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Invisible: A Memoir
The impressionistic memoir of an artist who was blinded in a sudden act of violence, leading to a profound meditation on what it means to see and be seen
“You live in a city like New York. You read the papers. You look at the television. But you never think it will happen to you. It happened to me one evening.”
One summer night in 1978, Hugues de Montalembert returned home to his New York City apartment to find two men robbing him. In a violent struggle, one of the assailants threw paint thinner in Hugues’ face. Within a few hours, he was completely blind.
Eloquent and provocative, Invisible moves beyond the horrific events of that night to what happened to Hugues after he lost his his rehabilitation, his solo travels around the world, and the remarkable way he learned to “see” even without the use of his eyes.
Without a trace of self-pity, Hugues describes his transition from an up-and-coming painter to a blind man who had to learn to walk with a cane. His status changed in the eyes of other people as their reactions ranged from avoidance to making him their confidant. Hugues traveled to faraway places and learned to trust strangers and find himself at home in any situation.
Part philosophy, part autobiography, part inspiration, Invisible will change the way readers understand reality and their place in the world.
“You live in a city like New York. You read the papers. You look at the television. But you never think it will happen to you. It happened to me one evening.”
One summer night in 1978, Hugues de Montalembert returned home to his New York City apartment to find two men robbing him. In a violent struggle, one of the assailants threw paint thinner in Hugues’ face. Within a few hours, he was completely blind.
Eloquent and provocative, Invisible moves beyond the horrific events of that night to what happened to Hugues after he lost his his rehabilitation, his solo travels around the world, and the remarkable way he learned to “see” even without the use of his eyes.
Without a trace of self-pity, Hugues describes his transition from an up-and-coming painter to a blind man who had to learn to walk with a cane. His status changed in the eyes of other people as their reactions ranged from avoidance to making him their confidant. Hugues traveled to faraway places and learned to trust strangers and find himself at home in any situation.
Part philosophy, part autobiography, part inspiration, Invisible will change the way readers understand reality and their place in the world.
144 pages, Hardcover
First published December 21, 2009
8 people are currently reading
185 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews
September 4, 2011
This short book will make you think about life and how you are living it. Are you waiting for something to happen before you actually get out there and live? Blinded by two thieves this author learned to live his life to the fullest. He had a full life before the blindness, but after he refused to let it change things. He traveled and saw the world without the help of his eyes. He met people who opened up to him because they couldn’t look into his eyes and see his judgments. He learned that there are worse things that can happen in life then losing one’s sight.
Where do you fit in this world? What do you have to give and what can others give you. I loved this book and it took a bit over an hour to read. My favorite few paragraphs are at the very end. I don’t want to spoil it for you, but it made me think that life is full of people who need our compassion and help yet we don’t see them. Who will see them if we don’t?
Read this book, take an hour or two and really think about what the pages are saying. This is a book for anyone and everyone. This will change the way you see everyday life. Beauty surrounds us, but do we really ever truly see it? READ THIS BOOK!
Where do you fit in this world? What do you have to give and what can others give you. I loved this book and it took a bit over an hour to read. My favorite few paragraphs are at the very end. I don’t want to spoil it for you, but it made me think that life is full of people who need our compassion and help yet we don’t see them. Who will see them if we don’t?
Read this book, take an hour or two and really think about what the pages are saying. This is a book for anyone and everyone. This will change the way you see everyday life. Beauty surrounds us, but do we really ever truly see it? READ THIS BOOK!
October 29, 2013
Invisible is the story of the author's ability to still see life as worth living after losing his eyesight. It was too scattered for me to fully appreciate his journey. He writes about his experiences as a blind man but they are not cohesive and they do not follow a time period. Drips and drabs of this journey here and having met this person there...all interesting but I, as a reader, was left unsatisfied and disappointed. This is a very quick read and there were some fine moments but on the whole very lacking in content!
July 8, 2020
2.5 stars
A collection of random thoughts and stories told in a weird, jumbled and slightly annoying way
A collection of random thoughts and stories told in a weird, jumbled and slightly annoying way
May 4, 2015
More uplifting than Lance Armstrong’s lone testicle; less inspiring than Anne Frank’s loft lifestyle. 'Invisible' falls someone between the two. Somewhat slight, one of those stocking-filler sized guest room bedside or funky toilet books that could be written in capital letters and still fit round the nucleus of an atom. However, to forestall further inappropriate flippancy, this brief book is pleasant, light, insubstantial yet surprisingly joyful. A quixotic hors-d'oeuvre of a memoir – beautifully bound and printed and, fittingly, wrapped in a marvellously tactile dust jacket. I sense that with a bit more work and dedication this could have emerged as a weightier and more revealing exposition of a blighted yet resilient life, possibly in the style and direction of Edouard Leve's Autoportrait. But perhaps Monsieur de Montalembert has other things to spend his life upon, like his brilliant ballet or travels to the Himalayas. So perhaps, perhaps it is just right.
October 17, 2011
"INVISIBLE" BY HUGUES DE MONTALEMBERT
When Montalembert loses his eyesight due to violence it is as though everything has been taken away from him. Being an artistic individual it was the one sense he could not stand to lose. In this book, the ability to see through the eyes of a blind man becomes one of the most beautifully written memoirs I have read in quite some time.
Montalembert takes you on a journey, where he shows you what he sees regardless of his loss. It's hard to truly call him a blind man, when his world seems so extraordinarily vivid in comparison to our own. I truly enjoyed this book. It's a memoir that is truly memorable.
Kitty Bullard / Great Minds Think Aloud / http://www.greatmindsliterarycommunit...
Read more: http://www.greatmindsthinkaloud.probo...
When Montalembert loses his eyesight due to violence it is as though everything has been taken away from him. Being an artistic individual it was the one sense he could not stand to lose. In this book, the ability to see through the eyes of a blind man becomes one of the most beautifully written memoirs I have read in quite some time.
Montalembert takes you on a journey, where he shows you what he sees regardless of his loss. It's hard to truly call him a blind man, when his world seems so extraordinarily vivid in comparison to our own. I truly enjoyed this book. It's a memoir that is truly memorable.
Kitty Bullard / Great Minds Think Aloud / http://www.greatmindsliterarycommunit...
Read more: http://www.greatmindsthinkaloud.probo...
May 23, 2016
I like these type of stories, they are very inspiring and motivational for me. I was expecting more from this book an dthat's why I didn't love it. But I liked the end, especially the story of the taxi driver, I'm still thinking about it.
January 14, 2020
This was a surprising little memoir in flash. I am pretty stunned I hadn’t heard of it before given the deftness of the prose, the absolute imagination and soul in every detail. But then, sometimes the most beautiful gems have to be sought out. We can’t, in this late stage social media economy, expect that all good books will be laid out before us in bright images and buzzy reviews. And if we do, it is much to our detriment.
Hughes de Montalembert writes episodically about the time following his violent blinding during a home invasion. The segments flow in and out of time in a loose chronology, peppering the reader with something more than mere imagery: a full, sensory exploration of the inner man laid bare, of change and the impossibility of despair, of coming into his own self through sheer act of will and stubbornness.
A true gem. I’m glad I found it, truly.
Hughes de Montalembert writes episodically about the time following his violent blinding during a home invasion. The segments flow in and out of time in a loose chronology, peppering the reader with something more than mere imagery: a full, sensory exploration of the inner man laid bare, of change and the impossibility of despair, of coming into his own self through sheer act of will and stubbornness.
A true gem. I’m glad I found it, truly.
October 9, 2011
„~*°..“Am nächsten Morgen wusste ich bereits, dass mich das Schicksal unwiderruflich ereilt hatte, mein Schicksal. Am Morgen war ich vollständig erblindet. Mir blieb nur eine Nacht, um diese drastische Wende in meinem Leben zu begreifen.“ (Zitat, Seite 10)..°*~
1978 wird der Maler und Fotograf Hugues de Montalembert vor seinem New Yorker Apartment von zwei Männern überfallen. Er wehrt sich und bekommt von einem der Angreifer ein Lösungsmittel ins Gesicht gespritzt. Ein Ereignis mit fatalen Folgen. Denn innerhalb von Minuten verschwimmt die Welt vor Hugues Augen und er erblindet vollständig.
Für Hugues führt dieses schreckliche Ereignis zu einschneidenden Veränderungen in seinem Leben. Er ist zukünftig nicht nur auf einen Blindenstock sondern auch auf seine verbleibenden Sinne angewiesen: dem Schmecken, Riechen, Tasten und vorallem dem Hören. Die Reaktionen der Menschen ihm gegenüber verändern sich, wirken abweisend oder nahezu offensiv vertrauensselig.
Hugues muss lernen, seinen Weg blind fortzusetzen und beginnt ganz alleine um die Welt zu reisen. Bald wird ihm klar, dass es nicht allein das Augenlicht ist, was einem Menschen zum Sehen verhilft. Manchmal zählt allein die Fantasie…
~*°..“Jeden Morgen erwache ich voller Energie, Optimismus und Vorfreude auf den beginnenden Tag, jeden Abend bleibt ein Gefühl der Niederlage. Tag für Tag eine Niederlage.“ (Zitat, Seite 22)..°*~
In „Der Sinn des Lebens ist das Leben“ erzählt Hugues de Montalembert seine tragische Lebensgeschichte. Als vielversprechender Maler und Fotograf wird ihm plötzlich eine der kostbarsten Fähigkeiten gestohlen: die Fähigkeit zu sehen. Seine Welt ist nicht mehr die Gleiche und wird es wohl auch nie wieder sein! Durch seine lebensbejahende Art, erscheint es jedoch, als ließe Montalembert seine Tragödie Stück für Stück zum Guten wenden. Je steiniger und schwerer sein Weg, umso lehrreicher und intensiver sieht er ihn.
Montalembert bleibt drei Monate im Krankenhaus. Er unterliegt drei Operationen, bei denen seine Augen jeweils sechsfach genäht werden. Keine davon ist erfolgreich. Obwohl die Ärzte sich sicher sind, dass er dies zum Anlass nimmt, in Depressionen zu verfallen, bleiben sie aus. Montalembert entwickelt sich zur Ausnahmeerscheinung. Bereits nach drei Monaten nimmt er alleinige Wege auf der Straße in Angriff, auch wenn ihm die Ärzte davon abraten. Er informiert sich über einen Reha-Aufenthalt. Die Ärzte erachten es als zu früh, doch Montalembert sieht das anders und veranlasst ihn quasi selbst.
Trotz seines Optimismus muss auch Montalembert Enttäuschung und Misserfolge hinnehmen. Nicht alle Tage, in die er hoffnungsvoll blickt, enden erfolgreich. Oft verspürt er das Gefühl der Niederlage. Er muss erst lernen die Blindheit zu akzeptieren.
Und so lernt er genauer hinzuhören und intensiver zu fühlen. Alles begegnet ihm genau wie immer und doch komplett anders. Während es ihm anfangs schwerfällt, die Hilfe anderer Menschen anzunehmen, wird ihm irgendwann klar, dass er ohne sie nicht weiterkommt. Sie wird für ihn unverzichtbar!
Gut eineinhalb Jahre nach dem Vorfall beschließt er alleine um die Welt zu reisen. Er gibt seine Wohnung in New York auf, schnappt all seine Habseligkeiten und stürzt sich in ein großes Abenteuer ohne zu wissen, was ihn erwartet. Eine schwierige Entscheidung, vielleicht aber die Beste, die er hätte treffen können. Denn sie lässt ihn wieder ins Leben zurückfinden.
Die Geräusche, von denen wir tagtäglich umgeben sind, werden für ihn dabei mehr als bloße Nebenerscheinungen. Sie begleiten ihn wie Weggefährten durch sein Leben, geben ihm hilfreiche Hinweise und beflügeln seine Fantasie.
Montalembert ist nicht von Geburt an blind. Ein Aspekt, der ihm gemeinsam mit seiner visuell sehr stark ausgeprägten Wahrnehmung als Maler und Fotograf und den Eindrücken zahlreicher Reisen zu sehr lebendigen Bildern verhilft, die ihm vor seinem geistigen Auge realer und farbintensiver erscheinen als je zuvor. Er darf herausfinden, dass sein Passiv-Sonar sehr stark ausgeprägt ist, welcher ihn Wellen von Hindernissen und Wänden empfangen lässt und somit hilft, Hindernissen geschickt auszuweichen.
Montalembert bemerkt, dass er bei einem Gespräch mit anderen Menschen, den Kopf nicht unnötig nach oben oder unten neigen sollte, wie viele Blinde es machen. Denn nur durch ein normales Verhalten kann man normale Beziehungen aufbauen. Merkwürdige Verhaltensweisen führen zu Mitleid oder Abweisung.
Während seiner Reise findet sich Montalembert an den unterschiedlichsten Flecken der Erde wieder. Seine Reise führt ihn nach Indonesien, Grönland und Indien. Gezielt stellt er sich Herausforderungen von visuell ungeheuer eindringlichen Landschaften, um sein Gehirn zum Sehen zu zwingen. Obwohl er innerhalb seines Buches nicht sehr intensiv auf die Reiseziele eingeht, offenbart er dem Leser die diversen Begegnungen mit Menschen während seiner Reise. Begegnungen, die ihn prägen.
~*°..“Allein schon die Berührung der Luft auf der Haut offenbart einem die Leuchtkraft des Himmels.“(Zitat, Seite 99)..°*~
Montalembert präsentierte sich mir in seinem Roman sehr wortgewandt. Seine Sätze und Umschreibungen sprudelten voller Lebendigkeit und Gefühl. Sie sind ausdrucksstark, eindrucksvoll und setzen sich unweigerlich im Gedächtnis des Lesers fest. Sie gewähren uns nicht nur Einblick in die geräuschvolle Welt der Blinden sondern beflügeln nahezu unsere Sinne. Man legt das Buch deshalb auch nur ungern zur Seite, weshalb es von mir 5 von 5 vorbeitreibenden Eisschollen ergattert, die Montalembert in Grönland spürte.
1978 wird der Maler und Fotograf Hugues de Montalembert vor seinem New Yorker Apartment von zwei Männern überfallen. Er wehrt sich und bekommt von einem der Angreifer ein Lösungsmittel ins Gesicht gespritzt. Ein Ereignis mit fatalen Folgen. Denn innerhalb von Minuten verschwimmt die Welt vor Hugues Augen und er erblindet vollständig.
Für Hugues führt dieses schreckliche Ereignis zu einschneidenden Veränderungen in seinem Leben. Er ist zukünftig nicht nur auf einen Blindenstock sondern auch auf seine verbleibenden Sinne angewiesen: dem Schmecken, Riechen, Tasten und vorallem dem Hören. Die Reaktionen der Menschen ihm gegenüber verändern sich, wirken abweisend oder nahezu offensiv vertrauensselig.
Hugues muss lernen, seinen Weg blind fortzusetzen und beginnt ganz alleine um die Welt zu reisen. Bald wird ihm klar, dass es nicht allein das Augenlicht ist, was einem Menschen zum Sehen verhilft. Manchmal zählt allein die Fantasie…
~*°..“Jeden Morgen erwache ich voller Energie, Optimismus und Vorfreude auf den beginnenden Tag, jeden Abend bleibt ein Gefühl der Niederlage. Tag für Tag eine Niederlage.“ (Zitat, Seite 22)..°*~
In „Der Sinn des Lebens ist das Leben“ erzählt Hugues de Montalembert seine tragische Lebensgeschichte. Als vielversprechender Maler und Fotograf wird ihm plötzlich eine der kostbarsten Fähigkeiten gestohlen: die Fähigkeit zu sehen. Seine Welt ist nicht mehr die Gleiche und wird es wohl auch nie wieder sein! Durch seine lebensbejahende Art, erscheint es jedoch, als ließe Montalembert seine Tragödie Stück für Stück zum Guten wenden. Je steiniger und schwerer sein Weg, umso lehrreicher und intensiver sieht er ihn.
Montalembert bleibt drei Monate im Krankenhaus. Er unterliegt drei Operationen, bei denen seine Augen jeweils sechsfach genäht werden. Keine davon ist erfolgreich. Obwohl die Ärzte sich sicher sind, dass er dies zum Anlass nimmt, in Depressionen zu verfallen, bleiben sie aus. Montalembert entwickelt sich zur Ausnahmeerscheinung. Bereits nach drei Monaten nimmt er alleinige Wege auf der Straße in Angriff, auch wenn ihm die Ärzte davon abraten. Er informiert sich über einen Reha-Aufenthalt. Die Ärzte erachten es als zu früh, doch Montalembert sieht das anders und veranlasst ihn quasi selbst.
Trotz seines Optimismus muss auch Montalembert Enttäuschung und Misserfolge hinnehmen. Nicht alle Tage, in die er hoffnungsvoll blickt, enden erfolgreich. Oft verspürt er das Gefühl der Niederlage. Er muss erst lernen die Blindheit zu akzeptieren.
Und so lernt er genauer hinzuhören und intensiver zu fühlen. Alles begegnet ihm genau wie immer und doch komplett anders. Während es ihm anfangs schwerfällt, die Hilfe anderer Menschen anzunehmen, wird ihm irgendwann klar, dass er ohne sie nicht weiterkommt. Sie wird für ihn unverzichtbar!
Gut eineinhalb Jahre nach dem Vorfall beschließt er alleine um die Welt zu reisen. Er gibt seine Wohnung in New York auf, schnappt all seine Habseligkeiten und stürzt sich in ein großes Abenteuer ohne zu wissen, was ihn erwartet. Eine schwierige Entscheidung, vielleicht aber die Beste, die er hätte treffen können. Denn sie lässt ihn wieder ins Leben zurückfinden.
Die Geräusche, von denen wir tagtäglich umgeben sind, werden für ihn dabei mehr als bloße Nebenerscheinungen. Sie begleiten ihn wie Weggefährten durch sein Leben, geben ihm hilfreiche Hinweise und beflügeln seine Fantasie.
Montalembert ist nicht von Geburt an blind. Ein Aspekt, der ihm gemeinsam mit seiner visuell sehr stark ausgeprägten Wahrnehmung als Maler und Fotograf und den Eindrücken zahlreicher Reisen zu sehr lebendigen Bildern verhilft, die ihm vor seinem geistigen Auge realer und farbintensiver erscheinen als je zuvor. Er darf herausfinden, dass sein Passiv-Sonar sehr stark ausgeprägt ist, welcher ihn Wellen von Hindernissen und Wänden empfangen lässt und somit hilft, Hindernissen geschickt auszuweichen.
Montalembert bemerkt, dass er bei einem Gespräch mit anderen Menschen, den Kopf nicht unnötig nach oben oder unten neigen sollte, wie viele Blinde es machen. Denn nur durch ein normales Verhalten kann man normale Beziehungen aufbauen. Merkwürdige Verhaltensweisen führen zu Mitleid oder Abweisung.
Während seiner Reise findet sich Montalembert an den unterschiedlichsten Flecken der Erde wieder. Seine Reise führt ihn nach Indonesien, Grönland und Indien. Gezielt stellt er sich Herausforderungen von visuell ungeheuer eindringlichen Landschaften, um sein Gehirn zum Sehen zu zwingen. Obwohl er innerhalb seines Buches nicht sehr intensiv auf die Reiseziele eingeht, offenbart er dem Leser die diversen Begegnungen mit Menschen während seiner Reise. Begegnungen, die ihn prägen.
~*°..“Allein schon die Berührung der Luft auf der Haut offenbart einem die Leuchtkraft des Himmels.“(Zitat, Seite 99)..°*~
Montalembert präsentierte sich mir in seinem Roman sehr wortgewandt. Seine Sätze und Umschreibungen sprudelten voller Lebendigkeit und Gefühl. Sie sind ausdrucksstark, eindrucksvoll und setzen sich unweigerlich im Gedächtnis des Lesers fest. Sie gewähren uns nicht nur Einblick in die geräuschvolle Welt der Blinden sondern beflügeln nahezu unsere Sinne. Man legt das Buch deshalb auch nur ungern zur Seite, weshalb es von mir 5 von 5 vorbeitreibenden Eisschollen ergattert, die Montalembert in Grönland spürte.
June 19, 2025
de Montalembert writes on losing his vision in an attack, and how that changed his perception of the world and how he saw life after. The book is filled with different details from his recovery, including in how the way he began to perceive goodness in humanity shifted after losing his sight. He goes from being confined to a hospital room for months to trekking in the Himalayas and traveling various countries in Asia by himself as a blind man, and touches on finding hope again after losing his eye sight in the new goals he accomplished.
Read
August 3, 2011There is a sort of burden in having a functioning set of eyeballs in the early twenty-first century: simply to see is to filter an ocean of imagery that never relents in its roiling assault on your attention. Imagery that wiggles, vibrates, spins, zooms in and out; imagery that vamps your mental bandwidth, elbowing out the other inputs of sound and smell, taste and touch; imagery that by its pounding, incessant flow grinds you down. If your thoughts could be typeset, the fonts would be missing limbs, casualties of attention deficit. Video screens have colonized every room at home, every erstwhile sanctuary, even pants pockets. A firehose jetstream of visual junk - the imagery of selling - floods over and laps around each impression worth savoring, those back-brain twinkles that make you feel alive. Would you, in an Amish act of rebellion, forfeit the technology of your eyes in order to escape to a world without this sensory overload? certainly not. Despite the distraction that worms its way in, to lose access to the visual realm is still as tragic to an individual as the loss of gravity would be to the discipline of physics - an entire basis of understanding radically undermined.
To understand both the predicament and the singular talent of this book’s author, close your eyes for a few minutes and listen. To the radio, to music, to a recorded lecture. Touch, taste, or just think about something that has importance for you. Try to do some of the things that you normally do while seeing - and consider how much more strongly the impressions seem to snap into place and stay put. This dark and peaceful nook is there for you anytime you choose to close your eyes.
But what if lights-out was no longer a choice, but a sudden and permanent imposition? What if the essence of who you are are is even more tightly bound to sightedness than the so-called average person (if such may be said), and your eyes are taken from you? This is what happened to Hugues de Montalembert, a painter and film-maker, one day in his New York apartment during a 1970s assault. One of a pair of robbers that found him without cash reprimanded him by sloshing paint stripper into his eyes. Montalembert’s screams scared the attackers off, but the pH of the chemical was such that water was not an ideal rinse – and his eyes continued to disintegrate until all sight was lost.
“Invisible” is a tightly written memoir of coming to terms with the sudden loss of the sense that the modern world values above all others, and how, if you have the right will, a real apetite for life, you will find your sight again through the sharpened collaboration of your remaining senses. Montalembert found very quickly he had the ability to “feel” his surroundings and sacrifice no experience he desired - even travel to Southeast Asia.
“You go into the street for the first time, you see
nothing, you hear chaos, and nothing is structured.
Into chaos you cannot move. You have to recreate
the World, you have to organize the chaos. I tell you,
forget the Bible, it takes more than seven days to
create a world.”
Montalembert chronicles the gradual reclamation of his freedom. The months in St. Vincent’s hospital before braving Manhattan sidewalks alone again. The intensity of his desire to map and model in his mind what he could no longer take in through his eyes. His prose communicates urgency, drive, an unwillingness to waste a single second. He sounds like a Buddha:
“My ability to create images absolutely must not
atrophy. I must remain capable of bringing back
the world I looked at intensely for thirty-five years.
By contemplating in my memory the volcano of
Lombok or the perfect harmony of a building
designed by Michelangelo, I continue to receive
instruction and knowledge from them. That is the
immense privilege of blind people who were
formerly able to see.”
Near the final page there is a passage so moving, I shall not quote it here. To do so would be much worse than giving away the ending of the best movie you ever saw. Suffice it to say, it takes place in a taxi, a discussion between the passenger, Montalembert, and his Cambodian driver. This lovely little book is a Tao to the art of seeing, written without a single gratuitous word. (One wonders, after reading this how much better Updike’s fiction would have been if he had lost HIS sight after the first Rabbit novel, how many trees would still be standing...)
“Vision is a creation.
It’s not just perception.
I experiment with it all the time.
When I walk in the street with somebody,
I’ll ask the person, what is there? Many people
say: A wall, or they say, a tree. But they don’t
see anything.
If I walk with a friend of mine who is a painter,
who has the most acute eye I know, to walk with
him in the street is a trip. I mean it’s an adventure
because he sees.
He creates a vision, and he gives it to me.”
To understand both the predicament and the singular talent of this book’s author, close your eyes for a few minutes and listen. To the radio, to music, to a recorded lecture. Touch, taste, or just think about something that has importance for you. Try to do some of the things that you normally do while seeing - and consider how much more strongly the impressions seem to snap into place and stay put. This dark and peaceful nook is there for you anytime you choose to close your eyes.
But what if lights-out was no longer a choice, but a sudden and permanent imposition? What if the essence of who you are are is even more tightly bound to sightedness than the so-called average person (if such may be said), and your eyes are taken from you? This is what happened to Hugues de Montalembert, a painter and film-maker, one day in his New York apartment during a 1970s assault. One of a pair of robbers that found him without cash reprimanded him by sloshing paint stripper into his eyes. Montalembert’s screams scared the attackers off, but the pH of the chemical was such that water was not an ideal rinse – and his eyes continued to disintegrate until all sight was lost.
“Invisible” is a tightly written memoir of coming to terms with the sudden loss of the sense that the modern world values above all others, and how, if you have the right will, a real apetite for life, you will find your sight again through the sharpened collaboration of your remaining senses. Montalembert found very quickly he had the ability to “feel” his surroundings and sacrifice no experience he desired - even travel to Southeast Asia.
“You go into the street for the first time, you see
nothing, you hear chaos, and nothing is structured.
Into chaos you cannot move. You have to recreate
the World, you have to organize the chaos. I tell you,
forget the Bible, it takes more than seven days to
create a world.”
Montalembert chronicles the gradual reclamation of his freedom. The months in St. Vincent’s hospital before braving Manhattan sidewalks alone again. The intensity of his desire to map and model in his mind what he could no longer take in through his eyes. His prose communicates urgency, drive, an unwillingness to waste a single second. He sounds like a Buddha:
“My ability to create images absolutely must not
atrophy. I must remain capable of bringing back
the world I looked at intensely for thirty-five years.
By contemplating in my memory the volcano of
Lombok or the perfect harmony of a building
designed by Michelangelo, I continue to receive
instruction and knowledge from them. That is the
immense privilege of blind people who were
formerly able to see.”
Near the final page there is a passage so moving, I shall not quote it here. To do so would be much worse than giving away the ending of the best movie you ever saw. Suffice it to say, it takes place in a taxi, a discussion between the passenger, Montalembert, and his Cambodian driver. This lovely little book is a Tao to the art of seeing, written without a single gratuitous word. (One wonders, after reading this how much better Updike’s fiction would have been if he had lost HIS sight after the first Rabbit novel, how many trees would still be standing...)
“Vision is a creation.
It’s not just perception.
I experiment with it all the time.
When I walk in the street with somebody,
I’ll ask the person, what is there? Many people
say: A wall, or they say, a tree. But they don’t
see anything.
If I walk with a friend of mine who is a painter,
who has the most acute eye I know, to walk with
him in the street is a trip. I mean it’s an adventure
because he sees.
He creates a vision, and he gives it to me.”
April 20, 2023
A really quick read about an artist that lost his sight due to a violent attack. He never really lost his zest for life though! It's a really interesting stream of consciousness style book. I think his last insight (with the cab driver) is one that will stay with me.
January 5, 2019
First book of 2019. A well written but short memoir/poem of an artist blinded by paint thinner from an attack in his own apartment.
July 14, 2020
He has an interesting story, but this book is too philosophical for me.
December 18, 2022
Read it in a day
March 26, 2024
Personally, I would classify this as abstract poetry. Which I highly disliked in the beginning but by the end I really enjoyed it
September 18, 2011
Just last week I walking through Penn Station during rush hour. As I was walking toward the exit I noticed a blind man making his was through a crowd of people. A woman was helping he toward an exit, but I got the impression that was the extent of her help. I wondered how he would navigate a busy Eighth Avenue. Was he born blind or did he lose his sight later in life? I admit I felt a little sorry for him. What does all this have to do with Invisible by Hugues de Montalembert? After reading his book, I thought I should change my perception of people with disabilities.
Hugues de Montalembert was attacked in his NYC apartment in 1978. The violent attack left him permanently blind. He had to learn how to live all over again. People told him not to jump back into the world too fast, something he didn't always listen to. He walked the streets of New York by himself, despite being in a rehabilitation center for a short period. It's hard to give up the freedom you had become so used to.
"REAL BLINDNESS is fear. If you don't dive into the action and stay alive and awake and aware and enjoy your life with a free mind, it is due to fear. Fear of life is the first enemy of the blind."
I think a lot of people are living their life in a state of blindness. We're afraid to fail. Afraid to fall.
Diving into the chaos of NYC having barely learned a new skill set, seemed both brave and stupid on the part of de Montalembert. Brave because he faced a problem head on. But also stupid because he could have hurt himself. After leaving the rehabilitation center, he did so many things people thought he couldn't or shouldn't do. Traveling alone to India and even creating a ballet. It's very inspiring that he didn't let blindness get him down. Giving into that "woe is me" attitude wouldn't help.
Towards the end he brings up a very good point. He struck up a conversation with a cab driver, who saw his entire family killed in front of him. This man has his sight, but no one would ever know it just by looking at him. People walk around with all kinds of internal wounds, but most will only notice the physical wounds.
This is a very compact memoir. I wish there was a little more depth to it. I wanted him to dig more into his feelings rather than his experiences. But overall it will make you take stock of your life. Are you living in fear or not? Are you making the most of your life or not? It won't take you long, so make sure you read this book.
Rating: Superb
Note: I received a copy of the book from the publisher (Atria Books) in exchange for an honest review.
Hugues de Montalembert was attacked in his NYC apartment in 1978. The violent attack left him permanently blind. He had to learn how to live all over again. People told him not to jump back into the world too fast, something he didn't always listen to. He walked the streets of New York by himself, despite being in a rehabilitation center for a short period. It's hard to give up the freedom you had become so used to.
"REAL BLINDNESS is fear. If you don't dive into the action and stay alive and awake and aware and enjoy your life with a free mind, it is due to fear. Fear of life is the first enemy of the blind."
I think a lot of people are living their life in a state of blindness. We're afraid to fail. Afraid to fall.
Diving into the chaos of NYC having barely learned a new skill set, seemed both brave and stupid on the part of de Montalembert. Brave because he faced a problem head on. But also stupid because he could have hurt himself. After leaving the rehabilitation center, he did so many things people thought he couldn't or shouldn't do. Traveling alone to India and even creating a ballet. It's very inspiring that he didn't let blindness get him down. Giving into that "woe is me" attitude wouldn't help.
Towards the end he brings up a very good point. He struck up a conversation with a cab driver, who saw his entire family killed in front of him. This man has his sight, but no one would ever know it just by looking at him. People walk around with all kinds of internal wounds, but most will only notice the physical wounds.
This is a very compact memoir. I wish there was a little more depth to it. I wanted him to dig more into his feelings rather than his experiences. But overall it will make you take stock of your life. Are you living in fear or not? Are you making the most of your life or not? It won't take you long, so make sure you read this book.
Rating: Superb
Note: I received a copy of the book from the publisher (Atria Books) in exchange for an honest review.
January 7, 2015
I read this book given to me by my girlfriend S. E. She has such a good pick for a book!
This is such a fascinatingly inspiring memoir! At first I doubt its authenticity...the fact that a blinded man named Hugues de Montalembert can write a book about his experience traveling the world and exploring it visually.
But as I read on, I discovered that he indeed was blinded, and he did receive a lot of help from relatives and friends and nurses. At times, he sympathizes people whose wounds are not readily visible, such as a Cambodian taxi driver he encountered who had his entire family murdered by the old Cambodian regime. Unlike Hugues' wound, nobody knows what kind of wound that this Cambodian is carrying!
Nonetheless, his tone is not condescending. Hugues simply sees his life as one whole entirety instead of a tragedy: he refuses to see the violent attack incident as a tragedy that defines his life in a negative way. Thus, there is no desire for revenge...as revenge will simply take away whatever is left of him.
"Revenge? Pardon? In a strange way it doesn't concern me. All I know is that if I seek revenge, if I dwell into hate, I will find myself trapped in the past, obsessed by what they have done to me, unable to project myself into the future. So, on top of having destroyed my eyes, they would have imputed my life from its future, killed my life. I have no time for them." - p. 116-7
Though he lacks eyesight, he is able to write a book (using his hands to write/type, mind you!) and even travel to Greenland, India, and Indonesia unaccompanied! He also composes ballet and learns to play piano after he got blind, surprising because they are both very visual activities.
Indeed, his tactile and his auditory functions are only heightened after his vision is gone. Such an inspiring man with great visions in such a short book. This is truly one of the best memoirs I've ever read.
This is such a fascinatingly inspiring memoir! At first I doubt its authenticity...the fact that a blinded man named Hugues de Montalembert can write a book about his experience traveling the world and exploring it visually.
But as I read on, I discovered that he indeed was blinded, and he did receive a lot of help from relatives and friends and nurses. At times, he sympathizes people whose wounds are not readily visible, such as a Cambodian taxi driver he encountered who had his entire family murdered by the old Cambodian regime. Unlike Hugues' wound, nobody knows what kind of wound that this Cambodian is carrying!
Nonetheless, his tone is not condescending. Hugues simply sees his life as one whole entirety instead of a tragedy: he refuses to see the violent attack incident as a tragedy that defines his life in a negative way. Thus, there is no desire for revenge...as revenge will simply take away whatever is left of him.
"Revenge? Pardon? In a strange way it doesn't concern me. All I know is that if I seek revenge, if I dwell into hate, I will find myself trapped in the past, obsessed by what they have done to me, unable to project myself into the future. So, on top of having destroyed my eyes, they would have imputed my life from its future, killed my life. I have no time for them." - p. 116-7
Though he lacks eyesight, he is able to write a book (using his hands to write/type, mind you!) and even travel to Greenland, India, and Indonesia unaccompanied! He also composes ballet and learns to play piano after he got blind, surprising because they are both very visual activities.
Indeed, his tactile and his auditory functions are only heightened after his vision is gone. Such an inspiring man with great visions in such a short book. This is truly one of the best memoirs I've ever read.
June 29, 2010
A quote from the last book I read, "Why Faith Matters", by Rabbi David Wolpe:
"Tourists visiting a foreign country easily find flaws or oddities: The way people eat, the food they serve, their dress or speech, or their child-raising techniques may seem alien or unorthodox. In time, however, one begins to see with different eyes. Theory gives way to experience. Knowledge becomes personal. We can only see with our own eyes.
Not even science, contrary to what many think, strips away this subjectivity. As the chemist and philosopher Michael Polanyi notes, all knowledge is inevitably personal knowledge. Knowledge gets filtered through individuals, all of whom were brought up in a certain family, culture, language, and place."
A passage from my current read, "Invisible", by Huegues de Montalembert continues this synergy of thought:
"I think there is no reality in fact. What you see would be different from what your neighbor sees, so who has the reality?
Again: Vision is a creation.
That's why some people see and some people don't see.
Much the way they hear music or they hear noise.
I think people are like that with their eyes. They are not interested in what they see and they don't really understand it.
They use vision not to bump into a tree or fall into a ditch.
This painter friend of mine, he said, to paint is to see beyond.
I think this is true not only of painting.
To see is always to see beyond. To stand behind appearance. There is a world behind the exact world.
I want to convince people that the eyes of their soul can also see.
To see, one should liberate oneself from the immediate. Looking beyond opens the world to where beauty has become one with truth. The harmony of the invisible is always more beautiful than the one of the visible."
... so says the blind man that sees more than most of us.
"Tourists visiting a foreign country easily find flaws or oddities: The way people eat, the food they serve, their dress or speech, or their child-raising techniques may seem alien or unorthodox. In time, however, one begins to see with different eyes. Theory gives way to experience. Knowledge becomes personal. We can only see with our own eyes.
Not even science, contrary to what many think, strips away this subjectivity. As the chemist and philosopher Michael Polanyi notes, all knowledge is inevitably personal knowledge. Knowledge gets filtered through individuals, all of whom were brought up in a certain family, culture, language, and place."
A passage from my current read, "Invisible", by Huegues de Montalembert continues this synergy of thought:
"I think there is no reality in fact. What you see would be different from what your neighbor sees, so who has the reality?
Again: Vision is a creation.
That's why some people see and some people don't see.
Much the way they hear music or they hear noise.
I think people are like that with their eyes. They are not interested in what they see and they don't really understand it.
They use vision not to bump into a tree or fall into a ditch.
This painter friend of mine, he said, to paint is to see beyond.
I think this is true not only of painting.
To see is always to see beyond. To stand behind appearance. There is a world behind the exact world.
I want to convince people that the eyes of their soul can also see.
To see, one should liberate oneself from the immediate. Looking beyond opens the world to where beauty has become one with truth. The harmony of the invisible is always more beautiful than the one of the visible."
... so says the blind man that sees more than most of us.
October 21, 2011
What would you do if suddenly you could no longer see the world around you? The leaves as they change from green to red and yellow, your favorite movie, or the smile of the one you love. Would you be able to overcome the obstacle and chalk it up to another one of life's lessons or would your life turn to turmoil and despair?
Painter Hugues de Montalembert's life included a little bit of both. Attacked one summer night in his New York apartment, this man whose livelihood depended on his eyes, lost his sight forever. Invisible is a memoir of his experience adjusting, growing, and at times, failing as he learned to live his new life. As he put it, "Many people think the loss of my sight has been a terrible rupture in my life. But no, it's not a rupture at all - life just went on, but in a different way."
The book is full of his own personal experiences, experiences of others, and philosophical comments on learning how to see without your eyes. The writing is randomly split up into small chunks focusing on a point or story that the author is trying to make. While it helps to keep the book moving, it also made it difficult to connect the dots on an overall idea and purpose behind the book.
Honestly, at times (especially during the philosophical moments) it was awe inspiring to learn along with him and at other times I was bored with his experiences and ready to read something else. It's a very short book (125 pages, some pages with only a few lines of text) and was worth the hour or so it took me to read, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it to a friend, possibly someone who has gone through tragedy (especially affecting their sight) and needs to read and hear about others experiences into darkness and back, but not just your average reader. 3 stars
Painter Hugues de Montalembert's life included a little bit of both. Attacked one summer night in his New York apartment, this man whose livelihood depended on his eyes, lost his sight forever. Invisible is a memoir of his experience adjusting, growing, and at times, failing as he learned to live his new life. As he put it, "Many people think the loss of my sight has been a terrible rupture in my life. But no, it's not a rupture at all - life just went on, but in a different way."
The book is full of his own personal experiences, experiences of others, and philosophical comments on learning how to see without your eyes. The writing is randomly split up into small chunks focusing on a point or story that the author is trying to make. While it helps to keep the book moving, it also made it difficult to connect the dots on an overall idea and purpose behind the book.
Honestly, at times (especially during the philosophical moments) it was awe inspiring to learn along with him and at other times I was bored with his experiences and ready to read something else. It's a very short book (125 pages, some pages with only a few lines of text) and was worth the hour or so it took me to read, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it to a friend, possibly someone who has gone through tragedy (especially affecting their sight) and needs to read and hear about others experiences into darkness and back, but not just your average reader. 3 stars
May 20, 2015
I joke that I 'self-medicate' with books, but really it does knock me over the head sometimes, how certain books find their way to you, to provide a remedy you didn't even know to ask for.
Reading the very first page, the nerves along my entire body seemed to be set on edge. Physically, it's a petite, unassuming-looking volume, a text to be consumed in one sitting without much strain. But if you think the contents will be light and airy, and full of 'inspiring' platitudes, you'd be sorely mistaken - it will set you alight.
Intense, full of truth; vivid and textured, this book is remniscent of a potent scoop of aromatic spices, or a darkly roasted espresso bean.
As many have pointed out, there are no self-pitying or indulgent tones here. I don't think it even asks you to take away some profound message, or demand you be inspired and enlightened... It just is.
A deeply intelligent and well-travelled man, I had never previously pondered what a painter who suddenly becomes blind might sound like in writing, but "ah, yes" - of course this is how. You would be foolish to imagine any other way.
This book will challenge your vaguely-held notions of tragedy, of what it means to see, of what it means to perceive.
"Vision is a creation."
Reading the very first page, the nerves along my entire body seemed to be set on edge. Physically, it's a petite, unassuming-looking volume, a text to be consumed in one sitting without much strain. But if you think the contents will be light and airy, and full of 'inspiring' platitudes, you'd be sorely mistaken - it will set you alight.
Intense, full of truth; vivid and textured, this book is remniscent of a potent scoop of aromatic spices, or a darkly roasted espresso bean.
As many have pointed out, there are no self-pitying or indulgent tones here. I don't think it even asks you to take away some profound message, or demand you be inspired and enlightened... It just is.
A deeply intelligent and well-travelled man, I had never previously pondered what a painter who suddenly becomes blind might sound like in writing, but "ah, yes" - of course this is how. You would be foolish to imagine any other way.
This book will challenge your vaguely-held notions of tragedy, of what it means to see, of what it means to perceive.
"Vision is a creation."
November 19, 2010
I don't know if it has always been so, but we are a nation of whiners and complainers. It's not our fault, it's not fair, we are oppressed, victimized, we want sympathy and support groups and reparations and revenge.
Here is a 35-year-old artist. He was blinded during a robbery. And he wisely turns his back on both pity and sainthood, though certainly acknowledging both fear and despair, and chooses life. He recognizes that it is not, cannot be, exactly the same life. But he tries hard not to be defined by what has happened to him.
"You have to walk and present yourself not as a blind person, but as a normal human being."
He does not want to be seen as a tragic figure, an object of sympathy. No matter the circumstances, to have a good life, a meaningful life, requires work. His work is at first much harder than it would have been without the blindness, but in the end, he finds, "I thought it (my life) would drastically change, but I must observe that it has not."
"Invisible" can easily be read in one sitting, but I have already returned to its pages, because I continue to think about de Montalembert's discerning observations about living.
Here is a 35-year-old artist. He was blinded during a robbery. And he wisely turns his back on both pity and sainthood, though certainly acknowledging both fear and despair, and chooses life. He recognizes that it is not, cannot be, exactly the same life. But he tries hard not to be defined by what has happened to him.
"You have to walk and present yourself not as a blind person, but as a normal human being."
He does not want to be seen as a tragic figure, an object of sympathy. No matter the circumstances, to have a good life, a meaningful life, requires work. His work is at first much harder than it would have been without the blindness, but in the end, he finds, "I thought it (my life) would drastically change, but I must observe that it has not."
"Invisible" can easily be read in one sitting, but I have already returned to its pages, because I continue to think about de Montalembert's discerning observations about living.
December 21, 2009
This might be the most moving memoir I have ever read.
Artist Hugues de Montalembert is blinded one day when he comes home to a break-in in his New York City apartment; one of the robbers in his home throws paint thinner into his eyes, and he loses his sight forever.
INVISIBLE is De Montalembert's chronicle of the days after he was blinded, and how he was able to accept and even come to appreciate his blindness. De Montalembert's strength and courage are remarkable, and you cannot help but admire him.
I want everyone I know to read this memoir, and then pass it on to his/her friends - it is that remarkable. Please, do yourself a favor and read it; you will be happy you did.
Artist Hugues de Montalembert is blinded one day when he comes home to a break-in in his New York City apartment; one of the robbers in his home throws paint thinner into his eyes, and he loses his sight forever.
INVISIBLE is De Montalembert's chronicle of the days after he was blinded, and how he was able to accept and even come to appreciate his blindness. De Montalembert's strength and courage are remarkable, and you cannot help but admire him.
I want everyone I know to read this memoir, and then pass it on to his/her friends - it is that remarkable. Please, do yourself a favor and read it; you will be happy you did.
March 12, 2011
I was on my way to an emergency eye-doctor visit, and I grabbed the smallest book from a stack of review copies on my desk. Not until I was in the waiting room did I realize it was a memoir about blindness. For two days Montalembert's voice rang in my head. In a cab, heading up Madison, I read his own tersely passionate words about the Madison Avenue that he calls his. And on the train home, this spare, airy meditation on what it is to see, to lose and regain independence, to learn to accept help, to live tweaked the shapes, colors, and meaning of what my own eyes are always telling me.
This tiny, exquisite book can be read in one sitting. Highly recommended.
This tiny, exquisite book can be read in one sitting. Highly recommended.
June 9, 2011
This was funny, honest, charming, and inspiring. I can think of very few people who wouldn't enjoy reading Montalembert's story, not least of which because of his writing style, which can manage to be both poetic and matter-of-fact in the same breath. He's cinematic and dramatic at points, befitting a filmmaker, and you can sense both the terror and the humor in his situation. He describes both his emotion and his physical surroundings very vividly, and something about his tone made me feel like he was speaking directly to me as a reader, which I don't often feel, and rarely enjoy. In this case, it worked wonderfully.
January 21, 2010
In 1978 when the author was living in New York he returned home to find two men robbing his home. A struggle ensued and one of the men threw paint thinner in de Montalembert’s face, blinding him permanently.
The book is a short 128 pages and is packed full of profound prose. The author’s perspective on the aftermath of the assault, his quest for independence, and his life going forward is soul penetrating and almost poetic. The balance he finds between independence and coming to terms with his need for dependence on others is very moving.
The book is a short 128 pages and is packed full of profound prose. The author’s perspective on the aftermath of the assault, his quest for independence, and his life going forward is soul penetrating and almost poetic. The balance he finds between independence and coming to terms with his need for dependence on others is very moving.
February 24, 2016
It revived my appreciation for the senses that I often take for granted. I think it's an excellent book that every person should read. I've been hearing and learning more and more of late, about how every turbulence is only as harrowing as we let it be and this memoir is a testimony to that. I am highly intrigued and perhaps a little embarrassed to learn that much of what I've seen has only been perception. And also, a reminder to myself, I am never to forget the cab incident with the Cambodian driver nearing the end of the book.
November 20, 2010
A man who is a painter is attacked in his apartment in New York City. Paint thinner is thrown in his eyes. He goes blind. This man is Hugues de Montalembert, and this book is his 'memoir' of his road to recovery. Though this is no memoir in the conventional sense; it reads like the transcript of a conversation with an amazing man: episodic, brutally honest, unflinching. The book can be read in an evening, if you're a fast reader, and in two if you are, like I am, a slow reader. A book to shame you into making an effort not to feel sorry for yourself and your life's petty disruptions.
August 19, 2012
Vision is so much more than what the eyes perceive.
Huges De Montalembert always saw the world for more than what could be seen by the eye. As an artist, his perception of the world was a creation of ideas, emotions and the invisible. Yet his journey for independence, after an assault that left him blind, opens a hidden portal to another part of the universe that inspires.
It is a quick read that provides a unique opportunity to hear the fears and hopes of a man recovering from a terrible event. A man who has the strength to see beyond, to see the invisible and keep living.
Huges De Montalembert always saw the world for more than what could be seen by the eye. As an artist, his perception of the world was a creation of ideas, emotions and the invisible. Yet his journey for independence, after an assault that left him blind, opens a hidden portal to another part of the universe that inspires.
It is a quick read that provides a unique opportunity to hear the fears and hopes of a man recovering from a terrible event. A man who has the strength to see beyond, to see the invisible and keep living.
November 13, 2013
This book was a quick read, I read it in the less than hour bus ride that I have on the way to work, but it made me stop and think, and look at things differently.
I remember looking up at the tree that is there in front of my work that I walk by every day, and just seeing it, really soaking it in with my vision.
That is part of the experience of this book for me, to help me see, and to understand that to have vision is more than the physical sight, but using it. It took a blind man to teach me that.
I remember looking up at the tree that is there in front of my work that I walk by every day, and just seeing it, really soaking it in with my vision.
That is part of the experience of this book for me, to help me see, and to understand that to have vision is more than the physical sight, but using it. It took a blind man to teach me that.
August 10, 2010
(I originally meant to reserve Invisible by Paul Auster, but wasn't paying attention and checked out this book by mistake.)
The beginning made me feel panicky, as he described the ways in which he went about dealing with and emotionally grasping his blindness. It was almost enough to make me abandon the book. But I finished it and while I wouldn't say it'll ever be one of my favorite books, it's an engrossing read.
The beginning made me feel panicky, as he described the ways in which he went about dealing with and emotionally grasping his blindness. It was almost enough to make me abandon the book. But I finished it and while I wouldn't say it'll ever be one of my favorite books, it's an engrossing read.
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