Characters who change along the way

I have just reviewed The Girl in the Blue Beret by Bobbie Ann Mason. If you would like to read the review on Amazon click here. Many of the other reviewers of this book didn't like the main character. I've heard that type of criticism previously. Most of the members of a book club I was in a few years ago didn't like The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver because they thought the main character of that novel had horrible parenting skills. I can't say this is a poor reason for disliking a book. I stopped watching The Sopranos a few years back because that show had no characters I could like. But as a writer this reaction presents a problem. Characters are only interesting if they are flawed and if they change along the way. I was participating in a church study recently when our minister commented that all good stories have a Christ figure in them. I don't agree with that at all. I think all good stories have a Saul/Paul figure in them, someone who starts out one way and changes. The Girl in the Blue Beret certainly has that.