Shattered

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

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