Talzani's solemn words to Mark in the Kurdistan cave hold significance throughout the novel, as Mark learns that to feel pain is the only way to deal with his horrific experiences he has witnessed as a war photographer. The journey Mark takes, from early on in Manhattan, where he hides pain `when he thought he was alone', to his final act of releasing the bunch of flowers into the Spanish river, show that Mark learns to feel again, and that only through doing this can he accept Colin's death and gain his life back.

Before his breakdown, Mark would not tell Elena or his family what really happened on his trips to far away war-zones. He confided only to his photographer buddies, but couldn't tell Elena what he had witnessed, as he felt that, `One story, one pain, bled into the next and they spilled out until there...