U

U is for ‘Ursula’.
The mother in ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’, she is the wife of Colonel Buendia and along with her husband, the founder of Macondo. This book is so unreal that certain events are almost believable. Ursula oversees six out of the seven generations of Buendias covered in this book, she is over a hundred years of age.
I loved her devotion towards her old and senile husband and towards her many strange kids and grandkids. She was an intelligent woman, she found a way from Macondo to the outside world when no one else could. She took stray waif-like children in, she was kind. And like a lot of other characters in the book, she was quite a bit of magic. Ursula, although the name has an evil tone to it, was a woman of great strength; she reminds me of my Grandma.

The author and the book

So far: Atticus, Beth, Cassius, Dumbledore, Estella, Francesca, Gandalf, Humbert, Ishmael, Jean-Baptiste, Kali, Long John Silver & Lisbeth, Miu, Nancy, Oliver, Piyali, Quentin, Rebecca, Scarlett, Tita

I'm writing every day of April for the A-to-Z April Blogging Challenge 2012. I'm writing of characters of fiction that are immortal and touch hundreds of lives everyday...

Q

Q is for 'Quentin'.
Darling Uncle Quentin, crazy and adorable. The Famous Five, the most brilliant Enid Blyton, these names will only fill my heart with joy and bring to mind glorious summer days of childhood, emulating the children in the book. We rode bicycles, hiked out in the sun, splashed water on the beach, camped out in the crannies of fallen trees; yes, I grew up in a seaside town...
Quentin, father of George and uncle to Julian, Dick, and Anne, was a crazy scientist. He hated loud noises made by kids, the ruckuc of nighttime escapades, and the loud barking of Timmy, the dog. Every family has a Quentin, the immersed in work and lost to the world character. He loved his family, especially his wife Fanny, but he just couldn't cope with interruptions in his intense calculations.
While the kids nabbed wicked criminals and solved mysteries, Uncle Quentin was lost, with his head in the clouds! Every kid must be fed on a diet of at least one Enid Blyton a month for 3 - 4 years!

George, Timmy, Anne, Julian, and Dick

So far: Atticus, Beth, Cassius, Dumbledore, Estella, Francesca, Gandalf, Humbert, Ishmael, Jean-Baptiste, Kali, Long John Silver & Lisbeth, Miu, Nancy, Oliver, Piyali

I'm writing every day of April for the A-to-Z April Blogging Challenge 2012. I'm writing of characters of fiction that are immortal and touch hundreds of lives everyday...

O

O is for ‘Oliver’.

I read Oliver Twist a long time ago, when I was a child myself. I was horror-struck by the little orphan’s life in a massive city like London. He endures a miserable existence in a workhouse and is then placed with an undertaker. He also meets the Artful Dodger, leader of a gang of juvenile pickpockets. Oliver is led to the lair of their elderly criminal trainer Fagin, naively unaware of their unlawful activities.

Apparently, in the Dickens era, there were a large number of orphan kids found around London, something that led to The Waif Crisis. Eventually, of course, all is well. The criminals are behind bars and the awful people are reduced to the same sordid conditions that they had subjected little kids to. Dickens is dark, but not the kind of dark that only adults can deal with. Characters like Oliver, David Copperfield, Pip are ones that children should be exposed to. It is a good way to acquaint them to the real world, which has people like Estella, Fagin, and Pegotty.

Oliver in the cruel warehouse

So far: Atticus, Beth, Cassius, Dumbledore, Estella, Francesca, Gandalf, Humbert, Ishmael, Jean-Baptiste, Kali, Long John Silver & Lisbeth, Miu, Nancy

I'm writing every day of April for the A-to-Z April Blogging Challenge 2012. I'm writing of characters of fiction that are immortal and touch hundreds of lives everyday...

F

F is for 'Francesca'.
I have gushed about The Bridges of Madison County here. It is the only so-called cheesy story that has ever moved me to tears. Francesca's character is practical and poetic; a simple farm wife from Iowa has to be both. When she meets Kincaid (in my eyes he competes with Rhett!), her life goes upside-down. She is a true woman, loves with boundless passion and sacrifices without tears. She is strong not for herself, but for her family. She thinks less of her own self and stolidly bears love and pain. I think she must have been an Aquarian :P

Cedar Bridge, Madison County, Iowa

For those of you that read a lot will surely find some time to read this book. And even those don't read much will fin this a very easy read, that will not weigh down your mind. A word of caution though: Francesca might touch you in a way so that you may never be the same again. I have never been...