Thursday 1 October 2009

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly


The most moving book I have ever read, by far. It doesn't take long to read but it hits you hard. It is a translation of a french memoir by journalist, Jean-Dominique Bauby, describing his life after a stroke that left him completely paralysed. When he awoke from his coma his only movement was his left eyebrow. Through a clever method using the number of blinks to match each letter of the alphabet, he wrote this detailed account of his life both before and after. The average word took about two minutes to write! Throuhgout the book I could not understand Bauby's patience with his life, considering what it had thrown at him and the patience of those who helped him write this unbelievable account of a shocking yet incredible situation.

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