If your partner notices he or she is competing for your attention and affection, or it is discovered you are keeping the reading a secret,
then feelings of betrayal and infidelity may result.
Through them all we learn finally what Sukhanov thinks must be the meaning
of his life: «And it was only after twenty - three years
of mute crawling through the mud» only after he had
felt the smooth taste
of betrayal on his lips and the chilly weight
of thirty pieces
of silver in his sweaty palm, only after he had learned about the slow fattening
of the soul, the anguish
of wasted chances, the pain
of love slipping away, the soft, horrifying slide into death» yes, it was only
then that the elixir
of life was granted to him and his resurrection assured.»