Character Analysis
(Avoiding Spoilers)
Living… in a picturesque villa outside of Paris with her three children, Theophile, Celeste, Hortense.
Interests… playing hangman and singing with her children.
Relationship Status… single. Céline never married Jean-Dominique Bauby, the father of her children. He indulged in a series of affairs and ultimately left her for good for a mistress, though he still came around to the house to see the kids.
Challenge… forgiving and helping Jean-Domonique. Six months after leaving Céline, Jean-Dominique suffered a stroke and came down with a rare condition called locked-in syndrome that left him completely paralyzed, able to communicate only by blinking. Céline must visit him in the hospital so that the children can see him. Though she visits to support Jean-Dominique, her time at his hospital bedside inevitably opens up old wounds, as she revisits their relationship and his infidelities. She translates Jean-Dominique’s blinks so that he can communicate to his lover Ines by phone. “Everyday I’m waiting for you,” Céline tells Ines on his behalf.
Personality… kind, loyal, and most of all, forgiving. She swallows the bitterness she feels towards Jean-Dominique and dutifully keeps him company, practicing speech therapy with him and opening and reading aloud his mail. To the best for her abilities she lets the pain he inflicted upon her dissipate, and she recalls the reasons why she fell in love with him in the first place. As she tells him, “You’re the most surprising man I’ve ever met.”
Get to Know her in...
-
Elle France editor Jean-Dominique Bauby, who, in 1995 at the age of 43, suffered a stroke that paralyzed his entire body, except his left eye. Using that eye to blink out his memoir, Bauby eloquently described the aspects of his interior world, from the psychological torment of being trapped inside his body to his imagined stories from lands he'd only visited in his mind.
-
In December 1995, Jean-Dominique Bauby, the 43-year-old editor of French Elle, suffered a massive stroke that left him permanently paralyzed, a victim of “locked in syndrome.” Once known for his gregariousness and wit, Bauby now finds himself imprisoned in an inert body, able to communicate only by blinking his left eye. The miracle is that in doing so he was able to compose this stunningly eloquent memoir.In a voice that is by turns wistful and mischievous, angry and sardonic, Bauby gives us a celebration of the liberating power of consciousness: what it is like to spend a day with his children, to imagine lying in bed beside his wife, to conjure up the flavor of delectable meals even as he is fed through at tube. Most of all, this triumphant book lets us witness an indomitable spirit and share in the pure joy of its own survival. From the Trade Paperback edition.
