Pain

Iris is haunted by a lover that left her 30 years ago, and by a suicide bombing that shattered her body 10 years ago. Physical and emotional pain are the themes throughout this novel. It starts out as the story of a rekindled love and then transforms into the study of a marriage and a family. How all lives are consequences of choices, and sometimes you can get stuck on individual choices and play endless blame games. And sometimes you put in the extra effort, to build up and mend people, even if they hurt you.

This was an easy and engrossing read. I didn't necessarily love it, but I still was hooked to find out the ending of their family story. 3.5

The scene where he learns she's a vegetarian and then forcefully inserts meat into her mouth through a kiss ... I am having been that revolted by a fictional scene in a while.