Unreliable Narrator

I recently had a long conversation with someone whom I consider to be an "unreliable narrator." She's never quite truthful but never lying, either, and she twists and turns in the wind like a blown sheet that was ripped from a clothesline and trapped in a tree.

I never know what to believe when we talk.

Mostly, I listen. I answer her questions honestly but sometimes they are strange questions. Sometimes I simply laugh at (with?) her. 

Having an unreliable narrator in a book means that the story, if told from that person's point of view, is never quite what it seems. The narrator may be the killer, but is flat-out lying. Notable books with unreliable narrators include Gone Girl, The Catcher in the Rye, The Great Gatsby, and Wuthering Heights. Note that these are classics.

Personally, I do not like unreliable narrators, especially if the only reason they are unreliable is just because. Things need to ultimately make sense in the end, and frequently with unreliable narrators, they do not. At least, not to me.

So what does one do with a friend who is an unreliable narrator? Listen. Joke. Take everything said with a grain of salt - and watch what one says in return, because there's a little bit of a trust issue there, when one is dealing with an unreliable narrator.

An unreliable narrator as a book character is not trustworthy. The narrator is biased, makes mistakes, and lies. This can be from ignorance of self-interest, but still, the book is off balance because of this unreliable narrator. The reader has to work out the truth and try to understand why the unreliable narrator tells the story in a circular (at best) manner. Some people find pleasure in this process as they read.

I do not.

It's different if the narrator is a child, or if it's from a misperception or misunderstanding, and things eventually work themselves out. But being intentionally mislead by the narrator is not something I enjoy.

Having an unreliable narrator as a friend is a different thing for me. I don't dislike this person at all, I like her very much.

Trust is another matter altogether, though.