Reviews tagging 'Grief'

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

68 reviews

leahgustafson's review

emotional inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

I put off reading this one longer than I should have because I wasn’t sure I was in the right emotional headspace. However, this book is about so much more than cancer and a life cut short. It’s actually really about life!
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I love how, from early on, Paul Kalanithi is interested in the human experience. I think it’s interesting how he explores this from so many different perspectives—literature, medicine, neurosurgery, etc. I also enjoyed hearing about his experiences in medical school and his discoveries (through his roles as BOTH a doctor and a patient) about the importance of building relationships.
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Kalanithi’s vulnerable account of his diagnosis and journey with cancer is extremely reflective and really explores what it means to live a full and meaningful life. While it’s too bad that he was unable to finish this book, I really think the ending, written by his wife, is the perfect touch to end this book. It instills a message of hope and allows everything he embodied to live on.
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This book reminds me a lot of The Last Lecture. I read that one many, many years ago, and it may be time to revisit it because these two would make great companion texts!
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Check out what I'm reading next on Instagram @LeahsLitReview!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cancer, Terminal illness, and Grief

sarah_hutchins's review

emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Cancer, Death, and Medical content

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Suicide

333amreen's review

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

VERY INSIGHTFUL!!! not just into a doctor's life and their relationship with their patients & their confrontation with life and death everyday! But also, into HIS life, Paul's beautiful life & his philosophies that were astounding. Overall, an emotional ride, especially the latter part!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Grief, Death of parent, Medical content, Eating disorder, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Injury/Injury detail, and Vomit

garyosu's review

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Vomit, Death, Grief, Medical content, Cancer, and Death of parent

linzlee's review

emotional sad medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, and Grief

aleyajo's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

3.5

Memoir of a smart and empathetic neurosurgeon diagnosed with cancer. Epilogue written by his widowed wife. I found his portion interesting but surprisingly not sad, his wife’s portion was sad to me though. His perspective of the medical field informed much of his decision-making process when diagnosed; he had difficulty letting himself simply be a patient. He also understood the importance of not simply extending life - but of meaningful time being more important than the quantity. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cancer, Grief, Medical content, and Death

Moderate: Suicide

brecklyn's review

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

4.0

This is outside of my normal genre, but I really enjoyed his reflections on life, and philosophy and his perspective on death. I did not find it too sad, but it was definitely moving and poignant. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Terminal illness, Grief, Medical content, Cancer, and Death

Minor: Cancer and Death

jchudson's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Medical content, Death, Terminal illness, and Cancer

greenlivingaudioworm's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Medical content, Pregnancy, Grief, and Vomit

psweet9's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

5.0

Wow

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Death