Authors who use confusing names for characters

Yes, this annoys me too Farmor15

And me. Characters need to be clear.
In particular I don't like books which keep having flashbacks. The book I'm reading at the moment keeps harking back to the past and is really annoying. I might not bother to finish it.

The most confusing one for names that I have read was Dr Zhivargo. The characters seemed to have several names each.

I also have an issue with too many characters introduced too quickly - it’s too easy to lose track of who is who. Admittedly it doesn’t help that I’m a very fast reader.

I’m irritated by conversations which don’t state clearly who is speaking and I have to go back to figure out who is who.

It annoys me too. Why, when you’re inventing the characters, can’t you give them names starting with different letters?

I take it none of you have read A Song of Ice and Fire or Fire and Blood then (the books upon which Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon are based)? Confusion over names is a major part of those!

I recently read a book with the obsession about butter the main character was called Rika and her best friend was called Reiko.

It was a Japanese book.

I did feel that her editor could have pointed out the similarity is confusing.

I don’t think an author would get away with Susan and Suzanne for example.

Reader I did not finish the book.

Ilovecheese

The most confusing one for names that I have read was Dr Zhivargo. The characters seemed to have several names each.

Well if you are writing about Russian characters, it’s unsurprising to use the Russian style of name with patronymic.

Whatever you do don’t read 100 Years of Solitude 😂