Reviews

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

carlakingmolina's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Really helps you put life into perspective.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer and Vomit

georgialilyw's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

As much as I could tell how well written this book was, I just couldn't connect with it. I've felt similar things about other medical books, maybe I'm just too squeamish to open myself up? However, the epilogue by the author's wife had me ruined so I boosted my rating and I definitely won't be forgetting this any time soon.

kovyrin's review against another edition

5.0

Fantastic memoir! Terrifying, depressing, beautifully described story of a young neurosurgeon, his cancer diagnosis, his battle with the horrible disease and up to the very end of his life. I found the story of Paul very relatable and just like with Atul Gawande's book I've recently finished, it brought forth very important questions on how should we deal with our own mortality.

Paul gave us a great example of one of the options on how we may choose to spend our last days – the same way we may want to spend our lives: "You can't reach perfection, but you can believe in an asymptote toward which you are ceaselessly striving".

isacataldo's review against another edition

This book is amazing even for people not working in the medical field. So beautifully written and heartbreaking. 

lucywan's review

emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

crissybls's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

“Maybe, in the absence of any certainty, we should just assume that we’re going to live a long time. Maybe that’s the only way forward” 

neurodivergentreader's review against another edition

emotional inspiring sad fast-paced

5.0

catgoeddey's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

I loved everything about this book. As a doctor dealing with it every day, managing patients with what overcame him, handling it with grace and consciousness, it was beautiful to read from all sides: as a doctor, as a patient, as a spouse, and eventually a father. The intro and finishing was done perfectly. 

neenakao's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring sad fast-paced

5.0

shruit's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

4.25