Wilmet, the main character in Barbara Pym’s novel A Glass of Blessings, after spending a frustrating afternoon with do-gooder Mary, observes that wicked people were often much more fun to be with. I believe that if Wilmet were a real person, she and I would be friends: she is observant and honest, sometimes funny, sometimes disappointed. She never takes herself too seriously. Good friends and good novelists have a lot in common: they show you a world that you want to be a part of, and they let you care about what happens. Isn’t that what we really want?
Pym, Barbara. A Glass of Blessings. Harper & Row, 1980, p. 84.