Whenever I find myself caught in the situation of having to explain to someone the book I'm reading, I get nervous. Not because I'm afraid I won't give a good explanation, but rather because explaining The Diving Bell and The Butterfly makes it sound a little freaky. But I promise you, it's not a freaky book. In fact, it's a rather sad story, or at least the story behind the story is. It was because of the this background story, the way the book was written, that I chose to read it.
I saw the movie before starting the book, and I have to say, my exceptions of the book have changed sense I started reading the book. The movie put a certain image and viewpoint of how the story gets played out, that I am discovering is different from my viewpoint. When I reach the next chapter, I'm constantly thinking it will be a different part of the story because of the movie. Or I picture what happens in the movie and then read the same scene only to have completely different feelings about it. I wouldn't call it disappointment, but I am a little upset that I have this preconceived notation in my head. The more I read, the stronger my own ideas form about the book, building new expectations. I think that as I read more, my own expectations will be formed and some meet, but for now I'm in an awkward little spot of comparing it to the movie and creating my own thoughts.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
The Diving Bell and The Butterfly 8.21.08
Jean-Dominique Bauby
The Diving Bell and The Butterfly
1997
For those of you reading this who saw the movie but have not read the book (yet, I hope), like myself, then you are aware of the remarkable way this book or rather memoir was written. Jean-Dominique Bauby was the editor-in-chief of the French Elle and at the age of 43 he suffered from a stroke that resulted in locked-in syndrome. He was a very rare case, because the normality with this syndrome was that you were a step away from being the ever degrading vegetable. Bauby however, was able to blink his left eye. It is through this rare ability that his story unfolds.
Considering his condition he starts the book off quite descriptively, describing everything in his hospital room he is capable of seeing. His personality comes through in his writing as does his perspective on life through one eye. Although I am only a few pages into the story, I can already feel a relationship building between Bauby and the story itself. He begins to truly appreciate so many of the little things in life that the rest of us pass over. His state makes you feel terribly sympathetic towards him but he doesn't write for sympathy, he writes to let others know what has happened. The most amazing and strongest connection that I feel towards the story is the incredible obstacles he jumped to write this. Using his left blinking eye he works with a translator and blinks his way through the French alphabet spelling words and forming sentences letter by letter. The time and patience that must have gone into writing this amazes me. It puts me in a state of awe as I read each little memory he tells, each having a stronger meaning to it then expected.
The Diving Bell and The Butterfly
1997
For those of you reading this who saw the movie but have not read the book (yet, I hope), like myself, then you are aware of the remarkable way this book or rather memoir was written. Jean-Dominique Bauby was the editor-in-chief of the French Elle and at the age of 43 he suffered from a stroke that resulted in locked-in syndrome. He was a very rare case, because the normality with this syndrome was that you were a step away from being the ever degrading vegetable. Bauby however, was able to blink his left eye. It is through this rare ability that his story unfolds.
Considering his condition he starts the book off quite descriptively, describing everything in his hospital room he is capable of seeing. His personality comes through in his writing as does his perspective on life through one eye. Although I am only a few pages into the story, I can already feel a relationship building between Bauby and the story itself. He begins to truly appreciate so many of the little things in life that the rest of us pass over. His state makes you feel terribly sympathetic towards him but he doesn't write for sympathy, he writes to let others know what has happened. The most amazing and strongest connection that I feel towards the story is the incredible obstacles he jumped to write this. Using his left blinking eye he works with a translator and blinks his way through the French alphabet spelling words and forming sentences letter by letter. The time and patience that must have gone into writing this amazes me. It puts me in a state of awe as I read each little memory he tells, each having a stronger meaning to it then expected.
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