In this brilliantly written account, Gabriele von Arnim writes dramatically, intimately and laconically about living with and in her husband’s condition, telling the story of a life ravaged, of dying and loneliness.
After her husband’s two strokes, Gabriele von Arnim spent ten years living with him and his disability. It is not his brain’s speech centre, but his articulation centre that has been affected. He can find the right words, but they sound like small exploding firecrackers. In this literary text, the well-known journalist and author describes the fine line between caring and encroachment, affection and bossiness. When do attempts to help end in humiliating degradation? When does self-sacrifice become merciless? How do you balance out being in the disability as well as being in life? Life is a Transient Condition is a passionate narrative, as cool as it is tender, of a beleaguered life.
"They really do exist, these seconds that change your entire life, that rob you of all certainty and leave you staring emptily into a future you don’t understand."
"In the end, you have read a love story. [...] Von Arnim's language is as precise as it is quiet, each word is carefully chosen – this book unfolds its special power because something truly beautiful emerges from a terrible situation." Neue Zürcher Zeitung
