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hsimone wrote:What are your thoughts about Alex? Is he likable? Not likable? What do you think about the way he spends money? Treats women? Overall, personality?

Alex is a very sympathetic character. After all, he lived in an orphanage since he was a newborn and never knew his parents or his real name.

Liberating the poor and needy with our substance is a Christlike service and I like this young man for his generosity and love for his fellow man.

I agree with Pm7lucas. Alex is indeed immature. I dare say that this is an under statement. Alex is an over grown child and children don't want to cause trouble. They just detest restrain.

Though I wouldn't call him 'likable,' Alex is a very realistic character who reminded me of people in my own life. He's immature and impulsive, which makes sense considering his childhood.

he is likable basing on his age

I could not relate to him so I won't judge but I think his actions are justified by his age. He was definitely complex that one.

Not necessarily, but if they are not likeable at first, it should have that sweet strained feeling, and at the end they should definitely be liable

Mmmh. I think from his action he created in me the curious tendency and sparked my imagination while reading. I liked him . He might be likable to other readers too.

Imagine after a life of struggle homelessness and then you hit a jackpot. What would you do?
I recently heard from a friend that if you want to kill someone especially who has been struggling, give him or her a lot of money, he will destroy himself with the money.
When you see Alex in restaurants overeating, you will understand where he is coming from.
Well his character is identical to many people who have hit a jackpot. Though I see a person who is keen to help others in need.
I admire him in his exploits.

The problem for me was how emotionless his narration was. He seemed like someone who, ultimately, didn't care about the consequences of his actions. And, if he's supposed to be as intelligent as he's described in the beginning then why does he keep making ridiculously bad decisions? I really did not like this character.

I'm having conflicting feelings about him. I don't exactly dislike him but I feel like only half of our moral values are aligned.

Intelligent, handsome, full of money and seemingly willing to give a large sum away to the poor! Maybe that's why all the young ladies in the novel seem to fall for him. Seriously speaking, I would like him not to reflect teenagers nowadays so much, but unfortunately he does.

The common opinion here seems to be that Alex is immature and somewhat unlikeable. Although I agree with the immature part, I think this was very true form for an eighteen year old guy. I actually found him quite likable. He immediately refused to take money from hardworking people no matter how much they had. He only targeted those who gain their riches illegally. He was definitely wishy-washy in his relationships but, again, typical of a teen male. I was frustrated him in his dealings with Eva and I really hate to read anything about characters cheating but it seemed very real because of it. And as the book progresses he does seem to understand more that actions have consequences.

I did feel sorry for him because he was an orphan and was returned by two families but I felt most sorry for him because he had no one to turn to when he was struggling. Role models have a huge impact on the development of children and teens into responsible adults and he had very limited role models who really could lead him in the right direction.

I find him to be a likeable character, a modern day Robin Hood. His humble beginnings made him more sensitive to peoples problems. And the fact that instead of being a delinquent, like many in the same boat as him, he chose to sturdy and better himself so one day he can be somebody. So yeah he's likeable.

I wasn't sure I'd like Alex from the beginning. The opening chapter where he is contemplating killing himself because of how badly he messed up turned me off. I've read books that start like that where we find out the main character brought most of the hardship on himself/herself. Alex is no exception--no simpathy for self-inflicted wounds. He had good intentions for the money and wound up doing stuff for himself. He treated Eva terribly. Alex makes a string of bad choices that lead to him ending up in the situation at the book's end, but by the time he realized how dumb he'd been, I didn't care enough about him to applaud his realization. I guess it depends on one's definition of likable, but I don't really like Alex.