Reviews with content warning for Terminal illness - When Breath Becomes Air

Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

102 reviews

dedusmuln's review

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emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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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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lashette's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

This was interesting. Not half as sad as I thought it would be. The main author wrote well about his past, present and future. Part 1 was more about his past and learning about life, callings and medicine. The 2nd part was where we delved more into his living with cancer as a doctor and a scientist. There's a lot of pholosifizing as one may expect but it's natural. Reading this makes you think about death and life and illness. And so thoughts, questions and beliefs come up. I almost wish I could be having these conversations with him. It doesn't end as one would expect but why it ended is not unexpected. I'm not trying to be fancy in my review, it's the way this book makes me want to communicate. His wife's addition at the end gives another perspective. One that is sadder. This was not a perfect book, but I think it was good enough.

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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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