(p. C6) With the seeker’s restlessness that seems not to have left him until his last breath, . . . [Dr. Paul Kalanthi accrued] two B.A.s and an M.A. in literature at Stanford, then a Master of Philosophy at Cambridge, before graduating cum laude from the Yale School of Medicine. He returned to Stanford for a residency in neurological surgery and a postdoctoral fellowship in neuroscience. His training was almost complete when the bad diagnosis hit.
. . .
And then everything changes. In a single moment of recognition, everything Dr. Kalanithi has imagined for himself and his wife evaporates, and a new future has to be imagined.
. . . A job at Stanford for which he was the prime candidate? Not happening. Another good job that would require the Kalanithis to move to Wisconsin? Too far from his oncologist. Long-term plans of any kind? Well, what does long-term mean now? Does he have a day, a month, a year, six years, what? He’s heard the advice about living one day at a time, but what’s he supposed to do with that day when he doesn’t know how many others remain?
For the full review, see:
JANET MASLIN. “Books of The Times; Singularly Striving Until Life Steps In.”The New York Times (Tues., July 7, 2015): C1 & C6.
(Note: ellipses, and bracketed words, added.)
(Note: the online version of the review has the date July 6, 2015, and has the title “Books of The Times; Review: In ‘When Breath Becomes Air,’ Dr. Paul Kalanithi Confronts an Early Death.”)
The book under review, is:
Kalanithi, Paul. When Breath Becomes Air. New York: Random House, 2016.