The Night the Lights Went Out: A Memoir of Life After Brain Damage

Drew Magary

Oct 2021 · Sold by Harmony

About this ebook

A fascinating, darkly funny comeback story of learning to live with a broken mind after a near-fatal traumatic brain injury—from the acclaimed author of The Hike

“Drew Magary has produced a remarkable account of his journey, one that is filled with terror, tenderness, beauty, and grace.”—David Grann, bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon

Drew Magary, fan-favorite Defector and former Deadspin columnist, is known for his acerbic takes and his surprisingly nuanced chronicling of his own life. But in The Night the Lights Went Out, he finds himself far out of his depths. On the night of the 2018 Deadspin Awards, he suffered a mysterious fall that caused him to smash his head so hard on a cement floor that he cracked his skull in three places and suffered a catastrophic brain hemorrhage. For two weeks, he remained in a coma. The world was gone to him, and him to it.

In his long recovery from his injury, including understanding what his family and friends went through as he lay there dying, coming to terms with his now permanent disabilities, and trying to find some lesson in this cosmic accident, he leaned on the one sure thing that he knows and that didn't leave him—his writing.

Drew takes a deep dive into what it meant to be a bystander to his own death and figuring out who this new Drew is: a Drew that doesn't walk as well, doesn't taste or smell or see or hear as well, and a Drew that is often failing as a husband and a father as he bounces between grumpiness, irritability, and existential fury. But what's a good comeback story without heartbreak? Eager to get back what he lost, Drew experiences an awakening of a whole other kind in this incredibly funny, medically illuminating, and heartfelt memoir.

Ratings and reviews

Drew Magary tells a compelling story of his recovery from a traumatic brain injury. Threaded throughout his narrative are interesting facts about aneurysms, subdural hematomas, and the lingering effects of a traumatic brain injury, as well as loss of hearing, smell, and taste. I thought this memoir was both informative and funny, and also a little scary because something similar could happen to any of us. I especially appreciated Magary’s discussion of how his disabilities affected his personal identity, and how his experiences were shaped by limiting beliefs from childhood. He also points out how many ways he was lucky, because many people would not have had the support and resources to survive and recover as well as he did. Magary uses crude language, including frequent F-bombs. If that won’t bother you, then I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys memoirs and is curious about traumatic brain injury. I was provided an ARC through NetGalley that I volunteered to review.

About the author

Drew Magary, a co-founder of Defector and a columnist for SF Gate, wrote at Deadspin for over a decade before quitting with the rest of the staff en masse in protest. He's the author of three novels, including Point B, The Hike, and The Postmortal. He lives in Maryland with his wife, his three kids, his dog, and 95 percent of a functioning brain.