W H E N B R E AT H BECOMES AIR A REVIEW OF A BOOK BY PAU L K A L A N I T H I
BY FINN GAVIN (09-20)
‘T
he good news is that I’ve already outlived two Brontës, Keats and Stephen Crane,’ wrote the 37 year old Paul Kalanithi shortly after learning of his terminal cancer diagnosis in an email to his closest friend. ‘The bad news is that I haven’t written anything.’ As one final act of striving, Dr Kalanithi set about writing his memoirs, drawing on his experiences as a student, doctor and patient in a noble, insightful bid to answer the question he had pursued for his whole life: what makes life meaningful? Heartbreakingly poignant, the moving result of a tragically short lifetime is simply stunning. Dr Kalanithi’s background in English Literature is central to the vital spirit of the book, a reflection of the importance of the written word in the author’s identity. From an early age, his life was infused with literature and medicine — his father a cardiologist, his mother a ferocious advocate of literature in the young Paul’s education.
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