The Beauty of Dusk: On Vision Lost and Found

New York Times columnist, author, and Duke professor Bruni (Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be) narrates this work, bringing a sense of immediacy and intimacy to a revelatory odyssey that is itself an interrogation of the medical, spiritual, and emotional process by which he deals with the loss of sight. In a conversational, straightforward voice, Bruni describes ischemic optic neuropathy, a rare kind of stroke, that destroyed the vision in his right eye. He illuminates how he comes to process the feelings and adjustments he has had to make: problems in reading print or a computer screen, driving only during the day, the departure of his partner, and the realization that the other eye could succumb too. He takes inspiration from others who have overcome adversity, describing their efforts in terms that can suggest a self-help style of positive thinking, which may annoy some listeners.