|
| 
 enlarge | Author: Jean-dominique Bauby
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: $12.95
Buy New: $7.37
You Save: $5.58 (43%)
New (33) Used (13) from $7.33
Avg. Customer Rating:  147 reviews
Sales Rank: 4459
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 144
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.6
ISBN: 0007790155
Dewey Decimal Number: 362.19681
EAN: 9780307389251
ASIN: 0307389251
Publication Date: November 20, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: GREAT BUY!Brand New From US Distributor! WE ARE A 5 STAR SELLER with OVER 3,500,000 BOOKS SOLD!!! OVER ~ 600,000 FEEDBACKS ~ POSTED!!!
|
| Customer Reviews:
 The Diving Bell & the Butterfly June 5, 2008
An amazing story of human resilience - Jean Dominique Bauby's story is incredible. This memoir was written by Bauby after he suffered a serious stroke which left him completely paralyzed except for the ability to blink one eye. A true testament to the human spirit.
Just when you think "nothing can top this........." May 19, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
We collect stories of Extraordinary Comebacks, and occasionally, we say to ourselves, 'nothing can top this.' Then, along comes The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Our protagonist, Frenchman Jean-Dominique Bauby, 43, was in the prime of life, editor of Elle, with a sports car, three adoring children, a mistress, and the world by the proverbial tail. In one instant, he suffers a stroke and is submerged in a world where he can understand but not communicate, a victim of "locked-in syndrome" -- as the author states, "a hellish trap as likely as being caught in as winning the lottery."
He says he would be the happiest man if all he could do was swallow. But he can't.
So -- with an active mind that is disconnected from his entire bodily function with the exception that he can blink his left eye -- what does he do? He honors his contract to write a book the only way he can.
By blinking his left eye.
A translator painstakingly repeats letters of the alphabet in order of most frequent use. When the letter he wants comes up, Jean-Do blinks. And so goes the "dictation." And so through this tiny, pinprick-sized hole, his imagination can pour forth -- one letter at a time. his essays on life in the hospital in his new condition, imaginings of his children, gourmet food, events of his past life. Regarding the latter, forever gone in physical reality, but persistently alive in his spirit.
This story is all at once horrifying, uplifting, numbing, life affirming. And finally, heroic. Bauby died just 10 days after his book was published -- it was his mission to communicate, to affirm life itself, that kept him going.
Made into a film by artist and now director Julian Schnabel. Not for the squeamish, but also, not to miss.
 wish i liked it more May 3, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I was so inspired by the premise, and I wondered what beautiful prose a man "locked in" would produce. Unfortunately, I found it average. The most inspirational part of the book was his willpower to write it, in his condition. It is also valuable to note how much he could think under the circumstances.
His situation however, was not unique, though his case was more extreme than most.
His life was not particularly inspirational - he seemed to live for fine cars and fine food and travel. A nice book, but probably more meaningful to his family and friends than the population at large.
Look elsewhere for inspiration.
 Does the Emperor wear no clothes? April 22, 2008
9 out of 15 found this review helpful
This is in review of the english translation by Jeremy Leggatt.
This is a difficult book to review. On the one hand, the chapter in the life of Jean-Do Bauby that this autobiographical piece captures is one which no decent person would wish on another human-being. Let alone imagine themselves having to live out. In this regard, this is a hero story of epic proportions.
But as an author, and as the protagonist of the stories he chose to share, the Jean Bauby of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is something else entirely.
I began the book with infinite amounts of sympathy for the man and his plight. By the end of the book I felt I had just finished reading some of the lower-rated sections of the Michelin Travel Guide.
And this is the troubling part - is a person who reads this book and is left feeling less-than-inspired heartless and unfeeling? Or is the rave reviews of the book more because of the feat and life lived to create it and less because of the book itself?
In the end I was left with the impression that the Jean Bauby as presented in the book was a difficult man to sympathize with. I am not a fan of the Randian hero, so perhaps this flavors my feelings, but I came to feel that the diving bell was no new feature in his life. It just affected his ability to connect and relate to others before it came to afflict his entire body.
Ultimately, as a book, it was disappointing. And as a window into his diving bell, I can only hope or assume that there was more to the man than came through.
For those who knew him, I'm sure it was a gift. But for the rest of us, I think that the emperor is naked.
THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY April 20, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Its one of the few times that the movie adds to the book, both should be experienced and are inspirational
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
