When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi is my type of book. I usually like fiction, both in English and Urdu. Biographies are often boring for me unless a movie is based on them. As I absolutely love movies or series based on real life events. But books on these subjects are not my type.
When I started reading this book “When Breath Becomes Air” I didn’t feel like it’s a biography. The style of writing is so crisp and gripping as if it’s a novel. In fact I would say it’s like a thriller fiction. There is emotional element, there is suspence, the moments of profound grief and rays of hope that is illuminating your anticipation aspirations.
The book starts with recent past. This is another advantage of this reading as it doesn’t go far into past, for digging out the teeny tiny details. The past is mentioned but in a quick brief ways.
Story is of a neurosurgeon, who is a brilliant one but falls into the cruel hands of cancer. The book is about human struggles, determination and strength, about ups and downs of this tiring journey, about the love and support of people around, about acceptance and making the most of the present. It’s about LIVING the life not merely passing time.
It’s a must read. I totally recommend it.
One essential tip for this book is skip foreword and directly start the Prologue. Once you finish the book then read foreword.

Critical Analysis by Sidra Javed
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