Doing the Heart Good by Neil Bissoondath

Doing the Heart Good

Neil Bissoondath

This book does exactly what it says in the title. I revelled in this memory of a life with all its ordinary and extraordinary details. While I was reading the book its characters were like friends and neighbours.

Extract
So I asked Elliot to speak to me of his blindness. And he slowly withdrew from his hunch - that hunch which comes so naturally to the tall and lanky - until his back was straight, his fingers loosely interlaced on his lap. He smiled.
'I live,' he said 'in a darkness alive with sound. And I dream of seeing that darkness erupt. I dream, Professor, of an understanding of light that goes beyond mere words.'
I never found it necessary to mention his blindness again.
Parallels
  • Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry
  • The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields