Life on Delay

USA Today Book Club

By: John Hendrickson

Narrated by: George Newbern

A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • USA TODAY BOOK CLUB PICK • ONE OF AUDIBLE'S BEST BIOS AND MEMOIRS OF 2023 • “A raw, intimate look at [Hendrickson's] life with a stutter. It’s a profoundly moving book that will reshape the way you think about people living with this condition.”—Esquire • A candid memoir about a lifelong struggle to speak.

“Life On Delay brims with empathy and honesty . . . It moved me in ways that I haven’t experienced before. It’s fantastic.”—Clint Smith, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller How the Word Is Passed

“I can’t remember the last time I read a book that made me want to both cry and cheer so much, often at the same time.”—Robert Kolker, best-selling author of Hidden Valley Road

In the fall of 2019, John Hendrickson wrote a groundbreaking story for The Atlantic about Joe Biden’s decades-long journey with stuttering, as well as his own. The article went viral, reaching readers around the world and altering the course of Hendrickson’s life. Overnight, he was forced to publicly confront an element of himself that still caused him great pain.

He soon learned he wasn’t alone with his feelings: strangers who stutter began sending him their own personal stories, something that continues to this day. Now, in this reported memoir, Hendrickson takes us deep inside the mind and heart of a stutterer as he sets out to answer lingering questions about himself and his condition that he was often too afraid to ask.

In Life on Delay, Hendrickson writes candidly about bullying, substance abuse, depression, isolation, and other issues stutterers like him face daily. He explores the intricate family dynamics surrounding his own stutter and revisits key people from his past in unguarded interviews. Readers get an over-the-shoulder view of his childhood; his career as a journalist, which once seemed impossible; and his search for a romantic partner. Along the way, Hendrickson guides us through the evolution of speech therapy, the controversial quest for a “magic pill” to end stuttering, and the burgeoning self-help movement within the stuttering community. Beyond his own experiences, he shares portraits of fellow stutterers who have changed his life, and he writes about a pioneering doctor who is upending the field of speech therapy.

Life on Delay is an indelible account of perseverance, a soulful narrative about not giving up, and a glimpse into the process of making peace with our past and present selves.

Way to go john I really enjoyed it

Hey John, I just want to let you know I really enjoyed your book. I cried and laughed and I have a whole new appreciation for people who stutter. Thanks to you and this book.

Great Read

Highly recommend and enjoyed every minute of this book. An eye opener for sure.

An honest look at living life as a stutterer

John's transparency took an amazing amount of courage. So many stutterers spend their lives living as invisible as they can. Open discussion is so much better.

True but an error.

The error is with regard to stammering for the rest of your life. As a child, I was 0% fluent. At the age of 26, I went to Seattle Speech and Hearing - became 100% fluent! Within weeks, my back stiffened to the point I had to sleep sitting upright. Stress manifests itself in different ways and my stress caused me to stammer. My speech settled into 70% or so of fluency.

After reading this book, I decided not to stammer anymore!!! And I don’t!

Great book and story. Brought back the terror of being young and having a stammer.

a moving must-listen!

A wonderful debut memoir that also has a significant amount of reportage, utilizing John's skills as a reporter and journalist. Quite moving in many scenes from childhood through adulthood—understanding the struggles and shame that anyone with a stutter lives with—and ultimately inspiring tale about how to heal family fissures through communication and empathy. In the chapter that details The Look, everyone will feel implicated, but it's not about casting blame, but rather being transparent and finding understanding. At his book launch in New York City, I asked him about the narration and he said he worked with George Newbern to help "teach him to stutter" in the parts that required that. Highly recommend!