See Also: CAUSE/EFFECT, SURPRISE

1. As dazed as a man who has just been told he hasn’t long to live —Françoise Sagan
2. Felt amazed, as if the clouds had blown away, as if the bare bones were finally visible —Louise Erdrich

   In Erdrich’s novel, The Beet Queen, the amazed feeling stems from a character’s realization that he is homosexual

3. Felt as if I was being hit by a blast from a giant hair drier —Dominique Lapierre
4. The first shock [of English society] is like a cold plunge —Robert Louis Stevenson
5. He was white and shaken, like a dry martini —P. G. Wodehouse
6. (Then the familiarity of the name … ) hit him like a contract cancellation —William Beechcroft
7. [A brutal murder] shocked me and held onto me as if I’d shaken hands with a live wire —Jonathan Valin
8. The shock … held everybody as in a still photo —Ray Bradbury
9. The shock hit me like a fist under the ribs —David Brierly
10. [Time awareness] shocking a douche of cold water —P. G. Wodehouse
11. Shocking as the realization that you’re not invincible —Elyse Sommer
12. Shocking realization … like a fist knocking the wind out of her —David Leavitt
13. Shock [went through room] like the twang of a bow string —Iris Murdoch
14. The shock numbed him out like a drug —George Garrett
15. (She can) shock you like a lightning bolt at high noon —Aharon Megged
16. Stunned … as if a good boxer had just caught me with a startling left hook and a stultifying right —Norman Mailer
17. The sudden shock striking somewhere inside her chest like an electric bolt —William Styron