When breath becomes air

Je recommande rarement un livre. Mais c’est un des plus beaux livres que j’ai lu ces derniers temps, une vraie réflexion sur la mort, émouvant mais sans pathos ce qui est un exploit vu le sujet…une magnifique lecture…

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Hesitating for so many times, and today I have finished the book “When breath becomes air” in one sitting. I have never felt equally so stunned and also hopeful after reading the book. The book is about the life of a neurosurgeon student, Paul Kalanithi, who is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in his mid thirties. From a long training medical student at Stanford with the dream of making a living treating the dying people, just in the next day, he became a patient struggling to live, the book tells us about the memory of Paul when he needed to face the death. He told us what makes life worth living in the face of death, “what do you do when your future, no longer a ladder toward your goals in life, flattens out into a perpetual present?- from NY Time review”. Paul is not only a cancer survivor, but also a doctor, who can understand and keep track of his death. In his fighting with the painful cancer therapy, he achieved noteworthy recognition as a scholar, a surgeon, a scientist and a writer. He tried very hard to live a normal life, continued his work, spent time with his family, and most importantly, he decided to have a child with his wife. “In his everyday struggles are seen a chronicle of the struggles that we will all face in some regard, and which thousands of people face on a daily basis — a review by Jogalekar”. The book might make you cry for Paul and for his wife — Lucy because of the sympathy for their destiny, but more than that, the book will give you the lesson about life and death, the reason why you need to live and fight for your life. The book is about sharing hope, sharing insight, sharing the question about life and illness and death. It also described how Paul reached out to his patients to share his vulnerabilities and made them understand their strength, for this, I also strongly recommended it for anyone who is a doctor or wanted to be a doctor to read the book.

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(Spoiler alert if continued reading)

In the first part of the book, you will see Paul life in the years before his diagnosis, from his early age as a student, and then become a physician, we experience his believes about the relationship between the mind, the brain and the body, and the general relationship between doctor and a patient.

In the second part, from someone who prevents the death, he becomes the one that actually experiences the death itself. In this part, we watch his fighting as the narrative portrays the author’s mental, emotional and physical experiences going through his treatment. He becomes more deeply aware of both his strengths and his vulnerabilities. He understands how to live with awareness of the interplay of past, present and future.

The last section is from his wife epilogue. She describes her husband’s death, the funeral and burial. Her process of grieving and her realization that love actually continues and deepens even after death.

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Strongly recommend the book for young people, who is now fighting with their life, love, relationship, with their job and study. The book also recommended by Bill Gates as he said “The book left me in tear”. If you want to read about his review, the link is here: https://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/When-Breath-Becomes-Air

[For those who wants a PDF, inbox me]

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Hésitant tant de fois, et aujourd’hui j’ai terminé le livre «Quand le souffle devient de l’air» en une seule séance. Je ne me suis jamais senti aussi tellement étonné et j’espère après avoir lu le livre. Je recommande vivement le livre pour tous les jeunes qui sont maintenant, comme moi, à lutter contre l’étude, le travail, la vie et les relations.