Try "The Stars my Destination". A quick, enjoyable (IMHO) read, where the protagonist starts off unlikable and quite literally "The stereotype Common Man", but

Try "The Stars my Destination". A quick, enjoyable (IMHO) read, where the protagonist starts off unlikable and quite literally "The stereotype Common Man", but transforms into interesting. Many Great books have characters like this (just look to some of Dickens' stories). I guess some people's biggest complaints against a lot of popular bad writing is that it is indeed badly written: apart from having ridiculous (or no) plot, there's also no character development, or sometimes not even any character (what does it say about someone if their defining trait is not a part of their personality?). Some of us aren't just bored by unexceptional characters, we are bored by characters that don't change, even if they are "special".