When Breath Becomes Air
by Paul Kalanithi
Biography. Themes: Medical Memoir, Philosophy, Science
Paul Kalanithi invited us to witness his intimate relationship with death, as did the woman pictured, one of the bravest and most magnificent humans I’ve ever accompanied on her journey toward death.
My dear friend read Kalanithi’s best selling memoir before she learned her prognosis was terminal. When I mentioned it was a book club selection, she expressed the desire to read it again. Magic enters the room when an imminently dying person reads aloud a book about dying.
It’s hard for her to hold up the book, read aloud for any extended period of time, so it is a sacred moment to witness. Like all dying people, she is an incredible teacher making the time we spend together - talking, laughing, crying, reading - time I will cherish for the rest of my life.
Kalanithi’s magnificent accounting about what it’s like to live in the face of death is not for the faint of heart. In fact, his wife finished the book following his death. By asking himself, his family and his audience repeatedly, “What gives life meaning?” he boldly challenges us to answer that question for ourselves. As we say here at Bevival, long before the end.