Shattered
by
80/99
Critics
64/99
Readers
n/a
Scholars
64/99
Rating
95/99
Volume
48/99
Rating
80/99
Volume
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About This Book
On Boxing Day 2022, in Rome, Hanif Kureishi had a fall. When he came to, in a pool of blood, he was horrified to realise he had lost the use of his limbs. He could no longer walk, write or wash himself. He could do nothing without the help of others, and required constant care in a hospital. So began an odyssey of a year through the medical systems of Rome and Italy, with the hope of somehow being able to return home, to his house in London. While confined to a series of hospital wards, he felt compelled to write, but being unable to type or to hold a pen, he began to dictate to family members the words which formed in his head. The result was an extraordinary series of dispatches from his hospital bed – a diary of a life in pieces, recorded with rare honesty, clarity and courage. As Hanif wrote, early on: 'A few days ago, a bomb went off in my life, but this bomb has also shattered the lives of those around me. My partner, my children, my friends.' This book takes these hospital dispatches – edited, expanded and meticulously interwoven with new writing – and charts both a shattering and a a new life born of pain and loss, but animated by new feelings – of gratitude, humility and love.
Preview
Reviews
"The sense of vulnerability is crushing, but it is also one of the characteristics Kureishi reveals about himself that makes him so likable here, and the writing so intimate."
"It's brave of Kureishi and his publishers not to cop out and strike a note of false optimism."
"As with the best of his fiction, Mr."
"Mired in loss and pain, with his perspective still narrowed, Kureishi's preoccupations are primarily nostalgic and scattered, and he knows it ..."
"Refashioning his life after an accident—with grace, dignity, and black humor."
"For all its misery, his ordeal seems to have given him a new access to compassion, forcing him to notice an entire category of people – those who are disabled – who were previously all but invisible to him."
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