A Fraction of the Whole... Still

     A fraction of the whole is a very complex book. It's like many small stories, forced into one complicated long novel. It includes murder, and hospitals, mental asylums, parisian bars, suicide, and lots, LOTS of  philosophy. But even though it includes all of this, the characters are still very-well described and the author makes you feel like you can predict them, but they always surprise you.
   For one Martin, the main characters dad, (although the books about him almost as much as his son) doesn't seem to express any visible emotion. His brother died. After murdering dozens of people, he gets burnt up in  fire, miserably in prison. His parents die, in the same fire as his brother. His role model and close friend jumps off a bridge in the midst of an argument with Martin. A close friend had a heart attack and died,  and after giving birth to their son, his wife kills herself by jumping on a boat and exploding herself. This all seems very overwhelming for the reader. But Martin didn't lose a tear.
     That is, he didn't lose a tear then. But once his baby son grew into a boy, and they live miserably and without meaning, all the tears he never used catch up. When he's on the brink of cracking full-blown into his insanity, it's waterfalls.  Every night and day he's  crying, crying, crying. He attempts (weakly) to hide it from his son, Jasper, and fools himself into thinking he's happy. But that's really not the way to live. It would be horrible to not really be happy, but just pretend to be for the sake of not having to face your problems. But what are his problems?
    Why is he crying now? What, he couldn't waste his tears on the tragic deaths of loved ones, but when his life is in the ruins he cries? I don't think so. This makes him come off as conceited, and really he's not at all. He doesn't think much of himself, and he knows his life is messed up, so I believe ha has the right to cry. But I think his tears mean more than  sadness. They represent an ending.
     After each death, he knew there was more to his life. He was still young when those happened, but even though his life sucked, he knew there were places to visit, people to meet, and things to do. And he could be happy again. But after Anouk comes into Martin and Jaspers life years later, criticizing everything about them,  he knew he had to change his life. But he couldn't. He hit rock bottom, and he knew it.