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    A Second Wind
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    A Second Wind
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    A Second Wind
    Ebook208 pages2 hours

    A Second Wind

    By Philippe Pozzo di Borgo

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    'He is unbearable, vain, proud, brutal, inconsistent, human. Without him, I would have rotted to death. Abdel looked after me without fail, like I was an infant. Attentive to the smallest detail, present during all my absences, he delivered me when I was a prisoner, protected me when I was weak. He made me laugh when I cried. He is my guardian devil.'

    As the descendent of two prominent, wealthy French families and Director of Pommery Champagnes, Philippe Pozzo di Borgo was not in the habit of asking for help. Then, in 1993, right on the heels of his beloved wife's diagnosis of a terminal illness, a paragliding accident left him a quadriplegic. He was 42 years old and unable to do anything - even feed himself - without help.

    Hidden behind the high walls of his Paris townhouse, Philippe found himself the modern equivalent of an 'untouchable' -- his total paralysis rendered him unable to reach out to others, and seemed to make others afraid to touch or acknowledge him. For the first time, he learned what it felt like to be excluded. The only person who wasn't bothered by Philippe's condition was someone who had been marginalized his entire life - Abdel, the unemployed Algerian immigrant from the outskirts of society who would become Philippe's unlikely caretaker. In between dramas and jokes, he sustained Philippe's life for the next ten years.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster UK
    Release dateSep 13, 2012
    ISBN9781471110498
    Unavailable
    A Second Wind
    Author

    Philippe Pozzo di Borgo

    Philippe Pozzo di Borgo spent his childhood in Paris, London, Amsterdam, Trinidad, Morocco, Algeria and Corsica. He now lives in Essaouira, Morocco. A descendent of both the Ducs Pozzo di Borgo and the Marquises de Vogue, he is the former director of Pommery Champagnes (LVMH). His bestselling memoir Le Second Souffle (Second Wind) served as the basis for the hit French film, Intouchables (Untouchables).

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    Reviews for A Second Wind

    3.5/5

    31 ratings3 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Philippe Pozzo die Borgos ist erfolgreicher Geschäftsführer einer großen Firma, als er mit dem Gleitschirm abstürzt und querschnittsgelähmt bleibt. Er braucht einen Intensivpfleger. Der arbeitslose Ex- Sträfling bekommt den Job und gibt Philippe seine Lebensfreude zurück.Phillipes Umfeld kann es nicht nachvollziehen, was er von dem Ex-Sträfling hält und verurteilt diesen aufgrund seiner Vergangenheit, doch Phillipe steht zu seiner Entscheidung und ist der Meinung einen authentischen Pfleger zu benötigen, der ihm nicht ständig sein Mitleid ausdrückt.Von O. Nakache und E. Toledano verfilmt, ist diese Geschichte einer Freundschaft, die auf Respekt und Toleranz gründet, zu einem der erfolgreichsten französischen Filme aller Zeiten geworden.Als erstes habe ich den Film gesehen.Philippe Pozzo die Borgos hat mich so sehr als Person fasziniert, dass ich mir ein Beispiel an ihm nahm und mehr über ihn und seine Geschichte erfahren wollte.Ich bin niemand, der Filme oder Bücher mehrfach sieht oder liest, doch diese Geschichte war die erste die mich dazu verleitet hat Film und Buch zu kaufen.Empfehlenswert ist dieses Buch für Leute wie mich, die nach dem gesehenen Film mehr über Phillip oder/und seine Geschichte erfahren möchten oder für die, die das Lesen bevorzugen.Mir persönlich sagt die Mischung aus bewegenden Einblicken in sein Leben und herzhaften Lachern sehr zu.
    • 3/5
      Ich kenne weder Buch noch Film und bin überrascht, dass diese Geschichte so ein Riesen-Erfolg ist. Ich nehme an, dass das Hörbuch extrem gekürzt ist und außerdem sind die Zeitsprünge sehr anstrengend, vielleicht sind sie im Buch etwas zusammenhängender.Um die beiden "Freunde" geht es auf den ersten drei CDs eigentlich nicht. Man erfährt von Phillipes schlimmem Unfall und dem bald danach folgenden Krebstod seiner Frau. Dann erfährt man viel über das Leben als Tetraplegiker, Schmerzen, Spasmen usw.Der Pfleger Abel kommt nur am Rande vor. Erst die letzte CD befasst sich mehr mit ihm, seiner Vergangenheit, seinen Macken, aber in dem Hörbuch gehts schon eher darum, wie man damit fertig wird, ein so schweres Schucksal zu haben. geld hilft da sicher- der Autor ist ja steinreich. Vieles, was mich interessiert hätte (wie gehen die Kinder mit all dem um, wie funktioniert es, eine neue Familie zu Gründen, wenn man so eingeschränkt ist, ...) kommt kaum vor. Ich möchte nicht bestreiten, dass das Hörbuch Mut macht und Dinge in die richtige Wertigkeit rückt. da gibt es großartige Szenen. Dennoch ist es eigentlich kein Hörgenuß, denn es ist zu sprunghaft und teilweise uninteressant. Allerdings ist die eingespielte Musik wunderbar.
    • 3/5
      A Second Wind is the true story of Philippe Pozzo di Borgo, paralyzed at the age of 42 in a paragliding accident, and looked after by his carer, Abdel. The book begins a memory of the accident and the loss of the author's wife, Beatrice.Much of the story focuses on loss - of his wife and the use of his body, and on di Borgo's sexual longing for women. Elements of humor are woven into the book, although the overall sense of the story is that of the author's internal pain. It is well-written, with beautiful word structure in places, though not an uplifting read.A lot of the book focuses on di Borgo's earlier life, before the accident, and his family lineage. The relationship between di Borgo and his carer, Abdel, was not as well developed in the book as in the movie, which left it somewhat dry to read. The book is quite possibly more true to life than the movie - which has likely been adapted to entertain a cinema audience - and therefore it is harder to connect with the author and his emotions.A well-written account of di Borgo's life, though it failed to create an emotional reaction in me as a reader.