Like a novel, [he echoes dryly,] except that in novels it always seems to work out, doesn't it? There's the one single big crisis, and then the pair in love makes it work. The hero of the story doesn't lose their first love in the worst way, doesn't see their second vanish, and then doesn't see their third nearly die three times already while the war is still ongoing.

What are you looking for, Sidony? What's the real question?