Suspending Belief

Couldn't stop reading We Need to Talk About Kevin until I finished it last night. It's a very good book. Horrible, and fascinating and certainly makes you think. I was most struck by the way it made me feel, vividly, for the characters, getting frustrated and angry on their behalf. I also failed to predict the ending- big surprise. I think there must be a few reasons for my willingness to be led up the garden path by authors, as I'd like to think I'm not so easily fooled in real life. For one thing, if the book is great, I will read as fast as possible, simply leaving no time to consider events carefully. Additionally, there's something about fiction that makes me want to give in to artistic licence and suspend belief for the duration of the story. You surrender completely to the judgement and indiviudal perspective of the narrator that is offered to you. Of course there are other factors, different points of view; yet we rarely acknowledge these in real life, let alone in what is meant to be a leisure activity. Personally, I relish the surprise, the slow realisation that I have been played; full of admiration for the creator of such literary tricks. Then again, maybe I am especially gullible. Anyway, it was a great book, one that continued to get better, while tackling a taboo topic that few have dared to touch.

Am I the only one blind to twists and turns, or do you experience this as well?