The symbol of Barcelona's loss was the forlorn, bent, shattered figure of Lionel Messi at the final whistle.
It is, though, in the shattered figure of the novel's protagonist, Zafar, that the book finds its heart.
You see the shattered figure of Rodin's The Thinker in Cleveland, a sculpture blown up by the militant Weathermen, who had links to the Black Power movement.
He has fired projectiles into fruits and vegetables and photographed their exploding flesh, and shattered ceramic figures and delicate flowers to capture their thousands of dispersing shards in midair.
Apple's chief executive, Tim Cook, said: "Sales for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus exceeded our expectations for the launch weekend, and we couldn't be happier," and added that "sell-through" – where phones are bought by end customers, rather than by mobile networks – had shattered previous figures "by a large margin".
Often in this piece gestures that are hauntingly soft-spoken are shattered by jagged figures in which the four lines are intricately woven.
Lewis is well on his way to shattering that figure in 2011".
In the last full year for which data is available, L.A. attracted $1.5 billion in venture capital for its technology startups — and 2014 will shatter that figure.
Writing for the San Francisco Chronicle, Steve Winn derided the film, claiming its lack of a strong lead role caused it to "fall apart like the shattered mirrors that figure in the crimes".
It might be a sentimental look back, but those who grew up in a world before our reverence for authority figures was shattered remember when teachers were regarded as icons of order and trust.
