His understanding of the agony and the ecstasy of manic depression displays a level of empathy for the illness never yet found in a novel, a function perhaps of his friendship with fellow-author David Foster Wallace, a real-life depressive who committed suicide in 2008.

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The delicacy of the hands and mesmerising quickness of the feet, the overwrought facial expressions and rapid shifts in tempo produce a performance in which the distance between ecstasy and agony is barely discernible.

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The sport of horse racing and breeding is one of great agony and ecstasy.

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Her ecstasy and agony are rooted in her romance with the city.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia | Visions of China: Shanghai