When Breath Becomes Air
I love this book.
It remains one of my favourite non-fiction reads.
I was introduced to the book at a time when I had questions about death, questions I had had throughout my thirties [maybe even starting in my late twenties]. A major one for me was, what happens when my eyelids come down for the last time?
I have had answers that came back as questions; are you afraid of how you will die? Are you afraid that it will hurt? Etc. But that is not what I was asking. For most of my life, I have believed in life after death. I was taught that there is life after death. However, I cannot say that I still do or that I no longer do. I am in an in-between place on this issue.
In When Breath Becomes Air, we walk with Paul Kalanithi through his childhood literary influences [and it shows in his excellent writing], to trying to decide on a career path, and ultimately the key thing that the book is about - his mortality. While his story did not answer my questions, it allowed me a chance to sort of see what it might feel or look like to journey towards the last breath. He did not get to write the end of his book; his wife did. This very factor reminds me that our lives are transitional in ways that are not always obvious or easy to accept.
We move from life’s first cry, first burp, first solid, first step, first tooth, and many other firsts, to mid-life [if we get there], to the last meal, hug, laugh, and breath. We move from one stage to the next, sometimes knowingly, sometimes unknowingly.
For me, the book captures transition in a very grounding way; yes, it is sad, because as we read we know he may not make it to the end of the book, but we get there and find an end that, for this reader, was acceptable.
Mortals, that’s what we are. If we are lucky, we will have a witness to our lives, maybe even one who, in Kalanithi’s case, can finish what we started.
The book also inspires [I don’t know if that was intentional on the writer’s part]. One of the the unintended thoughts I walked away with was [and I will leave this with you] this: start something worth finishing. Feel free to start by reading this book.
Highly recommended.
