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  • Mr. Bauby was rather young yet, very vital, with so many interests, and then one day... He tells his story in this slim volume with such humor, so much compassion and thougtfulness and love for others in his life - it is hard to imagine he did it all with the movement of only a portion of one eye as ... Continue

    Mr. Bauby was rather young yet, very vital, with so many interests, and then one day... He tells his story in this slim volume with such humor, so much compassion and thougtfulness and love for others in his life - it is hard to imagine he did it all with the movement of only a portion of one eye as others pointed at an alphabet board for him.

    

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• ― Rzmalchie said on Aug 30, 2009 | Add your feedback

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  • The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

  • This is a story that you won't easily forget. At the very least it will really get you thinking about what it would be like to be trapped in an unresponsive body, only able to use one eye to communicate with the outside world. Considering that is how this book was written makes it all the more ama ... Continue

    This is a story that you won't easily forget. At the very least it will really get you thinking about what it would be like to be trapped in an unresponsive body, only able to use one eye to communicate with the outside world. Considering that is how this book was written makes it all the more amazing.

    

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• ― Readingrat said on Jun 3, 2008 | Add your feedback

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  • The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was a deeply moving book when you realize the background behind the memoir. Jean Dominique Bauby was the editor of "Elle" magazine in France. He was a man with a young family and was known to have a great sense of humor and well liked. Then one day he suffered a s ... Continue

    The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was a deeply moving book when you realize the background behind the memoir. Jean Dominique Bauby was the editor of "Elle" magazine in France. He was a man with a young family and was known to have a great sense of humor and well liked. Then one day he suffered a severe stroke that left him basically a paraplegic, known as "locked in syndrome". He was only able to move his left eye. He lived his last few years completely in his head and wrote this book by dictating each word letter by letter by signaling to his transcriptionist through eye movement. What he left us with is a perfect, touching and vivid portrayal of what his life was like being "locked in" to his own mind.

    

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• ― Icedream said on Feb 27, 2008 | Add your feedback

In 1995, Jean-Dominique Bauby was the editor-in-chief of French Elle, the father of two young childen, a 44-year-old man known and loved for his wit, his style, and his impassioned approach to life. By the end of the year he was also the victim of a rare kind of stroke to the brainstem. After 20 days in a coma, Bauby awoke into a body which had all but stopped working: only his left eye functioned, allowing him to see and, by blinking it, to make clear that his mind was unimpaired. Almost miraculously, he was soon able to express himself in the richest detail: dictating a word at a time, blinking to select each letter as the alphabet was recited to him slowly, over and over again. In the same way, he was able eventually to compose this extraordinary book.

By turns wistful, mischievous, angry, and witty, Bauby bears witness to his determination to live as fully in his mind as he had been able to do in his body. He explains the joy, and deep sadness, of seeing his children and of hearing his aged father's voice on the phone. In magical sequences, he imagines traveling to other places and times and of lying next to the woman he loves. Fed only intravenously, he imagines preparing and tasting the full flavor of delectable dishes. Again and again he returns to an "inexhaustible reservoir of sensations," keeping in touch with himself and the life around him.

Jean-Dominique Bauby died two days after the French publication of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.

This book is a lasting testament to his life.

• disabilityautobiographyBook Club Choicejune2008