Reviews with content warning for Grief - When Breath Becomes Air

Reviews tagging 'Grief'

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

54 reviews

racheldallaire's review

challenging emotional informative inspiring tense fast-paced

5.0

Wow. I will be thinking about this one for a long time. What a gift Paul left us in his words. This book is sad, and it made me a little tense at times, but the reflection that it is causing in me is so so valuable. What makes a life meaningful? How do we or should we live? How does death's inevitability shape our living? What is most important? Some of the questions that I am ruminating on as I think over this one. I would caution you that you need to have the (mental) capacity to handle some intense, sad emotions when going into this one, but it is such a worthy book to read.

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thewordsdevourer's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

meditative and powerful, when breath becomes air journeys kalanithi's confrontation with his own close mortality, bringing to ironic physical fruition his lifelong reflection on life and death.

detailing his time in med school, the subsequent residency, and his diagnosis and treatment, kalanithi weaves the tale of a man in the unwanted yet unique position of being both a doctor and a patient, providing a rare POV of being on both sides of medical care. the memoir is seeped w/ an undercurrent of calm and mulling, all held tgt by kalanithi's poignant writing. im v glad that he's written and left this book as part of his legacy.

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mdwsn27's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.25

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whatannikareads's review

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challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

super obvious observation, but you could tell paul was really intelligent and thoughtful from his writing alone. it's kinda crazy that he wrote this in the later stages of his cancer, when it's a struggle just to breathe, let alone write a memoir. it tickled the part of my brain that is interested in science and medicine, and i appreciate that this memoir merged those two interests. i learned a lot about neuroscience and the brutal work life of neurosurgeons. and i admire that paul was so passionate about writing and literature. i think because of how intelligent he is, he lost me at some parts that got more technical and descriptive. i think he occasionally strayed from his central point and went on tangents. but the epilogue made me cry hard and feel existential. i think memoirs like this are really thought-provoking and i'd like to dive into other works in this vein.

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tpeacock9's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

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madamelacy's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.25

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readandfindout's review

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.75

On first read in 2017: This has to be one of my favorite non-fiction books of all time now. I often find that, though I will enjoy a memoir, it doesn't really resonate with me. But this certainly did.

The entire time that I was reading this book, I was noting the similarities between my thinking and Paul's. I wish that we had been able to meet, because I think we could have had some very interesting discussions about mortality and meaning. I also found myself awed by his integrity, throughout his life as well as when he was facing death.

On 2023 reread

Overall rating: 4.75 stars

Style/writing: 4.5 stars
Themes: 5 stars
Perspective: 5 stars

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