5 emotional stars to When Breath Becomes Air! ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
When Breath Becomes Air has been on my shelf since I first bought it from Book of the Mon5 emotional stars to When Breath Becomes Air! ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
When Breath Becomes Air has been on my shelf since I first bought it from Book of the Month over two years ago. I was waiting for the right time, and that never seemed to come. Timing is important for a read like this, and we all have our connections to books or topics that we feel might contribute to poor timing…If Beth hadn’t had this on her reading list for November and offered a buddy read, I don’t know if I ever would have picked it up. Even though I desperately wanted to read it, I was scared.
What happened to Paul Kalanithi could happen to any one of us. A young life full of promise with some uncomfortable symptoms he explained away as stress and body ailments that would come along with one of the most physical and mentally draining times of his life, his last year of residency in neurosurgery.
Kalanithi chronicles his early life, the role of his parents in his education, his siblings, his time in college- what he studied and why. He shares many philosophical thinkings he has had and how they contribute to the path he chose. He comes to a fork in the road where he has to choose between being a writer and being a doctor, and he chooses the latter. Why? Not for the fortune and fame because of all the sacrifice it would take to get there; instead, it was a calling for him.
Documenting the years of his training, including his residency, and up through his diagnosis to the birth of his daughter, and then his last documented days, I have to say I cried in the beginning, and I cried while reading the last 60 pages. Once Kalanithi knew he was rapidly declining, I could not stop my tears. Then, when his story ends, and his wife, Lucy, completes it, I continued to weep. Paul Kalanithi’s had worked hard to accomplish so many things, and it was all cut devastatingly short. He had a tenderness in his love for his wife, his daughter, his parents and brothers, his friends, but also in how he approached every human he encountered. He never disconnected from the human connection, that each patient was someone’s biggest love.
Even though this book ripped me apart, and yes, it made me cry, I’m grateful that I know, and can be inspired by, Paul Kalanithi’s heart.
Thank you to Beth for another wonderful buddy read. So far we are two for two with emotional reads!
Jennifer ~ TarHeelReader
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