Book review: I still have something to say

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STAMMA volunteer reviewer Bill McMillan shares his thought on the new book I Still Have Something to Say: Stammering, Silence and the Power of Being Heard by Thinusha Bamunuarachchi.

Admittedly, when I scanned the chapter list in I still have something to say, my heart sank a little. Seeing words like 'Debate', 'Public Speaker' and 'Toastmasters' made me think it would be another book about someone overcoming their stammer to give wonderfully fluent talks to thousands of people, and promising the same for the reader.

However, after reading on, author Bamunuarachchi makes it clear that there would be "no self-help promises" and that it was "not a motivational manual". That made me warm to him at once, and from his introduction, he comes across a humble and kindly man. 

This book is one of the best I've reviewed so far for STAMMA.

Bamunuarachchi says that he just wanted to write about having a stammer because "stammering is often spoken around us but not really by us". Very true. "This book is dedicated to those who speak differently, those who wait for space and those whose voices are judged before they are heard," he says.

In simple and elegant prose, Bamunuarachchi writes about growing up with a stammer in Sri Lanka and realising that silence was not a conscious choice; it was learned, rehearsed and reinforced. He would know the answer to a class question but would not put his hand up. That resonated very firmly with me. 

He explains how silence is a big thing in Sri Lankan culture. They have an old saying that 'once something is spoken it grows beyond control' ( A fine lesson for some of our politicians to get them to stop and think!). As a result of this, he had limited help for his stammer. 

At school,  Bamunuarachchi walked out of a classroom debate following a speech block, and tells of how he thought he would never be good at public speaking. But this all changed. With determination, he concluded his silence had to be unlearned.

Rather than presenting a stammer as something to defend, Bamunuarachchi invites readers to understand it.

At university, out of curiosity he joined a Toastmasters public speaking club. His first speech there received a round of applause and he went through grades to eventually be crowned Toastmaster of the Year.

Bamunuarachchi explains how his belief that people only listened to those who were fluent was changed when he started to speak a lot and saw that wasn't the case. Since then, he has had many important and challenging jobs in large corporations, yet still comes across as humble. There is an inner drive which is obvious. 

I personally can't imagine where he got the courage to attend that public speaking club, as I have spent most of my life dodging having to speak in public. This book, somehow more than others I've read, showed me what I perhaps should have done. 

I still have something to say is not a big book, but it lays out the ups and downs of life with a stammer. It does not preach; there is no self-pity nor self-aggrandisement. Rather than presenting a stammer as something to defend, Bamunuarachchi invites readers to understand it, recognising that meaningful voices "do not always arrive smoothly".

This book is one of the best I've reviewed so far for STAMMA. I enjoyed it so much, this story of a humble and driven man who has achieved a lot and, who stammers.

I Still Have Something to Say: Stammering, Silence and the Power of Being Heard is a self-published book by Thinusha Bamunuarachchi and is available to buy for Kindle on Amazon.

Thinusha has kindly offered to donate 10% of the proceeds to STAMMA.

Thank you to Bill for reviewing for us.