Overview

From Hanif Kureishi, author of The Buddha of Suburbia, a memoir about the accident that left him paralysed '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.' 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. This book takes these hospital dispatches - edited, expanded and meticulously interwoven with new writing - and charts both a shattering and a reassembling- a new life born of pain and loss, but animated by new feelings - of gratitude, humility and love.

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9780241667958

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No one else casts such a shrewd and gimlet eye on contemporary life

No one else casts such a shrewd and gimlet eye on contemporary life A malign act of bad luck left Hanif paralysed: ‘Divorced from himself’. Before his accident he was gregarious, curious, droll, observant, clever, unostentatiously eloquent and occasionally curmudgeonly. In spite of his horrendous experiences over the last 18 months he's still most of those things, still himself even without the use of his arms, hands and legs . . . 'I will make something of this,' he says of his experiences. And, with the help of those who love him, he's achieved something altogether remarkable -- Richard Eyre

Author Information

Hanif Kureishi grew up in Kent and studied philosophy at King's College London. His novels include The Buddha of Suburbia, which won the Whitbread Prize for Best First Novel, The Black Album, Intimacy and The Last Word. His screenplays include My Beautiful Laundrette, which received an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay, Sammy and Rosie Get Laid and Le Week-End. He has also published several collections of short stories. He has been awarded the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and been translated into thirty-six languages.

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