“On 8 December 1995, Jean-Dominique Bauby, a 42 year old father of two and editor-in-chief of Elle magazine in Paris, sufferd a massive stroke and slipped into a coma. When he regained consciousness three weeks later, he was paralysed, speechless and only able to move one muscle: his left eyelid. Yet his mind remained active and alert as ever. By signalling with his eyelid he ‘dictated’ this book, blinking to indicate each individual letter as an alphabet was repeatedly read to him. Trapped inside his own body, his dispatches are poignant and often wryly humorous. He tells us about his new life in a hospital overlooking the English Channel, the flights of fancy that sustain him, the meals he can only eat in his imagination. And he describes with special care his feelings for his two young children.”
This book is unforgettable. It’s so unbelievable how the author managed to dictate this book by moving only one eyelid that he could have written a description of his hospital ceiling and it would have been remarkable. What he does manage to write leaves you with such a sense of loss that he didn’t live to write more. His book is like a series of essays, recording his current feelings and observations and remembered experiences. The prose is unbearably real, heartbreakingly beautiful.Read more reviews on amazon
