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The Iceberg: A Memoir by [Marion Coutts]

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Marion Coutts

The Iceberg: A Memoir Kindle Edition

by Marion Coutts (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

151 ratings

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THE WINNER OF THE 2015 WELLCOME BOOK PRIZE
SHORTLISTED FOR THE SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE, 2014
SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA BOOK AWARDS, 2014 (BIOGRAPHY / MEMOIR CATEGORY)
SHORTLISTED FOR THE DUFF COOPER PRIZE
LONGLISTED FOR THE GUARDIAN FIRST BOOK AWARD, 2014

In 2008 the art critic Tom Lubbock was diagnosed with a brain tumour. The tumour was located in the area controlling speech and language, and would eventually rob him of the ability to speak. He died early in 2011. Marion Coutts was his wife.

In short bursts of beautiful, textured prose, Coutts describes the eighteen months leading up to her partner's death. This book is an account of a family unit, man, woman, young child, under assault, and how the three of them fought to keep it intact.

Written with extraordinary narrative force and power, The Iceberg is almost shocking in its rawness. It charts the deterioration of Tom's speech even as it records the developing language of his child. Fury, selfishness, grief, indignity and impotence are all examined and brought to light.

Yet out of this comes a rare story about belonging, an 'adventure of being and dying'. This book is a celebration of each other, friends, family, art, work, love and language.

Print length

304 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Atlantic Books
Publication date

July 3, 2014
File size

1744 KB
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“[The Iceberg] astounds . . . it ought to be read by anyone who ever pauses to consider our mortality.” – Diana Athill, Sunday Telegraph (London)

“This book bowls me over with its beauty and profundity, and it seems a new kind of thinking in itself, a work of word art unlike any other.” – Laura Cumming, art critic for The Observer (London)

“It is a memoir quite unlike any other. It has the strength of an arrow: taut, spiked, quivering, working to its fatal conclusion . . . An extraordinary story told in an extraordinary way.” – Sunday Times (London)

“Stunning . . . magnificent . . . [Coutts] chooses her words with such beautiful scrupulousness, never twisting or turning the knife of her story to exact our pity or admiration; her thought is like sensation, her descriptions of feeling are often like notes for a visual work . . . Her book is a homage to an exceptional man; it is also the work of an exceptional woman artist.” – Tessa Hadley, The Guardian (London)

“Lyrical, textured, perfectly paced . . . [A] startlingly beautiful and inspiring pioneer text.” – Marcus Field, The Independent (London)

“An astonishment and a delight. Every page, almost every sentence holds some exquisitely wrought surprise, some perception of thrilling acuteness, some small or large truth that strikes to the heart.” – Kevin Jackson, author and contributor to BBC Radio 4, “Saturday Review”

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

About the Author

Marion Coutts is an artist and writer. She wrote the introduction to Tom Lubbock’s memoir Until Further Notice, I Am Alive, published by Granta in 2012. She is a Lecturer in Art at Goldsmiths College and lives in London with her son.

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

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00JNYNHJA
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Atlantic Books; Main edition (July 3, 2014)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 3, 2014
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1744 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
Lending ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #1,975,784 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #782 in Sociology of Death (Kindle Store)
- #2,630 in Sociology of Death (Books)
- #3,910 in Death & Grief (Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
151 ratings

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Customer reviews

5 star		62%
4 star		17%
3 star		11%
2 star		6%
1 star		4%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Carol Bakker

Devastating and devastatingly beautiful. Will take you places I can almost guarantee ...

Reviewed in the United States on February 2, 2016

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Devastating and devastatingly beautiful. Will take you places I can almost guarantee you will immediately be able to go, you will have to come back to. Like a leaf in a maelstrom the reader is tossed, whirled, blasted in the winds of rage and pain, then finally left to drift down into a wondrous grace. Marion Coutts poetic rendering of every confusion, every fear, every moment of transcendence is as unique a voice as any I have ever read on any subject; when the subject is this profound it is beyond imagining that she could capture it so completely, and hand it whole to her reader. I found out about this book when Bill Bryson mentioned it in a New York Times interview. I believe he listed it when asked what book last made him cry. I am so glad he led me to it.

8 people found this helpful

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a reader

what it is to be loved, valued

Reviewed in the United States on April 20, 2016

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I have read two incredibly powerful books almost back to back: the history of Ravensbruck, the Nazi concentration camp for women, and now, The Iceberg. Oh boy. The Iceberg. A memoir by Marion Coutts that narrates her husband's illness with brain cancer. I won't say battle because there is no winning. Sparsely and precisely written, but packed with underlying currents that are extremely intense. Coutts is startlingly very matter-of-fact, but in this memoir, she underlines what it is to be human, what it is to be ill, what it is to be loved, valued, needed, and what it means to lose the floor beneath you. Never sentimental, never maudlin, never morose, never pitying, we follow Coutts and her small family through to the inevitable; her husband dies. We know this from the beginning. But it is the path we take with them that is shocking, naked, and raw. And you feel it. It's not a simple read, and after I finished it, I sat on the couch for a long time, just sitting. Everything I could possibly do seemed insignificant after reading the last line. And that is what makes this book so profound, and make Coutts such a force of a writer. Not an easy read, but an incredible one.

3 people found this helpful

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TessaTop Contributor: Pets

A gorgeous journal of a deeply painful loss

Reviewed in the United States on July 6, 2016

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The Iceberg reads like what it most certainly is -- a journal kept by the author from the moment of her husband's diagnosis until his death. I understand that for a writer, what Nora Ehpron said is true: "Everything is Copy." Yet, I was continually aware, reading this, that even as the author grieved and struggled, she was consciously fashioning a record that she must have intended all along would find its way into print. The level of detail is such that this must have been a day by day account, and not a memoir "recollected in tranquility." Having said that, I found it gorgeously written, penetratingly sad, tough going in places, but ultimately rewarding and worth having read. Other reviewers faulted this account because the author did not fully develop her husband as a personality. But this is not a novel, and he is not a character. This is her journal, her story, and there were many instances, such as, for example, her joy when she got a late night or early morning phone call from her husband (who was in hospital) that gave you to understand how connected they were and what an incredible loss this was for her. Marion Coutts manages to convey her love, grief loss, with incredible sensitivity and without sentimentality.

One person found this helpful

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Katy Smith

Wish more of us were raised to be ok to be ok about sharing the good, the bad

Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2016

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My mom is dying of lung cancer and Marion Coutts says all the things my mom is thinking and cannot say. Wish more of us were raised to be ok to be ok about sharing the good, the bad, and the raw. Helped me a lot. Trying to send it to my Mom and excited to do so, but Amazon is making it very hard to send to a different address then my own. So sorry to all of you that are going through what I am going through. This book made it better for me. Thank you Marion. I hope things are better and different for you and EV. Carry him in your hearts but live and love your life as much as you can. Thank you.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Priceless insights contained within

Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2016

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This is a memoir describing the death of the author's husband. I felt the full range of emotions while reading this story. Some readers may be put off by the brutal honesty, but the honesty of the narrative is what makes it valuable. If you expect to "like" or "enjoy" this book you may be disappointed. I would encourage anyone in medicine or nursing to read this book as a way to gain insight into what your patients and their families experience at the end of life. Also recommended for anyone dealing with a serious illness of their own. Reading this book put a lot of things in perspective for me.

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Kim Miller

An Iconic Work

Reviewed in the United States on August 15, 2014

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This is an extraordinary book that touches the depths of both sorrow and joy in loving, of strength and frailty in living, and of the mix of life and death for a family immersed in terminal illness. The irony of her husband's loss of speech due to the illness counterposed with the learning to talk by her little son is deeply affecting. Coutts has written a standout work in this memoir, one that grabbed me from the start and will not let me go after finishing the book.

19 people found this helpful

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vee rae

Eloquent memoir

Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2016

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Coutts is a wonderful writer and this story of her time with dealing with
her husband's illness was sad, funny and at times, uplifting. I related to much of what she
wrote. I personally found her writing to be a bit out of my league I must admit. She is truly
gifted -- extremely gifted and intelligent and some of her writing is simply poetic --- still,
I enjoyed her vision of this experience so very uplifting and joyous and so unlike what one would
expect from a woman who went thru this very "grueling" experience.

Helpful

Ruth W. Messinger

An unbelievable story of love and death

Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2016

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It is impossible to convey the power of this book. A wife chronicles the slow death of her husband with fantastically beautiful images and descriptions of what it means to spend two years with a toddler in a hospital system insisting and demanding and adjusting to the painful realities of the world and the healthcare system.

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Top reviews from other countries

Trulyhonest

Not for me!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 10, 2021

Verified Purchase

As some people have already reviewed this as a book that is difficult to read or finish - I just want to second that. Numerous times, I just thought I would stop reading it but kept going because I have always read every book I have started! It is a difficult subject matter but the way the book is written evokes little sympathy for the author. I felt it was self indulgent, arty and at times I skipped pages of drivel. The style of writing was not conducive with the subject matter. It had the potential to be a life lesson, a guide for others or a celebration of her husbands life. It did none of that. It has won quite a few awards, I struggle to see why. I sympathise with the author on the loss of her husband in such difficult circumstances - this is the most positive comment I can make.

William Jordan

remarkable and memorable memoir of the illness and death of the author's husband

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 22, 2014

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This book, in four parts, charts the stages in the illness and finally death of the author's husband from a brain tumour. As the illness takes its course, the young son the couple, around one year old when the diagnosis comes in, and around three and a half years old at the time of his father's death, learns to speak and interpret the world as his father loses his capacities - but not his capacities for relationships, or for a long time his ability to work and earn the money on which the family predominantly lives, or above all his being himself.

The author and her husband have an indomitable spirit to keep their relationship and the family alive in the midst of his medical deterioration and the difficulties of treatment - something that comes more and more to the fore as the book progresses and the reader becomes more and more involved with their struggle.

8 people found this helpful

Anya Tyagi

Check your copy on delivery. Lack of quality control on the part of the publisher.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 11, 2019

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I purchased the book as it was recommended to me particularly as the story parallels my life. I did not read it immediately but waited a few months. So imagine my dismay whilst engrossed in the book accompanied by copious tissue use, that at page 90 the next page was back to 43 and there was a repeat of pages 43 to 90, at the second page 90 it jumped to page 139. I could not read the book because of this and unfortunately, as it was so many months since I had purchased it, I can't ask for a refund or a replacement. There is a serious issue with quality control on the part of the publishers Atlantic books so if you order this book - which is highly recommended - make sure your copy does not have the problem mine has. The only use my copy has is for tearing up and to use to light a fire. I have given the book a one star rating - not because it is not well written and poignant but because I was not able to read it due to the error by the publisher.

Blue Moon

Unflinching personal journey

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 26, 2015

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This is the most incredible soul-baring depiction of illness and death in a small family grouping. The trio of characters, Tom, Marion and their baby son face Tom's brain tumour. The author writes about her personal journey in such an unflinching and beautiful way that you are torn between the poetry of her language and the starkness of the journey. Given how many stages they went through, the remembered pain and emotions are recalled with such intensity that I struggled to see how this was written after the event rather than during. For a book this harrowing it is extraordinarily un-put-downable...

One person found this helpful

K. Law

Couldn't finish it

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 21, 2016

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I feel awkward not giving such a personal story five stars but to be honest I couldn't finish the book despite trying several times over the last month. I lost it where they call the baby a weird name - and say it's not the actual name, I just got too muddled with the style of writing. Shame because the summary was attractive and it seems the sort of boom I would read.

2 people found this helpful

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The Iceberg: A Memoir Kindle Edition

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