Truly inspirational: the hospital diary of Hanif Kureishi

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 or fingers stuck up his bottom.

It all started on Boxing Day 2022 when he was sitting watching television in his girlfriend Isabella’s flat in Rome. He wasn’t drunk, he wasn’t stoned, but suddenly he felt a bit dizzy, put his head between his knees and fell off the sofa. In doing so, he somehow broke his neck and became tetraplegic. As a result, he cannot move his arms or legs, he cannot feed himself or scratch his nose or hold a pen. If he cries, he cannot wipe away his tears. But luckily he can still talk, and that is how he has produced Shattered, by dictating it to his son Carlo. He says: ‘I am determined to keep writing, it has never mattered to me more.’

His narrative starts on 6 January 2023, less than a fortnight after his accident, in the Gemelli Hospital, Rome. For the first few days he was too traumatised to speak, but now his twin sons, Carlo and Sachin, have come to visit and he has decided to dictate his thoughts to Carlo, ‘to give form to this chaos I have fallen into, to stop myself from dying inside’. On 17 January he is moved to a bigger, better hospital, the Santa Lucia, where he is hoisted into a wheelchair and taken to the gym. He has never been to a gym before and loves it. He adores Italian men – the physios are all so handsome – and decides to become an Italian citizen. He also decides to propose to Isabella and, much to his surprise, she accepts.