RaveThe Chicago TribuneGawande offers portraits of families struggling with this question, portraits that are attuned to the nuances of intergenerational relationships that make this such a fraught subject ... Gawande\'s book carefully, gently guides us along the path from the onset of aging and decline and into the wilderness of end-of-life medical care and death. It\'s already clear that this is an uncomfortable read, one that arouses a sense of indignation and perhaps shame that we\'ve allowed the nursing home industry to define solutions for elder care. But when Gawande dives into his true area of expertise, the medical options offered to the terminally ill, it becomes devastatingly clear how delusional our culture has become about death and dying ... One of the triumphs of Being Mortal is in its language: Because these subjects are so difficult, people all too often invoke treacly platitudes or, in the case of the ludicrous \'death panels\' controversy, toxic, fear-driven catch phrases. Gawande\'s writing is clear and concise and yet gentle and humane. And most important, honest. He finds a way to talk about death and dying safely.
Phil Klay
RaveThe Chicago TribuneThese stories — caked in dust and sweat, stinking of death and bureaucratic rot — are not moral, but they are driven to parse out morality's place during wartime … There is humanity here, as in ‘After Action Report,’ when one soldier takes responsibility for the (justifiable) shooting of a teenage Iraqi so his friend won't have to. There are questions of guilt here, as in ‘Psychological Operations,’ where a soldier questions the honor in taunting men literally to death. There is also sharp writing here, as in ‘FRAGO,’ in which Klay strings together military jargon into a rat-a-tat rhythm that amps up tension while insulating the reader from the violence that's about to ensue … Klay knows how to tell a true war story, because he knows the truth about war stories.
