RaveThe New York Times Book ReviewDazzling ... There were moments when I wished to be closer to Akuany’s consciousness, to occupy a mind as supple, as wildly in love yet severely constrained, as hers ... But perhaps part of this novel’s ambition is to reject such expectations ... The pace is swift, galloping over momentous events, stating profound changes with unsettling directness. The text is ruthless when rendering moments of grief ... The stark language leaves the reader to decide how to be affected. Will we pause? Will we turn our gaze? ... But the novel is compassionate, too. It understands why followers follow, why enemies charge, why the tormented betray.
Paul Kalanithi
RaveThe MillionsThroughout When Breath Becomes Air, which is, true, a moving memoir of a man’s dying, but very much more than that, Kalanithi directs us to consider the braiding of science and literature.
