Inside Hanif Kureishi’s Shattered: A Raw Journey Through Fame, Family, and Fragility
Writing, ideas, and the way his mind works, are the faculties he can hold onto. Kureishi stares directly at the unpleasantness of trauma and dictates all of it as a means to cope. He doesn’t stray away from the helplessness and loneliness he feels, the death of a fellow patient he befriends, and the various medical procedures he undergoes. The constant and valuable faculty of writing echoes throughout Shattered.
Kureishi tells the reader, “I’d like to add that I really enjoy writing these dispatches from my bed. At least I haven’t lost the one thing that was the most valuable to me, which is my ability to express myself (37).”
