Rating: Summary: The Wonderful is Painstakingly Evident Review: This could be the only book of its kind. I ran across this 1998 or '99 and read it faster than I read most books. I was enthralled and engaged fully by Bauby's vivid imagination. I wound up raving about this book for years to anyone who would listen. When all you left is imagination and you are gifted with the ability to describe your visions and dreams, you wind up 'writing' a book like this. The kinds of dreams, hopes and emotions Bauby experiences is so incredibly deep, honest and telling. The gift he leaves the reader is their ability to genuinely feel the alienation and abandonment of the world all while feeling at one with body, mind, earth, life, love and death. The thing that you walk away from, after reading this book, is nothing short of an amazing epiphany. UPDATE: I saw that Universal announced they will make this into a movie. To top it off, Johnny Depp will be Bauby. It won't be coming out for two years or so, but it will be worth the wait.
Rating: Summary: Great book - quick read. Review: This short book is easy to read. However, it took an extraordinary effort to write it. Reading it is a humbling and insightful experience. We read of how a man lost all function, except one eyelid. And despite being seemingly imprisoned in a paralyzed body, he still had an active and free mind. Most of the book tells of how he escaped the drudgery of his overall condition and daily routine by traveling the highways of memories within his mind. He not only reflected on life, but continued to live as best as he could. I am thankful that Mr. Bauby shared his experience w/ others. I found it to be humbling, uplifting and humorous reading.
Rating: Summary: Stunningly beautiful glimpse into a nightmare. Review: Wow. This book is beautiful and haunting. You begin the book with the knowledge of Mssr. Bauby's fate. He proceeds to share with us his eloquent and striking observations post-accident. This book is beautifully and concisely written - it's as tight as a drum - and that is a testament more to Bauby's journalistic talents than his impaired condition. An intellectual with a love for opera, music, writing, and food, he comes to life in these pages despite the brevity of the book. We get a decent sense of him prior to his stroke: a man with a full appetite for life. At times, I had to suck in my breath and set the book down to pause, it was so profoundly heartbreaking. He shares with us his deepest, raw thoughts about his daily life, his former lifestyle, his children, the blessings he misses and the pleasures he now looks forward to, as well as the torment he cannot control. A key point, I think, is that throughout the book he sprinkles his persistent sense of humor, and a feeling of hope. It's amazing considering that he is experiencing something we all agree is our worst nightmare. There is no bitterness on these pages, it's more of an honest wistfulness. Like when he says he would have cheerfully killed one of his caretakers for the neglect he suffered at his hands. I will never forget the irony of the photograph from his childhood sent to him by his father; the description of his last day of normal life; the story of Mithra-Grandchamp; the bleakness of his Sundays and how they lend perspective to his other days (and ours); and his trip to smell the French fries. The meaningfulness and importance of the small, everyday events, abilities, and choices we make are cast in a new light after reading this book. But the experience is like having someone open you up and rip out your heart, such is the sympathy we feel for Bauby. In fact, I will likely be haunted by his descriptions of life, both breathtakingly beautiful and immensely sad. What a man. What a book.
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