11.12.2010

The Diving Bell and The Butterfly - Jean-Dominique Bauby


After 43 year old Jean-Dominique suffered massive stroke he was only left with the ability to blink his left eye. He was a victim of "locked-in syndrome" - aware and awake but unable to move or communicate because of complete paralysis. Then he wrote this book, choosing each letter of each word by blinking his eye.
It's a simple enough system. You read off the alphabet until, with a blink of my eye, I stop you at the letter to be noted.
Bauby's alphabet was ordered differently than the traditional a,b,c. Rather, he used an order that began with the most frequently used letter and digressed to end with the least used letter. In French, this begins with e,s,e. The amount of effort that went into writing this memoir makes it even more powerful, poignant and unique.

The title for The Diving Bell and The Butterfly (Le Scaphandre et Le Papillon) is an analogy Bauby uses for his condition. "A giant invisible diving bell holds [his] whole body prisoner... and [his] mind takes flight like a butterfly." While parts of this memoir are incredibly heartbreaking, the overall tone is hopeful. It is less a lament of Bauby's paralyzed state and more a celebration of the freedom his conscious mind offers. When reliving favorite moments of his past and creating alternate lives, Bauby uses rich descriptions that captures the power of imagination.

This is one of those books that makes you put your life in perspective and reconsider your priorities, both touching and life-affirming.

Publisher: Vintage, 1997

21 comments:

  1. Jean-Dominique Bauby has to be the ugliest name I have heard in a while. I'm not into the tales of brokenness, but this looks pretty decent. Might happen to take a look somewhere down the road.

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  2. Ben! You're not supposed to concentrate on his ugly name! Although I'm sure is sounds better with a thick French accent. They said his friends call him Jean-Do, which isn't bad. Anyhow, I feel like this is more than a story of brokenness. It's not a "woe is me, wah wah wah". It's really quite interesting and very well written.

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  3. I loved this one. It was amazing to me that he took the time to make his phrases so poetic when he was blinking out each letter!

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  4. I'll check it out if I ever come across an opportunity to get it. I'm into the whole "recovery thing"

    Oh and Jean-Do is horrible. Rejean Ducharme is a strong french name

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  5. Rejean Ducharme? You win. Hands down.

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  6. Did you see the movie? Wow. Amazing. And so based on the Law of Book Is Always Better Than Movie, it's not hard to believe the book is quite incredible...

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  7. Scratch what I just said. I just read Bauby's bio on wikipedia. How he wrote the book is just insane. He's the man, I need to read this.

    He still has a bad name, but I'm ready to forgive for cause of "being the fuckin' man"

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  8. Greg, I haven't seen the movie but I want to immediately!

    Ben, Yeah it's pretty amazing. And don't worry about the "recovery thing". He basically spends a year in the hospital with no hope for recovery and then died two days after this novel was published (which isn't a spoiler, it's on the back of the book).

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  9. Yeah, it's another messed up thing with quadriplegia (and other similar syndromes even more than being paralyzed, you have a timer on your life and your body can decide to shut down immediatly

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  10. I have been wondering what this one would be like. Thanks Brenna, your review makes me think it would be a rewarding read.

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  11. This seems like a very powerful book! Thanks for the lovely review. I will definitely pick this up!

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  12. Holy Cow. That is a completely unbelievable story. But it is believable... because it's true! WOW. I feel like I'm going to be telling lots of people about this book today.

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  13. What an amazing story. Thanks for reminding me about this one!

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  14. Do you own this book? I'd like to borrow it.
    Reminds me of Stephen Hawking, who happens to be my hero behind Einstein.

    If you liked this one you should look into this guy who was illiterate for 98 years of his life who ended up learning to read and write. At 104 he wrote a book about his life without reading or writing. A principal at one of my friends graduation ceremony referenced him during her speech, his story is kind of amazing. Most of us are raised to read an write, imagine the different insight on life you would have if you had neither. Ill try and find out his name for you. In fact, I'll buy the book and when I am done I lend it to you.

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  15. You know, I read this a couple years ago and while I thought the fact the memoir existed was amazing, i was underwhelmed by the memoir itself. I hope that makes sense. I guess I just didn't end up liking the person who was talking about his life, even though I thought it was amazing that he was able to find a way to talk about it!

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  16. This is such an interesting book isn't it? I remember feeling exactly the same after reading it, certainly puts things in perspective.

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  17. I read it like 3 years ago, and now i wanna pick it up again. And watch the movie!

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  18. I committed a real crime-- I watched the movie before reading the book. It was such a depressing film, albeit quite an incredible construction, that I couldn't bring myself to read it. I'm glad you posted this review- I'm more inclined to give it a chance now. Also, I've been interested in reading One Day, so I'm really looking forward to your thoughts!

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  19. That is absolutely astounding. I'm going to have to check this one out.

    Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on One Day!

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  20. Thank you for mentioning this book! I'd been meaning to read it! And now I've been reminded. So thanks!

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  21. Good gracious. What an absolute feat to accomplish this -- what about the person who took down each letter?! I pretty much feel that everyone deserves a medal on the creation of this book. Putting it on the list now...

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