The prioritising of story over voice suggests that it's not the aim of Maya's Notebook to plunge the reader into the grim existence of a real-life Maya; this is a tale of revelations and resolutions, and the plot is more answerable to its own turns than to the brutal possibilities of reality.
"The torment of facing each week the possibility of another brutal public flogging is an unimaginable torture.
But his brave and brutal honesty suggests the real possibility of getting a raw deal from brokers when you don't understand where their loyalties lie.
Instead, to their surprise, hundreds of newly trained Afghan National Army troops showed up, averting for now the possibility of a brutal and destructive war.
Did you know global warming is no longer a preventable possibility, but a exceedingly brutal reality?
Cameroonian activists, visibly shaken, scared and apprehensive, were not only shocked by the fact that they had lost a friend and colleague in this brutal manner, but also by the possibility that they might soon be a target.
The violence is brutal, but what is more brutal is the possibility that in another, less traumatised South Africa, love between John and Julie may have been possible.
For others, the possibility of a public loss or of brutal scrutiny by the press is too daunting, so a string of refuseniks has accumulated.
The revolutions of the Arab Spring have not only freed people from oppressive regimes and brutal dictators, but they have also ignited a sense of possibility in a region where true democracy has not existed.
For two years, the planning process has veered back and forth between the possibility of an idea and unenlightened self-interest in its most brutal form.
