rebeccazh's reviews
2844 reviews

As others have said, for owl nerds. I got a bit lost at the part about calls

author's tone and prose was not my cup of tea

premise interesting but prose was not my cup of tea

found it hard to follow some of the stories

discovered some poems that i ended up really liking

as with any anthology, i liked some poems more than others

too detailed about cell biology and it wasn't my cup of tea

This is a book about meaning. Paul Kalanithi spends his whole life finding meaning and making sense of life. I'm most struck by how he went back to the grueling work of residency despite his cancer diagnosis, he lives his life by striving - sometimes life is about more than happiness or pleasure and ease, and important things are worth doing despite hardship and pain. “Don’t you think saying goodbye to your child will make your death more painful?”
“Wouldn’t it be great if it did?” I said. Lucy and I both felt that life wasn’t about avoiding suffering.

Lucy's concluding chapter struck me as well, especially her observation that love persists and takes on a different form after death. Caring for our daughter, nurturing relationships with family, publishing this book, pursuing meaningful work, visiting Paul’s grave, grieving and honoring him, persisting…my love goes on—lives on—in a way I’d never expected.

 

Slow in the beginning, the book picks up around the middle. I enjoyed this cozy mystery.