A review by lori_librarian
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby

5.0

It's short memoir at 126 pages but overflowing with beautiful and ethereal images and stories---mostly small moments that at the time didn't seem important, but are given special precedence or gravity as the narrator is in bed paralyzed with "locked-in syndrome." (Active mind, ability to see and hear, but no ability to move or talk). The book is dream-like, and some of the vignettes---like the last time he shaved his 93 year old father---brought me to tears. The diving bell is his current life---a life where he is trapped inside a somewhat useless body. But his thoughts? "My mind takes flight like a butterfly." It's beautiful and full of hope.