My Left Foot [Hardcover]

Christy Brown (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1955

Christy Brown was born in Dublin in 1932 with cerebral palsy. Behind the helpless child, who many people wrote off, was an articulate, imaginative writer. His mother always believed in him and helped him to learn to communicate against the odds. This is his autobiography.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From AudioFile

Conor Mullen was an inspired choice to read this classic story of triumph over physical disability, first published in 1954. Within minutes, Mullen's Dublin accent and his total comfort with the text have made you completely forget that you're not listening to the real Christy Brown, an Irish painter who learned to paint with his foot because his hands were disabled. The first half of the autobiography is a fascinating chronicle of Christy's childhood with 22 siblings, his loneliest moments, his emerging skills as a painter and writer, and his pilgrimage to Lourdes. When the narrative stalls in the latter third, Mullen, not the material, carries the listener to the finish. D.B. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; First Edition edition (June 1955)
• ISBN-10: 9997502663
• ISBN-13: 978-9997502667
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,565,424 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A TRIUMPHANT AND INSPIRATIONAL STORY..., September 13, 2004

By 

Lawyeraau (Balmoral Castle) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: My Left Foot (Paperback)

This is the story of a young man who was born in Ireland in 1932, after a difficult birth and with a severe disability that the doctors of the time were unable to name. They urged his parents to disavow him, as he was, they believed, an imbecile with a severely spastic body. Moreover, his parents then had five other children, all healthy. Christy's mother, however, refused to institutionalize him, keeping him at home and treating him as she would her other children. It would not be until years later that she would learn that Christy's affliction was severe cerebral palsy.

Imprisoned in a world all his own and seeming without means to communicate, Christy, at the age of five, made an attempt that was to change his life forever. Rather than being imbecilic, Christy was actually highly intelligent. He took a piece of chalk with his left foot and, having captured the attention of his family, proceeded to scrawl on the floor a reasonable facsimile of the letter "A", astounding his loving family in the process.

By breaking the communications barrier, Christy demonstrated that he could learn and understand. From then on, his capacity for learning was prodigious. Who would have thought that within his severely contorted and convulsed body lay a razor sharp mind and a thirst for knowledge? Certainly not the medical community, which had been so willing to consign him to institutional living. Armed with his left foot, the only part of his body over which he seemed to have some control, Christy Brown would demonstrate to the world who he really was. He was, after all, not the imbecile that the medical community had originally thought but an intelligent and sentient human being.

This is Christy Brown's triumphant and inspirational story of his battle to learn to read, write, and paint, all with the aid of his left foot. It is an inspirational story of his quest for fulfillment. His yearning to be as others are is palpable, and his struggle for acceptance beyond the borders of his home and his physical limitations are well articulated. Christy Brown gives the reader a birds-eye view of what it is like to be a person with severe cerebral palsy. First published in Great Britain in 1954, when Christy Brown was twenty-two, this book, written with his left foot, is a testament to the resiliency of the human spirit.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A TESTAMENT TO THE RESILIENCY OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT..., May 31, 2004

By 

Lawyeraau (Balmoral Castle) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: My Left Foot (Hardcover)

This is the story of a young man who was born in Ireland in 1932, after a difficult birth and with a severe disability that the doctors of the time were unable to name. They urged his parents to disavow him, as he was, they believed, an imbecile with a severely spastic body. Moreover, his parents then had five other children, all healthy. Christy's mother, however, refused to institutionalize him, keeping him at home and treating him as she would her other children. It would not be until years later that she would learn that Christy's affliction was severe cerebral palsy.

Imprisoned in a world all his own and seeming without means to communicate, Christy, at the age of five, made an attempt that was to change his life forever. Rather than being imbecilic, Christy was actually highly intelligent. He took a piece of chalk with his left foot and, having captured the attention of his family, proceeded to scrawl on the floor a reasonable facsimile of the letter "A", astounding his loving family in the process.

By breaking the communications barrier, Christy demonstrated that he could learn and understand. From then on, his capacity for learning was prodigious. Who would have thought that within his severely contorted and convulsed body lay a razor sharp mind and a thirst for knowledge? Certainly not the medical community, which had been so willing to consign him to institutional living. Armed with his left foot, the only part of his body over which he seemed to have some control, Christy Brown would demonstrate to the world who he really was. He was, after all, not the imbecile that the medical community had originally thought but an intelligent and sentient human being.

This is Christy Brown's triumphant and inspirational story of his battle to learn to read, write, and paint, all with the aid of his left foot. It is an inspirational story of his quest for fulfillment. His yearning to be as others are is palpable, and his struggle for acceptance beyond the borders of his home and his physical limitations are well articulated. Christy Brown gives the reader a birds-eye view of what it is like to be a person with severe cerebral palsy. First published in Great Britain in 1954, when Christy Brown was twenty-two, this book, written with his left foot, is a testament to the resiliency of the human spirit.

14 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An inspirational book, November 8, 2004

By 

Amber (Oshkosh, Wisconsin) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Left Foot (Paperback)

This was a very inspiring book written by Christy Brown, who was born with cerebral palsy, about his own life and the struggles that he had to overcome. Christy was born in 1933 in Ireland. Against many other's pushing to have Christy institutionalized, Christy's mother did not want to put him into an institution, therefore she kept him at home to be raised with the rest of the family. Christy surprised readers with his amazing abilities. He was able to communicate with his speech and his ability to write with his left foot. One night he lay on the kitchen floor, picked up a piece of chalk with his left foot and wrote, "mother" on the floor. This surprised his family and also gave them a lot of hope and faith in Christy. This is when Christy broke down the barriers of communication and started to overcome his physical disabity. He went through and overcame the struggles of reading, writing, painting and eventually typing. He was able to participate in many activities, such as playing in neighborhood games. He was a very extremely inspiring man who accomplished a great deal in his life. This book would be wonderful to use in the classroom to show students, who do not have a disability, how to understand what students with disabilities go through and their abilities and potentials.