wow.
have you heard the story behind this book? the story of the author? In the 90's Jean-Do Bauby was a hot shot editor and journalist for France's Elle Magazine. At age 44 he suffered a massive stroke which threw him into a comma, and as he surfaced out of the comma he found himself in a new world...locked in his own body, completely conscious but unable to move, paralyzed from head to toe...a situation the medical world terms as "locked-in syndrome."
The diving bell we learn is his body, and the flight of his thoughts, his imagination, his consciousness, is the butterfly.
It is incredible to know that this entire memoir was dictated by him blinking his left eye. Someone would read each letter of the alphabet and he'd blink on the letter he wanted...letter by letter, word by word, sentence by sentence....blinking. can you imagine?!!
this book and story is worth every letter of ink that is printed. what an achievement. how humbling and touching.
the movie is also beautiful. shot on film and with no cgi, the layers of exposure and simple camera tricks are truly inspiring.
again, wow.
if you want to learn more, grab this url:
http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/06/15/reviews/970615.mallon.html
this story may be old news on blockbuster shelves, but it is one that made a strong impression on me and such a story i've wanted to ramble about for some time.
i love these kind of stories, stories that entertain on the surface and at the end give you a sucker punch with a deeper allegory. when last page is turned or credits have scrolled you are then left to put all the symbols and puzzle pieces together.
no country for old men. a rough and tough texas drug deal gone wrong with a psycho pathetic killer snuffing out anything in his path, and an old town sheriff that's just getting too old for the work....it is so much more than that. the author asks us questions of apocalyptic tale. How far can evil go? will evil truly prevail in our last days on earth? (survival of the fittest) is there no longer room for the old man that holds onto good values? are we all subject and victims to death and evil's fate?
it may not be the most uplifting story, but it is one that opens your eyes.
book and movie alike do an excellent job in telling the stories. both use their media to leave you with questions and reasons to ponder where we as a human race are at, and where we are going. it's got a good guy, a bad guy, and a guy in between, which one are you?
2 comments:
delurking to say I love your blog. Also to add that the text is tooo light and I think I've gone blind trying to read the text! I hope you don't take offense to that- I love to read your blog as well as look at the fabulous photos but find that difficult to do.
Hey Duston,
Just wanted to pass on some compliments from friends who've read our blog. I put up some of the photos of our sealing, and we've had people just raving about how great the photos are and how much they love them. I thought you might like to know that. How's life on the other side of the mountains?
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