Shattered

From Hanif Kureishi, author of The Buddha of Suburbia, a memoir about the accident that left him paralysed.

‘I’ve never felt tempted to use the word “inspirational” about a book, and promise I never will again, but it’s the only word I can think of to describe Shattered’ Lynn Barber, The Spectator

Imagine your life changing in a second: one minute you are watching the football with a beer, the next you are on the floor in a pool of blood, deprived of the use of your arms and legs. This fall renders you paralysed, robbed of your independence, entirely reliant on others for everything.

This happened to writer Hanif Kureishi on Boxing Day 2022. His account of what happened and its aftermath is a unique, riveting and frequently riotous account of a year-long odyssey home through five hospitals. From despair to hope, rage to courage, it might be the most truthful, and the funniest, medical disaster story ever written.

Review

Extraordinary, unique and unputdownable . . . an exceptional volume as original as Jean-Dominique Bauby’s stroke classic The Diving Bell and the Butterfly [and] as profound and affected as Salman Rushdie’s Knife . . . This fall provoked a rare, and inspiring, defiance . . . Shattered, with its unique authorship, has become a life-saver. For the reader, this compounds the intensity of its witness -- Robert McCrum ― Independent

A thoroughly compelling, and deeply harrowing, account of Kureishi’s life . . . few could write about it with the piercing candour and clarity that Kureishi has done. There is frustration, anger, sometimes despair, but not a trace of self-pity -- Mick Brown ― Daily Telegraph

Raw and earnest . . . Kureishi’s fans will find Shattered wildly inspiring; his singular voice, his bawdy humour, his efforts to create meaning, all so characteristic and moving . . . I can’t wait to read everything he has to write -- Dina Nayeri ― Guardian

An enthralling report on how a person can be forced to reckon with sudden, shocking change . . . Shattered is its own lifeline, and a neat exemplar of what we mean when we describe a book as ‘necessary’: its value for readers is at one with its urgency of expression to the human being drowning in the experience it attempts to redeem . . . It’s impossible not to read Shattered in a spirit of generosity and communion ― Observer, 'Book of the Day'

Kureishi, a taboo-buster since his days as a punk-era playwright, has always hunted for the freedom, even joy, hiding on the other side of shame. He still does . . . Shattered trumpets the strength of his droll and trenchant voice above the ‘random evil stuff’ that ‘can happen to you at any time’ . . . His dispatches from the planet of paralysis draw on the good habits of a writing lifetime ― clarity, comedy, courage, unshockable attentiveness ― to depict a self, and a family, “smashed, remade and altered” . . . Only Kureishi could have rebuilt these pieces of a fractured life so well ― Financial Times

[Shattered is] an authentic depiction of Kureishi’s whirring mind, particularly in the constant alternation of hope and despair . . . At one point, he sternly declares that writing is “not therapy for the writer but entertainment for the reader”. Yet, while the entertainment here is of a complicated kind, Shattered shows, triumphantly, that it’s possible to combine the two -- James Walton ― Daily Telegraph

Shattered is a remarkable tale of resilience - and surprisingly funny . . . Kureishi has always been notable for his scabrous humour and its use here shoves Shattered away from tragedy . . . No matter how ruinous Kureishi's own transformation has been, his resilience and his determination to continue are inspiring. Meanwhile, Shattered offers ample proof of his continuing literary prowess, paralysed or not. "I am determined to keep writing," he says. "It has never mattered to me more." ― iNews

You’d think a book about a paralysed man lying in hospital for a year would be bound to be depressing. It never is. Hanif Kureishi is such an exhilarating writer that you read agog even when he’s describing having his nappies changed . . . The irresistible thing about Kureishi is that he is passionately interested in other people . . . I’ve never felt tempted to use the word ‘inspirational’ about a book, and promise I never will again, but it’s the only word I can think of to describe Shattered ― The Spectator

Shattered is bracingly candid, frequently funny but harrowing too . . . The book shares many points in common with Salman Rushdie’s Knife ― both ferociously eloquent accounts of horrific, bizarre, life-changing events ― but Shattered is bleaker . . . It’s brave of Kureishi and his publishers not to cop out and strike a note of false optimism. They make the reader sit with the unvarnished and unromantic reality of his condition. Kureishi pledges “I will make something of this” and we admire him all the more for knowing it won’t be easy ― The Sunday Times

[Kureishi] is good and bracing company on the page. His book is never boring. He offers frank lessons in resilience, about blowing the sparks that are still visible, about ringing the bells that still can ring ― New York Times

About the Author

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.