The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby (1998, Paperback, Reprint)

I first heard of this through one of my French students who saw a preview of the movie made from this book on a trip home from Europe. We immediately found the book and were "blown away" by this remarkable demonstration of the determination of the human spirit. This is the story of a man who suffers a debilitating stroke resulting in paralysis of his entire body except for his left eyelid. He devises a method of communication with one of his caretakers and writes a book about his experience of having a brain that functions within a completely useless body. The book is incredible and covers a wide range of emotions from joy to despair. I can't wait to see the movie that has been made as it won several awards in Cannes. Read this book. You won't be disappointed! The French title of the book and movie is Le Scaphandre et le Papillon. By the way, the seemingly strange title is completely explained in the book!

This is a poignant story about a man who had it all and suddenly found himself helpless after a stroke. He became totally dependent on others even to write this book. Using a system to blink the alphabet he offers his reflections in a way that shows his true courage and spirit in spite of the many obstacles he must face. As a healthcare professional I recommend it to those who empathize with others in this or similar situations.

"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" is Jean-Dominique Bauby's deeply moving memoir that chronicles his life as he regains consciousness after coming out of a coma that was brought on by a massive stroke. Very rare for a man in his prime of life at age 43 and, even more unusual, is his post-stroke physical state which he describes as "locked-in syndrome"; a condition of almost complete paralysis. Save for his ability to move his head slightly to the right and left and the ability to blink his left eye lid, he is completely inert.
Bauby had been admitted to Berck-sur-Mer, a Naval hospital north of Paris and it is there that he begins working with phyisical therapists and speech pathologists to sustain what his doctors refer to as a "quality of life." At first, not surprisingly, he is riddeled with negative and self defeating thought but after his first couple of weeks in the hospital pass his inner spirit is reignited and he makes a conscious choice to hold fast to what makes him human. This man who had been the editor of the French "Elle" fashion magazine now has that same passion back in him that got him his stature in the publishing industry. While it is beyond his control to be anything other than slothful in body he does reawaken the fire in his mind and zest for life and he puts it to phenominal use.
Through painfully slow and mindnumbing repitition, his speech pathologist at Berck-sur-Mer formulates a communication regimen that invloves her repeating letters of the alphabet in terms of their frequency of use and his blinking at her when she has stated a letter he wants to use which she then records. They form brief sentences just for menial things at first, i.e. is the temperature in his room suitable or does he want his television turned to a different channel, then they form paragraphs and entire conversations. And this communication slowly evolves into the idea of writing (dictating, actually) a book about his experiences; the playboy he once was, the Elle editor, his relations with past lovers, his children, his friends, his life with the incurable locked-in syndrome and most importantly he dictates of his most fond memories and his refusal to let go of his imagination.
This memoir has a beauty to it that flows like great poetry. It is very intimate and highly descriptive. There is one instance where he describes the frustration of having a fly land on his nose, the inability to shew it away and the inability to alert anyone else to do it for him. The books title is all poetry as well. His "Diving Bell" symbolizes the claustrophobic feeling of being totally paralyzed (it's an antiquated type of diving suit that leaves the person who has donned it almost without the ability for movement), "the Butterfly" is a metaphor, I think, for hope, imagination and joyful times. Instead of being consumed with suicidal thought, he began focusing only on the things which were still availible to him, his "butterfly." Bauby dedicated his book to his children, Theophile and Celeste and to Claude Mendibil whose painstaking contribution allowed his words and sentances to take shape. He described her as "a hardworking girl from the North of England."
Bauby's memoir was published in 1997. Just two days prior to his death. The memoir was put to film in 2007 under the direction of Julian Schnabel. Some chronology was different but much of what's in these pages was used ver batim in the film.

David
11-5-2008

Icompare this book, in terms of what it took to write it (memorizing entire texts and then blinking the individual letters out, with each letter taking 2 minutes) to great physical achievements (the Tour de France, Navy Seal training, climbing Everest, etc.). What an accomplishment ! The moral courage of this author, and the honesty is searing. One of the things I took away from this book is that no situation is hopeless. Also: moments count. The imagination is key. There were small moments, like the man turning off the soccer game, and Bauby not being able to tell him he wanted to still watch it, which really drove me to tears. These are moments in life that are human moments. One "take-away" (I hate that word because it sounds like management-speak) is that each moment, we can choose to treat others well or poorly. Each moment counts. We can take small "vacations" in our own minds. In one sense, we are all condemned to live in this "diving bell" we call a body. As in Platonic philosophy, our soul (the butterfly) is locked in this shell. It is the ghost in the machine. We all can relate to Bauby because we are all human and have the experience of being locked into our (aging, frail) bodies, to a larger or lesser extent. There are multiple lessons in this book. Another lesson is how short life is. There is a sentence in the book that really drove me to tears because it is so sad, but also tells us so much what life is about and how little time we have. The author was talking about a horse that was being bet on. The line goes like this: "the horse represents all the women we never loved, all the risks we will never take". Wow. That hit me like a two-by-four.

I will re-read this book many times. I will take it with me on my journey, in my own "diving bell". Bauby will live on forever.

A man never give up to his sickness. He had great imagination and also a great mind to tell his story

I bought the book, because I was so moved, impressed by the film, which I saw on holiday in England. To think it was written when the only way the author had of comminicating was by blinking his left eye is incredible. The book is inspiring because it shows you that the human spirit is unquenchable. I was also amazed at the patience of the interpreter.
The book and film are among the best I have seen/read in many years.

Never got the item. When I tried to contact the seller through Half.com's site, I never got a response. Weeks later, I got some automatic response from a site the seller runs, and when I tried to voice my concerns there, got multiple seemingly canned responses from the seller.
I would proceed with caution when ordering from this seller.

This was a very well written book, especially since it was written by a man with a brain stem stoke.

I bought this for a friend who had a friend that had exact same stroke paralysis but she wasn't fortunate enough to live as long. Thanks for a good read.

A wonderful and uplifting story--also a quick read. I got this book for a book club that I am in but I would recommend this book regardless. It was well worth the time (plus if you're going to see the movie it is a lot more moving and easier to follow--I think--if you've read the book.)