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evelynbrady's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail
ntvenessa's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
Of course you begin knowing the end. Dr Paul Kalanithi dies. This account, both unfinished and finished (depending on the sense you mean) is a deeply introspective reflection on life, meaning and death from someone who has been acutely attuned. The brief memoir focuses on Kalanithi's dual relationship with life and death as a doctor and as a patient, and underlying that, we see our own deepest existential fears reflected back in his humanity. Freshly diagnosed, it is Kalanithi's instinct to ensure the futures of those around him, though he himself is unsure of his present. Most of us are not dying of severe illness, but all of us will wonder what our lives can mean, what it should mean. Kalanithi grapples with increasing urgency, his own truth about what makes life meaningful, and it is this frenetic energy that is so calmly tempered by clarity and authority that is striking. No doubt the dying are suffering, but Kalanithi doesn't dwell so long. In a way, the brevity of the book brings to the fore what Kalanithi most wanted to say, and largely these were philosophical things. I think the foreword by Dr Abraham Verghese should be skipped and unread entirely, and I think the epilogue written by his wife, Dr Lucy Kalanithi was illuminating. After finishing Paul Kalanithi's meditative words, his clarity is softened by the bookend that is his wife's epilogue. We can only guess of Paul Kalanithi's contributions to neuroscience had he lived, but we already know of the contributions he has made. It is possible to live while dying.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Terminal illness, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death of parent
serracha's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Paul Kalanithi was a neurosurgeon, so he dealt with a lot of surgerys and bodily trauma and the like. He also had to deal with having cancer.