The writers and artists seated around the Charlie Hebdo conference table barely had time to duck before the gunmen were upon them. As he fell to the floor, Lançon was hit by at least three bullets; one tore off most of his jaw. He opened his eyes and found himself in a hot pool of blood and brains. He played dead to survive.

After a pulverizing account of the shootings, “Disturbance” pivots to become the story of a long and difficult recovery. Lançon would spend nearly a year in two hospitals, notably the ancient and legendary Pitié Salpêtrière in the 13th Arrondissement. This place nearly becomes a character itself in this memoir.

Over the course of nearly three years, Lançon had 17 operations. Bone was taken from his right leg to construct a new jaw. Skin on his neck had to be “inflated” and stretched, to cover and compose the lower portion of his face. There were many setbacks. Would he eat solid food again?

Lançon is a sensitive man with a well-stocked mind, and he’s a steady companion on the page. This is not one of those slim, pared-down memoirs — like Sonali Deraniyagala’s “Wave” or Jean-Dominique Bauby’s “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” — of catastrophe and attempted recovery.

Image Philippe Lançon, who survived the Charlie Hebdo attack and has written a memoir, “Disturbance,” about the experience and its aftermath. Credit... Catherine Hélie

Lançon is, in his mellow way, a maximalist. Like Proust, who’s among his favorite writers, he will not be hurried. His cardinal humors are tolerant. This memoir takes more goat paths than highways as he considers friendships and books and meals and sex and morality and journalism and caregivers and toilets and the music of Bach.

I did not wish this nearly 500-page book were any longer. It has its longueurs. But I was moved and provoked by it, and I always looked forward to picking it up again.