Exploring Life and Mortality in the Memoir 'When Breath Becomes Air'

Priyanka Shah: The book explores and exposes the intricate relationship we share with mortality and reminds us that we are the sum of our deeds, experiences, and memories. Dr. Paul Kalanithi's memoir is not a sad read; except for those portions of his wife Dr. Lucy Kalanithi's epilogue. He talks about the life he lived in pursuit of a future he may never make it to; in some parts, you see the relevance. Yet, he is neither disappointed nor grief-stricken in his insurmountable grief. He lives his life post-diagnosis, neither as if fighting a battle, nor as if waiting for it to end. He lives. They live. The family lives. That is what I take away from his book.

India on Nov 05, 2023

Kindle Customer: I read the book with fear, with emotion, scared of what it might reveal. Now having finished it, I am both heartbroken but also a little wiser.
I truly felt as if I was reading the words of a friend and not a stranger.
An extraordinary work, beautiful words, and a truly talented writer.
No matter what I write here, it wouldn't be enough. I am so full of gratitude for the privilege of having read his words.

United States on Nov 02, 2023

Kindle Customer: Beautiful book...God bless his brave soul...really inspiring ...we need more people like him , truly brave and kind ..RIP....Amazing work.

India on Oct 22, 2023

Amanda Gray: Loved this book. I myself struggle against a so called “invisible (chronic) illness”. There are some similarities with dealing with terminal illness and dealing with an invisible, chronic illness. Reading this book it was amazing to see how big the overlap and be between the two. It’s seems like it’s always comforting to talk to or read the words of someone dealing with serious illness. It’s immediately like you’re talking to a friend. Someone who knows what it’s like to be young and sick. I love that about this book. Thank you for publishing it, Lucy. And finishing it for us. You are obviously just as much a philosopher as Paul was.

United States on Oct 18, 2023

Haley: Wow. As a former pediatric ICU nurse this book so eloquently captured many of the experiences and thoughts that I had while caring for many of my patients. To work in a field such as medicine, especially intensive care and trauma, requires one to come to face with death and begs the question of “what would it be like if this were me?”. Personally I struggled with that question so much as a nurse that like some of his colleagues I left the field in search of more light hearted matters. Paul walks us through his transition from being the observer to becoming the one who must finally meet his fate. Through his career and even during his battle with cancer he embodied strength and the power of curiosity.
It was weird for me as I got closer to the end of the book realizing that as the thickness of the pages grew thinner that I was nearing the end of his life. The ending was a heartbreaker for sure but as with any book that discusses life and death, makes you think about the things that are truly significant in life and how our service to others requires more than just our checking of a box but an exchange of understanding.

United States on Oct 06, 2023

Jon Rivers: 5\5 Not a fraction less. As I finished this book tears rolled down both my cheeks. Breathing was hard for the last 40 pages, as I struggle to choke back the conflicting emotions I felt in reading Paul's last words and those his wife Lucy would conclude with. On the one hand I felt heartbroken with sorrow for the fate of this man who would strive so hard to help others live or to ease the agony of those who would die. Yet this book was as heart wrenching as it was beautiful. It was as uplifting as it was sad.

This book deeply touched me on an emotional and what some would call a spiritual level. While I am not spiritual, I cannot deny the spirit of this man, who lived, loved, triumphed and accepted his fate with courage and strength, even as cancer weakened him physiologically.

Paul died very near my own age. I struggle to find meaning in life, especially as I see others die around me every year. I also grapple with my own impending end which could come any moment, future or present. I began to question everything as I've aged. I fear perhaps I have made the wrong choices in life. I question what it is all for. Being an atheist is a blessing and a curse, for it gives...

Canada on Oct 18, 2022

M: When I first finished this book, I was ready to award it only 3 stars.

I had absolutely loved Part 1. Everything Paul talked about enthralled me. His love for literature, his constant philosophical questioning as to what made life meaningful, his insights into the paradoxes of studying life to understand it vs experiencing it and building the relationships that gave it meaning, and his drive and fascination with biology and specifically neurology. He felt so alive in Part 1 as I read, his drive, his yearning to master this thing called life, his success mindset, I loved him. I felt so sad that he was dead and that I would never get to meet him. What a loss to the world. And it seemed so horribly unfair that a man who did so much to save the lives of others, should be deprived of life himself. Horribly unfair. Was that how we got rewarded in life for good deeds?

I gave myself a break before Part 2. A breather because I knew it was going to get heavy. Paul hadn't survived despite the upbeat voice of Part I. He had died. Others had warned me this was a book that would leave me in torrents of tears, so I gave myself some time to prepare for the emotional upheaval and...

United Kingdom on Jul 28, 2019

Ashok Krishna: ‘At the touch of love, everyone becomes a poet’, it is said. But one cannot say the same about Death. When Death arrives calling, not everyone stays brave or becomes a philosopher. Not all of us remain the proud humans that we are during our lifetimes, but go begging for another lease of life, no matter however brief that might be. Very few of us have the courage and composure to meet Death face-to-face, contemplate their life so far, take stock of their purpose and progress, and then, finally, do something that would fill them with the satisfaction of leaving behind something worthwhile, something that could set apart their sojourn on this planet from the billions of others. Paul Kalanithi’s was, fortunately or unfortunately, one such life that acquired a glowing purpose and meaning, sadly more during his final phase of life.

Paul Kalanithi was the second of three sons of an Indian couple settled in America. He had everything going for him. A comfortable life with family, marrying the love of his life, pursuing a career as special and as advanced as neurosurgery, reputation that could have landed him a plump career as soon as his training ended. But he also had...

India on Jan 02, 2018

MaggieG13: 4.5 stars

At age 36, in the last year of his neurosurgery residency, Paul Kalanithi discovered he had stage IV lung cancer. For the next 22 months, he and his wife Lucy, an internal medicine physician, awoke each day focused on living, not “living until...” When Breath Becomes Air was written largely because Dr. Kalanithi had the soul of a poet and turning to words to express any experience in life was as instinctive to him as breathing itself. His intent was that his story could aid in the healing of others and that one day his own daughter would read it and get a sense of the father she would never remember.

The book’s format, like the author’s writing style, is simple, straightforward, eloquent, and unflinchingly honest – Prologue, Part I and Part II. In the prologue, Paul describes the first step in his diagnosis, getting x-rays for his recurring severe chest pain. It was 15 months prior to the end of his residency. He could see the light at the end of the long 10-year tunnel of preparation for his work in neurosurgery. There would be wonderful opportunities to practice as well as conduct research, offer of a professorship, a huge increase in income, a...

United States on Feb 23, 2016