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A review by literaryjunarin
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
hopeful
sad
fast-paced
4.0
Well, that was sad. It felt like such a waste for a talented neurosurgeon to die at such a young age. As Paul Kalanithi talked about the span of his education and career, you can see how incredibly gifted he was.
We can't really rate a memoir because how are we supposed to rate someone's life? But as for the writing, I think it's a bit too clinical but very interesting. I marvel at knowing that he wrote this while battling cancer and being inside his mind at that time, I can't help but be inspired by how brave he was. I loved how he was so resilient and passionate about finding the true meaning of life. Of course, he also broke down a lot of times, because he's human but as his wife said, he was frail but never weak.
As for the epilogue written by his wife, that was the part that broke me. Here's the part where I just started bawling my eyes out: "I expected to feel only empty and heartbroken after Paul died. It never occurred to me that you could love someone the same way after he was gone, that I would continue to feel such love and gratitude alongside the terrible sorrow, the grief so heavy that at times I shiver and moan under the weight of it."
We can't really rate a memoir because how are we supposed to rate someone's life? But as for the writing, I think it's a bit too clinical but very interesting. I marvel at knowing that he wrote this while battling cancer and being inside his mind at that time, I can't help but be inspired by how brave he was. I loved how he was so resilient and passionate about finding the true meaning of life. Of course, he also broke down a lot of times, because he's human but as his wife said, he was frail but never weak.
As for the epilogue written by his wife, that was the part that broke me. Here's the part where I just started bawling my eyes out: "I expected to feel only empty and heartbroken after Paul died. It never occurred to me that you could love someone the same way after he was gone, that I would continue to feel such love and gratitude alongside the terrible sorrow, the grief so heavy that at times I shiver and moan under the weight of it."