“…so that they might afterwards feel superior to the uneducated people whose emotional journeys they like to read about.” This is how Sally Rooney describes a character’s reaction to a famous author who gives a reading from one of his books. Then, Rooney does something remarkable. On the next page, the character upsets our expectations by doing an emotional about-face. Contradictions are tricky, and in less-skilled hands they seem contrived and unbelievable. In this novel, however, the added complexity makes us gasp and rush to the next page. Cynicism and hope can coexist here, and that is rare — anywhere.
Rooney, Sally. Normal People. Faber & Faber, 2018, p. 221.