An example of a book I recently read that fits the bill on characters perfectly is "Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole.
Ignatius J. Reilly is an unforgettable character. Decked out in a green hunting cap, he barrels around New Orleans meeting people and having misadventures with an Italian cop, a gang of homosexuals, a pornographer, his mother's bowling friends and a revolutionary girl in New York.
After a ridiculous car accident, Ignatius' mother makes him get a job (rather than sitting in the house all day railing against the world and his "valve," which is constantly troubled.) He finds work as a file clerk at a pants factory, where he tries to mobilize the workers to strike, but eventually get fired.
He gets another job as a hot dog vendor and wanders the city getting into trouble with various other characters. I don't want to give away too much if you haven't read it; if you have read it you know there is too much to describe in this small space.
There is no plain character in this book. No one is boring or predictable. Surprisingly, everyone is delightful.
Soon before I started reading this book I had started watching reruns of "The Family Guy." On this show, there's a smart-ass talking baby named Stuie who is always plotting to kill his mother and take over the world.
When I read this book, Stuie's voice was in my head as Ignatius. To me, they are the same kind of character -- always observant, always wise-cracking, great fun to observe but probably wouldn't really be any fun to live with.
In any case, this is a book that has stayed with me because the characters are absolutely unforgetable (no matter how hard you might try.)
As a side note, I must tell you a little about the author of this amazing book. John Kennedy Toole killed himself in his early 30s because he couldn't get his strange novel published.
His mother shopped it around after his death and thankfully was successful. What a shame for the reading public that he could not have held out a little longer and known the success that was waiting for him.
And what a shame for us that we do not get more of his words. But rumor has it that a film version of this book is finally going to be made in 2004, with Drew Barrymore, Lily Tomlin and Will Ferrell, among others. This may be one of those books (like John Irving's "A Prayer for Owen Meany") that just can't be translated to film without disappointment to devoted fans. But I'm willing to give it a try.
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