A review by weeb_grass
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

5.0

This was so cathartic. The end was terribly difficult to get through without crying though. It is so hard, hearing someone walk you through a grief acutely attuned to your own. As the main character dies, taking those last few breaths the way one does when they can take in oxygen, but their lungs do nothing to expel it, is a sound no one should have to become familiar with. As Paul's wife brings her little girl to his side, all I could remember was curling up next to my father's cold body, listening to that "death breath" teeter out.

I needed this piece; however, I think I needed it just a tad later in life. I wouldn't recommend reading this with a raw wound caused by grieving one lost to stage IV lung cancer.