QAs..plz

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Manhattan Prep is notorious for bad verbal questions. "but, in a life irony as subtle yet piercing as those..." Really? A life irony? Makes no sense.

What exactly is meaning of this phrase "in a life irony as subtle yet piercing as those endured by his characters".
In general if we are not able to get meaning in exam, how do we answer those questions.

Thank you

That is a good question.

Actually, the best thing to do is to get the gist of the sentence: the subject, the verb, what it does and the contrast we do have, if any....

In this case

James Joyce, the author of many novels, including Finnegans Wake, saw deeply into the hearts of his characters, but, in a life irony as subtle yet piercing as those endured by his characters, he himself could barely _________ text well enough to proof his own galleys.

Jame Joyce = subject

saw deeply into the hearts of his characters= actually the verb and what it did >>> depicted in someway people

he himself could barely = contrast >>>>>>>> in real life he did basically the contrary what he did in his novels.

In other words, he described people very well but in real life he barely what ? barely depicted or distinguished what to do.

E is the answer and A is the only close word to E

This is the way you should have a thought process when you do not see the meaning of the sentence fully

I hope this helps

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