Now Tell us: Who is your fav Fiction Character?

I have read Toni Morrison's Beloved (you know I'm a fan already!) and absolutely find it hard to get Beloved, the character, the Baby Ghost off my mind. Not my fault, Morrison did a fantastic job with that character even as she made her stride both worlds of the living and the dead.

Now come to Africa, there's a way Ben Okri (though most of his stories seem plot-driven) makes his character a part of you--you can literally touch them; almost believe that they live very close to you. Now, that's good writing. If you've read Famished Road, and know the Abiku child; you will understand what mean.

Final example--Kainene in Chimamanda's Half of a Yellow Sun was a strong one for me. Though not the stereotype African woman--she shows that there are no limits; that the only limits to being who you want to be exists, not really in the society, but in your mind. After closing the last page of the book, I dreamt of Kainene, I joined in the search for her, in my mind. Somehow, I think I still search for her!

Now, you tell us--who is your favourite fiction character? Why do you love them?

Love is...

Toni Morrison is a beautiful writer whose work hangs on your neck till you are through; she uses language in such a creative way and that's one of the reasons I call her a writer's writer. Here is what love is in Bluest Eye:

Love is never any better than the lover. Wicked people love wickedly, violent people love violently, weak people love weakly, stupid people love stupidly, but the love of a free man is never safe. There is no gift for the Beloved

I put this up on Facebook and got loads of responses...

I think love gets people tickled a lot asides all the sweet things that they say about it; I also think it hurts a lot. The subject of 'love's hurt' made my buy a book recently and I paraprased thosed lines on y FB status; the responses were intriguing. Here it is:

Love hurts...not because it wants to but because it is love's nature to hurt (just as it is the nature of a scorpion to sting): it hurts when you give off a part of you, let alone all of you.

So, what does love mean to you? Share with us your best love quotes and ideals, in fiction or reality.