Length6h 9m
About this audiobook
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
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 4.3 (1.4K)
Includes Goodreads, Amazon
GenreBiography and Memoir, Philosophy
Length6 hrs 9 mins
Narrated byArt Malik
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateFeb 4, 2025
LanguageEnglish
The Happiest Man on EarthEddie Jaku3h 48m4.6 (178K)$7 · $0.00
MotherlandJulia Ioffe17h 52m4.7 (2.5K)$40 · $0.00
Evidence Not SeenDarlene Deibler Rose11h 11m4.6 (11.9K)$29 · $0.00
Where Cowards Go to DieBenjamin Sledge8h 42m4.7 (351)$20 · $0.00
Will You Love Me?Cathy Glass9h 5m4.6 (9.3K)$29 · $0.00
Designing Terry Pratchett’s DiscworldPaul Kidby3h 52m4.7 (343)$20 · $0.00
HostageEli Sharabi5h 25m4.6 (10.8K)$24 · $0.00
Finding MeViola Davis9h 15m4.6 (256.4K)$29 · $0.00
The Dangerous Truth about Today’s MarijuanaLaura Stack CSP, MBA9h 57m4.7 (385)$20 · $0.00
Birdie & HarlowTaylor Wolfe7h 50m4.6 (6.5K)$26 · $0.00
The Lives of BrianBrian Johnson9h 45m4.6 (3.5K)$29 · $0.00
I Am The StormJanice Dean9h4.6 (1.5K)$8 · $0.00
Black History CollectionFrederick Douglass, Harriet Ann Jacobs, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois27h 9m4.6 (2.6K)$18 · $0.00
Just as I AmCicely Tyson16h 8m4.6 (99K)$33 · $0.00
Unbroken Bonds of BattleJohnny Joey Jones8h 31m4.6 (2.6K)$8 · $0.00
The Daughter of AuschwitzTova Friedman, Malcolm Brabant7h 54m4.6 (16.7K)$26 · $0.00
My Bondage and My Freedom (Annotated)Frederick Douglass15h 30m4.6 (2.4K)$2 · $0.00
Lily's PromiseLily Ebert, Dov Forman8h 54m4.6 (16.1K)$29 · $0.00
CrossroadsKaleb Dahlgren7h 56m4.6 (4.9K)$26 · $0.00
Across the RiverKent Babb11h 40m4.6 (927)$29 · $0.00
IlluminationsWalter Benjamin10h 12m4.4 (16.2K)$20 · $0.00
That Bird Has My WingsJarvis Jay Masters9h 49m4.4 (13.7K)$29 · $0.00
Tâo Teh KingLaozi2h 34m4.4 (230.9K)$2 · $0.00
SymposiumPlato3h 26m4.4 (97.9K)$1.20 · $0.00
Buddhist Boot CampTimber Hawkeye2h 39m4.4 (8.4K)$18 · $0.00
Enchiridion & The Discourses of Epictetus (Annotated)Arrian Epictetus18h 9m4.4 (3.5K)$2 · $0.00
The Meditations of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius AntoninusEmperor of Rome Marcus Aurelius5h 41m4.4 (1.8M)$1 · $0.00
Crime and PunishmentFyodor Dostoevsky23h 11m4.4 (1.3M)$12 · $0.00
MeditationsMarcus Aurelius5h 52m4.4 (433.7K)$1 · $0.00
Everyday DharmaSuneel Gupta5h 2m4.5 (761)$20 · $0.00
The Joyful Wisdom ("La Gaya Scienza")Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche11h 37m4.4 (26.6K)$1 · $0.00
The Art of LivingEpictetus, Sharon Lebell3h 16m4.4 (50.1K)$18 · $0.00
MeditationsEmperor Of Rome Marcus Aurelius7h 23m4.3 (477.5K)$1.20 · $0.00
The Imitation of ChristThomas à Kempis6h 27m4.3 (84.6K)$21 · $0.00
Sadhana: the realisation of lifeRabindranath Tagore3h 49m4.4 (8.6K)$6 · $0.00
SapiensYuval Noah Harari15h 18m4.3 (1.4M) · 1193$33 · $0.00
You BelongSebene Selassie8h 35m4.4 (2.7K)$26 · $0.00
The Song Celestial; Or, Bhagavad-Gîtâ (from the Mahâbhârata)Anonymous2h 18m4.4 (3.2K)$2 · $0.00
The KybalionThe Three Initiates3h 47m4.3 (58.7K)$20 · $0.00
Chuang Tzu: Mystic, Moralist, and Social ReformerZhuangzi14h 42m4.4 (1.2K)$1 · $0.00
You may also like
Losing MusicJohn Cotter7h 5m4.1 (395)$17 · $0.00
The Grieving BodyMary-Frances O'Connor8h 9m4.4 (507)$26 · $0.00
Learning to Speak Alzheimer'sJoanne Koenig-Coste6h 54m4.3 (1.6K)$24 · $0.00
Mindfulness for WarriorsKim Colegrove4h 24m4.4 (299)$15 · $0.00
MadnessMarya Hornbacher9h 43m4.1 (17.9K)$29 · $0.00
The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her MindBarbara K. Lipska, Elaine McArdle9h 46m4.0 (10.3K)$29 · $0.00
Making ToastRoger Rosenblatt3h 22m3.9 (12.7K)$18 · $0.00
Napkin NotesW. Garth Callaghan4h 14m4.2 (1.2K)$20 · $0.00
I'm Just a PersonTig Notaro5h 15m4.1 (15.4K)$24 · $0.00
Until I Say Good-ByeSusan Spencer-Wendel9h 16m4.2 (9.5K)$29 · $0.00
Tell Me Everything You Don't RememberChristine Hyung-Oak Lee7h 26m3.7 (1.6K)$24 · $0.00
PatrimonyPhilip Roth5h 42m4.3 (7.1K)$20 · $0.00
The Courage to HealEllen Bass, Laura Davis25h 33m4.3 (10.4K)$53 · $0.00
Little EarthquakesSarah Mandel7h 43m4.3 (524)$26 · $0.00
Be MineRichard Ford12h 27m4.1 (2.6K)$29 · $0.00
Surviving the First YearImad Muratspahic3h 4m$12 · $0.00
Surviving the Death of a ChildImad Muratspahic2h 49m$12 · $0.00
Unf*ck Your GriefFaith G. Harper, PhD, LPC-S, ACS, ACN3h 16m4.3 (232)$15
Newly Diagnosed BipolarImad Muratspahic3h 52m$12 · $0.00
Breaking Free from FawningDr. Naomi K. Reyes5h 5m$18 · $0.00