BANG! You're Dead

As an account of how a seemingly innocuous childhood injury sent Pey into sudden blindness in middle age, this book is articulate and straightforward. As a story, though, it's not as personal as it could have been. Pey begins with an evocative childhood portrait, detailing his small hometown in Ireland's Midlands, amid the usual specter of Protestant-Catholic division, creeping poverty and the lure of alcohol. A critical moment comes during a game of cowboys and Indians in 1960, when Pey takes an imaginary bullet in the chest from his friend, who shouts, "Bang! You're dead." Pey falls off the roof of a shed and hits a sycamore, banging his nose. The book then settles into a lull as he grows up and ascends through the business world. A divorce and many jobs later, he's a high-flying partner in a London financial firm by 1991. He starts worrying about his sight after nearly killing a pedestrian while driving, and visits a doctor, who tells him he's going to lose his vision very soon, thanks to that fateful fall years ago. The downhill slide is terrifyingly fast, and Pey hides in denial and drink, concealing his problem from employers who constantly suspect him of being drunk because of the clumsiness brought about by his worsening sight. Soon unemployed and disabled, Pey sinks into despair— he learns that more than 75% of visually impaired people are unemployed— and how he eventually finds a fulfilling job is upbeat, but lacks detail. While the memoir is an inconsistent mixture of inspirational, medical and business tales, it does bring home to the average reader just how terrifying such an ordeal would be. (Oct.)