I Am, I Am, I Am

I Am, I Am, I Am – Maggie O’Farrell

Most of us go through life without thinking about how close we have come to death. Maggie O’Farrell, the acclaimed author of novels such as Hamnet, has come close many times. In I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death, she tells the story of her life through seventeen moments when it might have ended.

Rather than a traditional chronological memoir, the book is made up of seventeen chapters, each named after a part of the body that was affected, and each describing a different near-death experience. They range across her life, from a serious childhood illness that kept her out of school for a long time and changed her life, to a frightening encounter with a stranger on a remote path, a near-drowning, dangerous experiences while traveling, and complications during childbirth. The final chapter focuses on her daughter, who lives with a severe and life-threatening allergic condition, and on the fear and love of a parent protecting a child.

Through these episodes, O’Farrell reflects on the fragility and preciousness of life, the role of chance, resilience, motherhood and the ways in which close calls shape who we are. The title comes from a line by the poet Sylvia Plath about the beating of the heart.

Written with lyrical precision and emotional intensity, the memoir is both gripping and deeply moving.

I Am, I Am, I Am is a remarkable read for fans of literary memoir and of Maggie O’Farrell’s fiction. It deals with illness, violence and danger, which some readers may find distressing.