It really felt like my generation was deprived of a future that we believed was ours. I don't mean some hugely privileged future where we all have gigantic houses. I mean having a job.
Sally RooneyRead
When I read interviews with people like Kevin Barry or Colin Barrett, who I hugely admire, they don't really seem to come up against the question of likeability even though their characters, in some instances, are really horrible.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The likeability of characters can be secondary to their complexity and the admiration for the authors who create them.
Sally Rooney reflects on her admiration for writers like Kevin Barry and Colin Barrett, noting that their characters, despite being unlikable, do not elicit questions of likeability in the authors' works. This observation suggests that depth and authenticity in character creation hold greater significance than superficial appeal, challenging the traditional notion of character assessment in literature.
Themes
LikeabilityCharactersAdmirationAuthenticityLiterature
In practice
Example use cases
In a book club discussion about character development, this quote can illustrate the complexity of unlikable characters.
More from Sally Rooney
All quotes →I find myself consistently drawn to writing about intimacy and the way we construct one another.
Sally RooneyRead
Class is something that I think seriously about and try to organise my politics around. I think there are lots of novels that don't really engage with questions of class at all, and they get less conversation about issues of social privilege than I do. But it's better to try and talk about it and maybe fail.
Sally RooneyRead
I gave myself the small task of writing honestly about the kind of life I knew. I believe there is some value in carrying out that task, however limited.
Sally RooneyRead
Similar quotes
All literature, is, finally autobiographical.
Jorge Luis BorgesRead
I sent The World Well Lost to one editor who rejected it on sight, and then wrote a letter to every other editor in the field warning them against the story, and urging them to reject it on sight without reading it.
Theodore SturgeonRead
He didn't want to please his readers. He wanted to stretch them until they twanged.
Martin AmisRead
Novelists, it seems to me, are the very last people who should be asked to comment on the news of the day, and sooner or later, when they have been pilloried for their views, most of them recognise this.
Hilary MantelRead
Nobody ever asks me why my characters don't text each other. Besides, as soon as you put something 'electronic' in a book, it's already out of date by the time it's published: everything will have changed. Human emotion, on the other hand, will never change.
Judy BlumeRead
A big part of me would be very proud never having anything of mine adapted, because if you want the real experience, there's only one way to get it. You're going to actually have to be a reader.
Jonathan FranzenRead