The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

by Jean-Dominique Bauby | Gay & Lesbian |
ISBN: 0375401156 Global Overview for this book
Registered by busybooklover on 6/12/2004
Buy from one of these Booksellers:
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This book is in the wild! This Book is Currently in the Wild!
6 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by busybooklover on Saturday, June 12, 2004
I LOVED this little book SO much I picked up an extra copy at a booksale today just to start a BOOKRING with it!!! I was with my buddy EllyMae58 who will lead off the Bookring... I won't advertise it until she has read it... I got it simply because I am eager to share what I felt was a very nice book about "locked in syndrome" and a man's courage to tell his story despite the challenge of being able only to communicate by blinking one eye.

Journal Entry 2 by busybooklover at on Saturday, June 12, 2004
Released on Saturday, June 12, 2004 at Given to another bookcrosser in n/a, n/a Controlled Releases.

Gave to my good BC buddy Ellymae58 to start off a bookring!~ :-)

Journal Entry 3 by EllyMae58 from El Cajon, California USA on Sunday, June 13, 2004
"Caught" this directly from BBL on our starting-to-be-a-regular-thing-hanging-out-and-book-bargain-shopping day! :)

I'm going to read this in the next week, so the bookring can have a nice start. Plus, I've heard such neat things about this book, my interest has been piqued!!

Thanks for all the fun, Mary!!

Journal Entry 4 by EllyMae58 from El Cajon, California USA on Sunday, June 13, 2004
I thought I would include a picture of the author, as well as his biography.

In 1995, Jean-Dominique Bauby was the editor-in-chief of French Elle, the father of two young children, 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 in March 1997.

His book is a lasting testament to his life.

Additionally, if you click here, you can view a short clip of him dictating two words.

Journal Entry 5 by EllyMae58 from El Cajon, California USA on Monday, June 21, 2004
I really wanted to like this book. Mostly I feel sort of ambivalent about it. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't something I'll rave over either. It was mostly depressing. The stories were all over the place to me, but then again, that could be because that's the way his mind was going while he was in the hospital. His story is fascinating however: how me managed to dictate this book despite being incapacitated.

Sure makes you think about your life, though, and how we take things for granted. I can't imagine being a prisoner in my own body.

The picture above is Berck-Sur-Mer, the location in France where the author's hospital was located. I'd like to think the big building in the foreground is the hospital, but I have no idea.

Journal Entry 6 by PokPok from Vista, California USA on Sunday, June 27, 2004
Thank you BBL and ellymae for passing this on to me at our meetup. I did a virtual bookbox recently, and this book was donated. Nearly every participant wanted to read it, so I thought I'd grab it and start a bookray. I'm not sure if I'll read it first, as I suspect I will also find it depressing, but I would like to see what others think.

Journal Entry 7 by PokPok from Vista, California USA on Monday, July 5, 2004
Suprisingly enough (or perhaps not so), no one responded on the boards wanting a bookring for this. I think that's because someone else offerred it within the last few weeks. However, I've asked a few of my buds if they're interested in a "take your time, pass on within 3 months or so" bookring. So far, there's interest from:

illinicheme
weeblet
fsr44

I'll send it out next time I go to the post office...which may not be for a few weeks.

Release planned for Thursday, August 12, 2004 at Controlled Release in Controlled release, to another bookcrosser Controlled Releases.

I'm sorry this has taken me forever to mail out. I've been ultra busy. Anyway, the "take your time" bookray will now start, with "take your time mailing" as well!! Enjoy, my friends!

Pokpok

Journal Entry 9 by illinicheme from Novato, California USA on Wednesday, August 18, 2004
Arrived the other day. Thanks PokPok!

Journal Entry 10 by illinicheme from Novato, California USA on Saturday, August 28, 2004
I liked Bauby's style of using a series of vignettes and short essays to tell his story. No one could really begin to understand his ordeal, but the little glimpses he gives the reader are touching, full of equal parts hope and despair.

I agree with ellymae58 that the most fascinating part of this book is thinking about how he dictated it letter by letter.

I'll be passing along to weeblet once I receive an address.

Thanks!

Journal Entry 11 by weeblet from Jacksonville, Florida USA on Friday, September 10, 2004
got it! but i'm afraid i won't be taking my time- i'm gonna start tonight, so there!

Journal Entry 12 by fsr44 from Pawtucket, Rhode Island USA on Monday, January 17, 2005
Received today from Weeblet. I have one book in front of it (and it's a doozie...550 more pages to go!) but then I'll get right to this.
Thanks.

Journal Entry 13 by fsr44 from Pawtucket, Rhode Island USA on Tuesday, January 25, 2005
PokPok, I recommend you give this little book a try! I approached it with some trepidation, as I thought it might be depressing, and I wasn't up for that. Strangely, while it is sad, I didn't really find it depressing. I thought its depiction of the resilience of the human spirit in the worst of circumstances was awe-inspiring.
It will only take you a couple of hours to read it, and I think you'll find it time well spent. Thank you for sharing this book with me.
I'll be sending this on to PokPok, but I'll hold it for a couple of days because I think "World of Rome" is going back to her, too, and if I finish that one I can send them together.

Journal Entry 14 by fsr44 at LaSalette Shrine in Attleboro, Massachusetts USA on Wednesday, April 6, 2005

Released 18 yrs ago (4/6/2005 UTC) at LaSalette Shrine in Attleboro, Massachusetts USA

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

RELEASE NOTES:

Left at the base of the Holy Stairs.
http://www.lasalette-shrine.org/photogallery2.htm

My Mom went to LaSalette to pray for my Dad when he was a POW during WWII. Her prayers were answered. I hope this book's finder's prayers are as well.
This book is part of "Cody's Release" in honor of my Dad.
See this article for more details:
http://www.bookcrossing.com/articles/1675

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