Atef's letters to Mustafa help him cope with the trauma of being a prisoner of war, and on page 103, he thinks, "He will write to Mustafa about this moment ... He will tell him about the ways the world has changed. He can see the blank paper in front of him, his fingers curving instinctively. I'm addicted to this, he wrote a while ago. My confessional." Do you think Atef prefers to be an observer of life rather than a participant? How does his approach to life differ from that of his wife?