✍🏻 Paul Kalanithi 

☑️ Nonfiction, Memoir

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“𝙊𝙣𝙚 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙮 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙙; 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙚 𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙘𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜. 𝙄𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙗𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙖𝙡 𝙛𝙞𝙜𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣, 𝙄 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙮𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙚𝙥, 𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙛𝙪𝙨𝙚𝙙.”

What a heartbreaking and profound book. 

Overview:

•Memoir 

•Life and Mortality 

•Medical Field

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗶𝗿 𝗯𝘆 𝗮 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗴 𝗻𝗲𝘂𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿 𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗴𝗻𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗽𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗻𝘀𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, ‘𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗮 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴?’

Let me start with this: I love memoirs when people are able to convey their unique perspective and experiences in a way that make me think and reflect deeply about my own life and others around me. 

Paul Kalanithi was clearly an honorable and thoughtful doctor, husband, peer, and human. 

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Paul’s words about his interesting career path and the reasons he eventually pursued neuroscience. 

“𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙢𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙖 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙣𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙡𝙮 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙙𝙚𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙀𝙣𝙜𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙝 𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙪𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙗𝙞𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙜𝙮. 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙙𝙧𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙗𝙮 𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙗𝙮 𝙩𝙧𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙, 𝙞𝙣 𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙩: 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙨 𝙝𝙪𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙢𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙛𝙪𝙡?”

There was something so vulnerably human and courageous in how he talked about the transition from being the one guiding patients through life-shattering moments to being the one in the hospital bed. 

To hear such a medically intelligent man grapple with uncertain medical issues was truly remarkable. 

“𝙄𝙩 𝙤𝙘𝙘𝙪𝙧𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙮 𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙥 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙨 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙨 𝙨𝙤𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙨 𝙄 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙚.”

Paul faced mortality with integrity and grace, and I am thankful that he had the perseverance to transcribe his complex thoughts as he went through a physical and emotional wringer. 

It’s eye opening, and I truly mourned for his family by the end. 

“𝘽𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙄 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙖 𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙮, 𝙨𝙚𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝 𝙖𝙨 𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙫𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙤𝙧 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙞𝙛 𝙄’𝙢 𝙙𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙡 𝙄 𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙙𝙞𝙚, 𝙄 𝙖𝙢 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜.”

I would be remiss not to mention the sad and tender beauty of the epilogue, which was written by Paul’s widow, Lucy. 

𝙄 𝙖𝙨𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙞𝙢, “𝘾𝙖𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙠𝙖𝙮 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙢𝙮 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙤𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨?” 𝙃𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙨𝙬𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙖𝙨 “𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙄 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚.”

I heard someone say this book is somewhat about dying, but more importantly about being alive. 

What a raw, powerful story. 

Overall, I highly recommend this book to everyone. Just prepare your hearts. 

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