“Even if I’m dying until I actually die, I am still living.
Paul Kalanithi (When Breath Becomes Air): Book Review
I have had quite a good struggle before writing this one. I am still confused as to which facet of this book should be presented in front of the world. To begin with, the author of the book passed away while writing. It has been given a proper ending by his wife. The author Paul was suffering from Lung cancer and the irony is that he himself is a neurosurgeon.
The book evoked varied varieties of emotions.
It’s not a very well written book and guesses it doesn’t have to be. What’s more important is that it is an emotional journey of a man who is fighting a terminal illness every day. The phases of grief have been expressed very well.
The most difficult parts were where the author describes his familiarity with the medical terminology being used by the fellow doctors for explaining the progress of cancer. He knew exactly how to read between the lines of those words and know the correct state of the disease. There were so many times when the author wished he didn’t know medicine that well and just the very next moment he was thankful that he knew the jargons. The initial section of the book talks about the medical journey of the author and it seems to be a lot to take in. But the section nicely wraps up just the moment you are about to get exhausted.
The book doesn’t preach anything. There are no “live in the moment”exaggeration. It is just the seamless flow of thoughts of a person who is suffering from cancer. The ending penned down by Lucy (the author’s wife) got me teary eyes.
I am going with 3.5/5. Pick it up if you want to hear a personal journey up-close without expecting a lot of good writing.