Talking Books: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

 

 

The miracle of this book is that it was written!

Jean-Dominique Baube was the editor-in-chief of the fashion magazine Elle. He wrote his memoir whilst he was stricken by locked-in syndrome –a condition that left him confined within his own skin and unable to control any movement within his body but his left eye. In fact this entire book was dictated by blinks from his eye. Despite his condition his determination and sharp wit come through.

This book leaves the reader grateful for the things taken for granted everyday –”the pleasures of life” as he calls it– as simple as chewing your food or waving. The author shows how one appreciates blessings when they are taken away, and this memoir sheds light on his unique struggle. Although quite short in length, this book is enlightening.

Baube uses his sarcasm and wit to deflect any sympathy. Although he makes light of his situation he writes his feelings in the rawest form. It is these unexpected presentation of his emotions that are the gems in this book. Nothing is sugar-coated; the account is real, even cynical and pretentiously snobbish.

This book makes you wonder about life. Its genuineness is frighteningly real, and its length is perhaps symbolic of the author’s frailty and the human condition. Nobody knows what the future holds: one must grasp the present before it becomes a memory.

The author contrasts his freedom with his confinement. The book was written is both witty and sad, such as in the depictions of his struggle with “uncooperative deadweight limbs” that only served him “as a source of pain.”

“Whereupon a strange euphoria came over me. Not only was I exiled, paralyzed, mute, half deaf, deprived of all pleasures, and reduced to the existence of a jellyfish, but I was also horrible to behold. There comes a time when the heaping up of calamities brings on uncontrollable nervous laughter – when, after a final blow from fate, we decide to treat it all as a joke.”

The book was originally published in French, and Baube passed away two days after the memoir’s publication. The English translation is simple and poetic.

 

BOOK RECOMMENDATION: The Great Gatsby

This classic embodies the American Dream. It is about Gatsby; a man who socially went from a nobody to everything one could dream of, only to capture Daisy’s eyes. Eloquently written, symbolism overflows throughout. A must-read!

 

By Sana Ashraf | @sanaalikespie