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By Afifa Anwar
You’ve just finished reading a book. How would you feel? Happy, sad, satisfied, and accomplished? I think the appropriate word is bittersweet.
You have experienced a rollercoaster of emotions throughout the book, and then suddenly you’re at the end. There’s still the thrill of the ride left lingering, but also dissatisfaction with it finishing too quickly, not being able to thoroughly enjoy it because it doesn’t matter when you’ll read it again. It’ll never be like the first time. There is a longing to stay with the characters you’ve fallen in love with for a little bit longer, to continue living in the world they live in. However, there is also happiness. There is the fulfilment that comes with finishing the journey and reaching the destination. There’s also the anticipation of starting a new adventure. One that might be even better.
The emotions a reader feels when they finally close a good book cannot be described to one who has not experienced it for themselves. If you haven’t read ‘The Fault in Our Stars’, you just wouldn’t understand how heart breaking the ending was, no matter how hard the reader tries to explain how it felt. You might get it to some extent, but you wouldn’t feel it like the reader has. For example, when I finished reading the ‘Divergent’ series, I felt an uncontrollable urge to throw the book out of the window because of how frustrating the ending was (we don’t talk about it). Someone who hasn’t read the books would not feel it. Similarly, the fulfilment and joy that I felt when I approached the ending of the ‘Shatter Me’ series cannot be explained to the non-readers with mere words, because they just wouldn’t get it.
When the last page turns, the reader is left feeling a myriad of emotions which is a testament to the power of literature. Ink on paper is capable of breaking hearts or mending them.
Indeed, as Paul Sweeny said, ‘You know you’ve read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend.’
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