The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Back when I was a truly awful, heartless person, I made terrible fun of this book. When I heard on the radio that a French man who was completely paralyzed had written a book by blinking his one eye, I couldn't help ridiculing this. I couldn't imagine the book, or why one would even do such a thing. It was like the blind guy going up Everest or the legless man crossing the country. I wouldn't do either of those things whole, why do them under extreme conditions? These thoughts are almost too humiliating to admit now.

Then, ten years later, the movie of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly came out and this time I only made fun of the fact that it would have to be a terribly boring movie since the protagonist can ONLY BLINK HIS ONE EYE.

But then I accidently saw the movie and...it was simply amazing. You definitely have to be in the right place in your life to get through the movie. It's an extremely powerful portrait of the once-energetic editor-in-chief of ELLE magazine who suffers some sort of sudden brain trauma and wakes up from a coma diagnosed as having "locked-in syndrome" which he reimagines as being in one of those old diving suits (It's translated as a diving bell, but really it's that big, heavy suit that you can't imagine is very useful underwater). It is a sad and powerful movie and I recommend it whole-heartedly (and not just to atone for my small, mean mind from years ago)

So, now I've read the book. Full disclosure, I read it in the original French so I can't comment on any translations, though I will say the writing was so beautiful, I wanted to read slowly.

Jean-Dominique Bauby spends his mornings unable to move at all, painstakingly composing pages of his memoir in his head until the woman who takes dictation arrives. At which point she starts the chant of a specialized alphabet and he blinks when she reaches the letter he wants her to write. Yes, they write an entire book in this manner.

What I was most surprised by, other than the good writing, is the humor. You don't get much of that in the movie (understandably), but how on earth can this man who has lost everything, everything! Who can not even swallow, find the presence of mind to write humorously about his predicament? The chapter The Alphabet is particularly amusing as he describes the types of people who try to decode for him. There are the careless emotives who make constant errors and throw up there hands at their own incompetence, the professorial who will not even begin to guess at the word until he's painstakingly blinked every letter, no matter how obvious the word--though he comes to appreciate these because the "guessers" cause other problems. Once, he was looking for his glasses (lunettes) and he was asked what he wanted with the moon (lune).

It's also interesting that Bauby can retain his sense of humor when all the casual humor is gone from his life. No longer can he make a quick retort. By the time his guest laboriously transcribes what Bauby is trying to say, the original query has lost all meaning and what seemed so witty is left dangling incomprehensibly on the page. He almost prefers the self-centered who come prepared to talk only of themselves.

And he loves simply watching his children and remembering his life before, and traveling in his mind to places he once visited or wishes he had visited, or remembering the tastes of favorite foods (or any foods). We can only hope to be as patient with our lives intact as he becomes with his.

I loved this book and not just because it was triumph of the spirit in face of adversity, but because the writing is beautiful and the story ultimately moving. It's lovely to see the visual represented by the movie (interestingly, Bauby imagines his story as a play and I can say without a doubt that this would make a terrible play. But don't ask me, I have a pretty sketchy track record making predictions about anything related to this book) and then to read the book to really appreciate Jean-Dominique Bauby's voice.

By the way, thanks to my official "followers". It's strangely good for my ego to know you're out there, though I know there are others who read this too.