isabellew6's review
4.5
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Chronic illness, and Medical content
Moderate: Grief and Dementia
Minor: Suicide
brooklynchaise's review
4.5
Graphic: Medical content, Death, Cancer, Terminal illness, and Chronic illness
Moderate: Death of parent, Dementia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Drug use, and Vomit
maethereader's review against another edition
5.0
I really think this should be required reading for everyone with a body who will one day have to face their mortality and that of their loved ones.
I listened to the audiobook for the last 1/3 of it, and I thought the narrator did a good job.
Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, Cancer, and Death
Moderate: Grief
vivj's review
4.5
Graphic: Death, Cancer, and Death of parent
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Dementia, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Vomit, and Medical content
ulmaridae's review
"I am leery of sugessting the idea that endings are controllable. No one ever really has control. Physics and biology and accident ultimately have their way in our lives. But the point is that we are not helpless either. Courage is the strength to recognise both realities. We have room to act, to shape our stories. Though as time goes on, it is within narrower and narrower confines. A few conclusions become clear when we understand this: that our most cruel failure in how we treat the sick and the aged is the failure to recognize that they have priorities that go beyond merely being safe and living longer. That the chance to shape one's story is essential to sustaining meaning in life. That we have the opportunity to refashion our institutions, our culture, and our conversation in ways that transform the possibilities for the last chapters of everyone's lives."
"The vital questions are the same. What is your understanding of the situation and it's potential outcomes? What are your fears, and what are your hopes? What are the tradeoffs that you are willing to make, and not willing to make? And what is the course of action that best serves this understanding?"
"The goal is not a good death. It is a good life, all the way to the end"
Graphic: Grief, Medical content, Death, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Cancer, Chronic illness, and Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Vomit and Excrement
Minor: Pregnancy
cprince99's review
4.5
Minor: Grief, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Death, Medical content, and Chronic illness
laurenkimoto's review against another edition
4.0
I found this to be a seamless blend of Dr. Gawande’s personal and professional experiences with end of life care for the elderly and terminally ill. The kindness and compassion shown is moving and makes you really think about how you would want to spend the last months of your life and what really matters to you.
Graphic: Chronic illness, Grief, Medical content, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Medical trauma, Suicide, and Terminal illness
archer3's review
5.0
Graphic: Medical content, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Drug use, Vomit, Dementia, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Car accident, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
norwegianforestreader's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Chronic illness, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Body horror, Blood, Cancer, Death, Excrement, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Death of parent, Dementia, and Grief
gtrue21's review against another edition
3.25
Graphic: Grief, Suicide, Abandonment, Ableism, Medical content, Medical trauma, Cancer, Death of parent, Dementia, Death, Confinement, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, and Forced institutionalization