Shattered: A Memoir

From acclaimed author and playwright Hanif Kureishi comes an urgent and stunning medical memoir about rebuilding a new life in the wake of devastating physical loss. In late 2022, in Rome, Hanif Kureishi had a fall. When he came to, he realized he could no longer walk. He could do nothing without the help of others and required constant care in a hospital. So began a yearlong odyssey 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 hold a pen, he began to dictate to family members the words that formed in his head―thoughts on his life-altering spinal cord injury, but also parenthood, immigration, sex, psychoanalysis, and, of course, writing. The result was an extraordinary series of dispatches from his hospital bed: a diary of a life in pieces, recorded with rare honesty, humor, and verve. Shattered takes these 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 also animated by new feelings of gratitude, humility, and love. In these dispatches, Kureishi confronts his new reality with the tools he knows best―observation, wit, and relentless inquiry: Unflinching Honesty: A raw, diary-like account of navigating foreign hospitals, the indignities of physical dependency, and the moments of dark humor that make it bearable. Disability and Identity: Kureishi grapples with what it means to be a writer, a father, and a man when the physical self he knew is shattered and must be reassembled. Literary Nonfiction: Experience a master storyteller’s voice―urgent, witty, and profound―as he turns the wreckage of a fall into an extraordinary meditation on loss, gratitude, and love. National Book Critic’s Circle Award Finalist
ASIN: 0063360500
VSKU: BVV.0063360500.A
Condition: Acceptable
Author/Artist:Kureishi, Hanif
Binding: Hardcover
Note: Any images shown are stock photographs and product may differ from what is shown.
Condition Notes: The item is very worn but is perfectly usable. Signs of wear can include aesthetic issues such as scratches, dents, worn and creased covers, folded page corners and minor liquid stains. All pages and the cover are intact, but the dust cover may be missing. Pages may include moderate to heavy amount of notes and highlighting, but the text is not obscured or unreadable. Page edges may have foxing age related spots and browning . May NOT include discs, access code or other supplemental materials.