The Likability of Characters

I've been running into what seems like a trend lately and I'm really questioning it. Authors seem to be making their main characters a little more unlikable. Why? To create complexity or because they don't realize that their character is off-putting? Really, this question can't be solved unless we were to talk to every author who has created an unlikable character. Even then, it'd be a little awkward to ask them why their character is asking for a death wish and they didn't even mean for that to happen.

So my real question is if you all like more complex characters. For me, I think there can be a range of the likability or unlikability of a character. 

Universally Liked

I'm not saying that everyone who has read this book has liked Alina. Or that she doesn't do wrong or does wrong in later books. But from what I've heard, everyone likes Alina. She's insecure, but becomes stronger. She has to deal with problems and crushes and evil. You can't help liking her. 

Reasonably Flawed

Katniss has her demons. You can't blame her. She lives in an oppressive, dystopian society in which she's picked to fight to the death with 23 other kids her age. During the series, friends die and she's forced to mingle among privileged citizens and her resentment has built up to the point of most likely murder. She's flawed. But in the same way, you sympathize with her and if you're like me, you root for her until your voice gives out. 

Plain Annoying

There are enough annoying people in the world already, I don't need to read a narrative of one. Depending on the annoyance level, I might stick through it, it might not even bother me, or I might DNF it. In the example above, if you saw my review you'd know that I DNF'd it. Yes, ain't nobody got time for that. 

Not-Detrimentally Unlikable

I didn't know if I should put this subcategory before or after the annoying one. Like I said, it depends on the annoyance level. For these kinds of books, usually the character is overall unlikable, not just doing annoying things. My review of Side Effects May Vary will be up soon, but for me, the main character Alice was unlikable, but not horribly so. I didn't root for her, but I didn't hate her. Which leads to...

Hated

I'm still so confused on the book above. My review of this one will be up in the coming weeks as well and I just don't understand. It seems as if the author wanted her character to be unlikable, but hated? I doubt any author would want that. When a character is in the hated subcategory, he/she is doomed. She has probably done repeated (most likely severe) offenses, grated on your nerves, made you cringe more than nails on a chalkboard, or made you feel disgusted. All you have to do after reading a character like the one in Tease is go take a shower. Cleanse yourself from her.

The examples above are only my opinions. I know some people think drastically different, which is why I push you to comment below on what you would put in these subcategories of likability.

Why I actually wrote this post was to see if you liked it when your characters have major flaws. I think every main character has some flaw in their life. The insecurity of Mia in The Princess Diaries, the stubbornness of Celaena in Throne of Glass, or the somewhat snobbiness of Lilac in These Broken Stars. Flaws create dimension and realism. Realistic characters are always needed. But when it comes to repeated offenses or "major" flaws, I wondered how much is too much for all of you?

Note: I'll be at basketball State Championships from today until late Tuesday night. Hopefully, I might be able to check Twitter now and then. But in all likeliness, I won't be able to socialize much until Wednesday (maybe even later if the results turn out depressing). But I'd love to see comments when I return *winks.* Adios!