Jane Lapotaire

Excellent, touching, witty autobiography. Jane Lapotaire, a classically trained actor, suffered a burst cerebral aneurysm in 2000, and, as she says, 'nearly dying was the easy part'. After five weeks in Intensive Care, Jane was packed off home with a friend to 'get better', but without being told what to expect or how long the brain can take to mend.

I found this a very sad story - professional and personal support failed Jane, and she was left alone to struggle with her physical and mental condition after surgery. Her son couldn't cope with the change in his mother's personality, friends were scared off by her temper, and it took a year before a doctor offered her therapy to deal with the stress of living with brain damage. Outwardly, of course, once the stitches had healed and her hair grown back, people expected Jane to return to 'normal' - but what is normal?

Honest and humorous, Jane has a way with words that makes this difficult subject very easy to read. She puts the reader in her place, so that we are scared when the man in the Tube station chases after her, heckling and bullying because she was 'rude' to another employee; we understand her confusion when so-called friends scream back at her; and every heart-wrenching sob is felt through the words on the page. I was drawn into Jane's world by her friendly style, and stayed hooked on her lyrical language to the very last line: 'Lucky, grateful, slower, fatter and wiser.' An amazing woman.… (more)