Linda's Reviews > When Breath Becomes Air

"To begin with -- or, maybe, to end with --I got to know Paul only after his death. I came to know him most intimately when he'd ceased to be." (Abraham Verghese)

And we, for the most part, can actually say the same thing about Paul Kalanithi. We've come to know of him only after he had left this world of ours. Ironically, I write this on March 9th, the one-year anniversary of his passing.

Paul Kalanithi: son, husband, father, brilliant surgeon. He was a healer whose very existence gave hope to so many. How can this be? In my humble opinion, I believe that we are here on this earth for the appointed time of our being. We draw no more breath than what is pre-determined by a Higher Being....be it the last, raspy breaths of the elderly or the sole breath of a dying newborn. Paul was here for his personal alloted time.

This book is divided into two sections: before cancer diagnosis and after cancer diagnosis. Many have expressed a disconnect after having read this story. Many were looking for the gentle words of the dying in philosophical terms. The little nuggets were indeed there. But the perspective was all Paul's.

The beginning of the book was both clinical and procedural. That was Paul revealing his sense of "being"......what it took to become this focused man of medicine and of science. His steps were measured in the direction of his accomplishments and towards the light of a future that was never meant to be.

The second part of the book concentrated on the shifting of his identity from directing physician to the role of dependent patient. His profound knowledge of medicine served him in a limited capacity as he fought against the aggression of the disease. "But I'd had no idea how hard it would be, how much terrain I would have to explore, map, settle." Much like the rest of us in our stilted human experience.

The Epilogue is beautifully written by his wife, Lucy. She writes: "his transformation, from life to death, the ultimate transformation that awaits us all."

When Breath Becomes Air should not be taken as a maudlin reading, but one of hope and one of living a life well, no matter what the promise of longevity reveals.