I don’t quite think that’s true though. The main character does know he’s toxic, he’s admitted to it many times in this last chapter even (how he held a gun to Alex’s head, cheated on him, etc) i do agree he’s not a good person but i don’t think he’s irredeemable. He has many problems he needs to work through and he doesn’t understand his own feelings and how to convey them to Alex, but i do think that can be solved. Cole’s main problem is that he is extremely self conscious and is scared Alex will ultimately hate him if he expresses his thoughts, but i don’t think that’s something to hold against him. He also has a right not to want Alex to be a sperm donor, alex did ask him and he should have been prepared for Cole to say no and have a conversation about it instead of just getting mad and walking away. I think they both have problems and it’s not fair to solely blame Cole for it all.
oh shit if he's unlikable what am i lol (⊙…⊙ )
Most mentally ill people act like Cole and I saw myself in him so much so idk I'll say he's pretty realistic. A character doesn't have to have redeeming qualities to be a good character
We hate what reminds us of ourselves ヾ(❀╹◡╹)ﾉ~
Ew. Don’t say that. Do not lump him in with everyone with a mental disability. Also he literally said “there’s something cool about cutting” it was incredibly disturbing that he thought of it that way. And what I mean by irredeemable is that he never learns from his mistakes, he doesn’t grow even after acknowledgement. How is a reader supposed to root for a character that never changes?
So as a legitimate criticism, the author straight up made the main character too unlikeable. And I don’t mean in the sense that he’s annoying, he’s genuinely a bad person with no redeeming qualities so we can’t root for him. If he had a motivation/ awareness of his toxicity we’d be able to hope he gets better but he literally doesn’t, so we just hate him instead.