Reviews

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

jsultz3's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

juliaeconner's review

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emotional reflective sad fast-paced

4.75

jessshire_cat's review against another edition

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5.0

Although this book was written over a short span of time, I felt that it beautifully captured Paul's narrative with life over a long period of time. It was clear that he was a deep thinker who made choices to better understand the self, life and death. He lived a life of meaning and intention, and I deeply admire that.

His relationship with Lucy was one of my favourite aspects of the book. How lucky to have experienced a type of love like that.

michellechien930's review against another edition

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4.0

I was particularly happy to jump onto Jen Im's bookclub choice this month, which happened to be Kalanithi's "When Breath Becomes Air". This book hit home for me, as an important teacher and mentor from my university was recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. A few days after I finished this book, she died peacefully on a Saturday morning. This book made me think about, about the meaning of life and the footprints we leave behind. What really matters when all you have are a few decades on the face of earth, and what you can do to really grasp onto the time you have left. Very poignant and sad, but ultimately humbling read.

anarys_b's review against another edition

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hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

jenna_leigh123's review against another edition

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5.0

This was an absolutely outstanding book that I will never forget.

milymo77's review against another edition

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4.0

"If the weight of mortality does not grow lighter, does it at least get more familiar?"

clemen95's review against another edition

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emotional informative sad fast-paced

4.5

kdahlo's review against another edition

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I have a general rule that I read for fun and so I read fun books, which this book certainly violated. I have enough death and cancer in my life, I haven't found that reading about other people's experiences in this area helps me. I'm floating on top of all this as much as I can, if I focus directly on it I'm swimming, I'm sinking, I'm flailing around in it. I liked this more than I expected. It was still hard to read, and I know I brought a lot of my own emotions to it.

mcheese134's review

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challenging dark emotional inspiring medium-paced

5.0