Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

39 reviews

theverycraftyvegan's review against another edition

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challenging emotional sad medium-paced

5.0

I cannot stress this enough, if you’re reading/listening to this book be fully prepared to cry. A friend recommended I not listen to this audiobook while driving because I would need to pull over and cry. I heeded that advice and I listened at home—alone—and I openly wept. 

Paul’s words were very clinical at times but never cold or without emotion. This was his life’s story about his education, career, and personal life but most importantly it’s about how he continued to live even though he knew he was dying. 

Lucy’s epilogue absolutely wrecked me. 

Paul: ”I’m ready.” 

Lucy: “I climbed into the last bed we’d share.”

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pezfilledcookies's review against another edition

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challenging emotional inspiring medium-paced

3.5


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esimplicity's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

4.5


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cacoethas's review against another edition

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emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.25

Without spoiling too much, this book is an amazing, reflective read. Going through the narrator's life as he copes with something new and daunting and watching it unravel is definitely eye-opening, and the ending made me sob for an entire half an hour. A beautifully written memoir.

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emgovan's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.25


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laurenjbb's review against another edition

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challenging emotional inspiring sad slow-paced

4.0


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leabhar_love's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad slow-paced

5.0


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northernlitreading's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.75

just so heartbreaking but beautiful and really genuinely insightful. what a book, i’ve never read anything like it. (i don’t want to say anything negative because it truly was brilliant but sometimes there were cliche lines that really took me out of the book, good lessons obviously but just reminded me that there were pages in front of me) 

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flamingtashhh's review against another edition

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reflective medium-paced

2.0

I thought this was way overhyped. Summary: guy tries to get as close to death as possible, achieves this goal. Dies. 

In seriousness, I didn’t like the author at all. I cried at the end because of course death is terrible, but this was out of no love for him. He seemed to have a lot of self-importance that was tied to his work. I’m very grateful for medicine, but this kind of arrogance- that which declares medical treatment to be the greatest of all treatment, or at least doctors the best givers of care there are- is dangerous and absurd. It’s like if Jack from Lost wrote a book. I know plenty of people like this author, and none of them are happy and I wouldn’t take seriously any philosophical treatises of theirs, either.

And I’m not going to make a habit of picking apart the prose of a man writing through his last year, so I have nothing to say about the writing itself. 

I actually liked the epilogue a lot, written by the author’s wife. She says there’s a lot he didn’t convey about himself and his values in the book, and honestly I really appreciated that. Her notes, and the pain and hurt in them, really gave another dimension to what would have otherwise been an uninteresting read. 

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sassyshark's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring relaxing sad fast-paced

5.0

Genuinely one of the most beautiful books I have every read.

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