Finally, you had to measure yourself by other people - there really was nothing else. every now and then, quite unintentionally, someone taught you something about yourself.
Ian McewanThis is the pain-pleasure of having newly adult children; they're innocent and ruthless in forgetting their sweet old dependence.
Ian McewanBut how to do feelings? All very well to write "She felt sad", or describe what a sad person might do, but what of sadness itself, how was that put across so it could be felt in all its lowering immediacy? Even harder was the threat, or the confusion of feeling contradictory things.
Ian Mcewan