatural world and deal with it.
There are good things about Sookie, don’t get me wrong. In fact, I really like the way they have developed her character in the show so far. I think they have done a great job balancing her more annoying characters by making her smarter, funnier, and stronger than she’s portrayed in the books. Sure, she still gets in her share of trouble, but the story just wouldn’t work if she didn’t find herself in scrapes because of her involvement with the super natural world. Maybe I’m being to harsh. I don’t know, perhaps a second read through of the books would give me a more favorable impression of Sookie.
What do you think? Agree…Disagree? Please, let me know and comment below!
SarahBella’s opinion:
I’m gonna just put this out there, I love Sookie Stackhouse. Now, I haven’t seen the show, but I have read all of the books. Her internal monologue is killer. She is so ridiculously funny that I can’t help but laugh my way through each book. She is sarcastic and a little bit bitchy – traits I can relate to.
I love that she is loyal to her family, to a fault even. She doesn’t care when someone tells her she can’t do something, she just does it regardless. I also adore the fact that, for once, we have a heroine who is ‘real sized’. She’s not a size two, not drop dead gorgeous, not completely perfect. I love that she is confident without being vain, and still has her moments of insecurity.
She does get a bit whiny and ‘woe is me’ on occasion, but who doesn’t? I think it makes her character more realistic and relatable. She screws up – frequently – but she’s not afraid to try and when she does get herself in a bind, she holds her own against supernatural beings most humans would quake in fear of.
Due in part to her telepathy, Sookie knows better than most what to expect from other people, which leads to her mistrust of most humans. She’s spent most of her life being mistreated and emotionally abused by the general public.
Her entire life has been a series of let downs, starting with her parent’s deaths, to her grandmother’s death, her boyfriend cheating, then being abandoned by her closest (human) friends. And that’s on top of the generally crappy way most people treat her. Sookie has learned not to set her expectations too high -but she still has a generally positive outlook on life.
On the other hand, she tends not to learn from her mistakes and she always gives people a second chance, whether they deserve one or not. She also has slightly whorish tendencies, hopping from guy to guy – Bill, Eric, Alcide, Quinn. The books wouldn’t be any less interesting if Sookie gave monogamy a try.
So, what do you think? Sookie Stackhouse – love her, or love to hate her?
LOL – whorish tendencies? Eh, yeah, I’d really hate to know what people thought about a book about my life.
Really wish I could contribute, but I only read the first 2 books about 7 years ago, & I don’t remember too much. :P
Kari, it’s more about the time span dedicated to each guy and how she thinks she’s completely in love with them before she hops into bed with the next. She was madly in love with Bill, then rescuing him even though she was pissed at him, even as she was moving on to Alcide. Somewhere in there she decided she was into Eric – before she was over Alcide…