Book Review- The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Title: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Author: Jean-Dominique Bauby Genre: Memoir Published: 1997 Read: 2021 Rating: 3/5

Summary

The book is a memoir by Jean-Dominique Bauby, the once editor-in-chief of the French magazine Elle. The book is a reflection on his life as he lay in coma after a massive stroke rendered him helpless with locked-in syndrome. Jean was left completely physically paralyzed, with the exception of his head and eyes which he could move a little. His own mind was trapped inside a motionless body, and he had no way of communicating with the outside world except for blinking his left eyelid. As the minutes dragged every day, Jean observed everything around him and had various thoughts and feelings about his condition. But the betrayal of his body meant he was helpless in expressing them. However, he was a journalist and it was not in his blood to keep new information hidden. He decided to chronicle his thoughts and that’s how this book came to fruition. He dictated the entire book by blinking his left eyelid to choose a letter, while a transcriber recited a French language frequency-ordered alphabet(E, S, A, R, I, N, T, U, L, etc.). It took 200,000 blinks over 4 hours each day spanning a period of 10 months to finish the book.

My Thoughts

The book was short at 132 pages. This hadn’t actually been on my TBR pile but I picked this up near the end of December to complete my haul of 100 books in 2021. And I am glad I did. The book describes the challenges and frustrations of being trapped in a body which is technically still alive, but it forces you to question whether living that way is even living at all. Over the course of the entire book, I kept feeling a deep sense of gratitude for being alive and well. The part where he recalls moments spent with his family before the stroke and then talks about spending time with his family in the present moment where he is barely a participant, filled me with a sense of melancholy and nostalgia for the life he had lived. It is also noteworthy to read his attempt at keeping his identity and memory alive by writing monthly letters when people far and wide start referring to him as being in a “vegetative state”. It forced me to think about how fragile life is and the fear that all humans inherently have within themselves, the fear of being forgotten.

I would personally recommend you to read this book if you want to have a little reality check and dwell on the frailty of life. It does a good job of forcing us to think that life is a combination of tiny moments that come together and all of that can change in an instant. It’s not a book for the faint-hearted; there’s sorrow and suffering but well, one thing is for sure- it’s very real.