There are a few books that touch something deep within you when you are lucky enough to read them. This is one of those books. I thought I was handling it pretty well. This book is really about living and learning how to live your life with meaning. It is not a book about dying, even though the author was doing just that when he wrote this book. In fact, he did not quite finish it and the ending which his wife wrote to finish the book, sent my tear ducts into overdrive.
Dr. Paul Kalanithi is a young neurosurgeon all ready making a name for himself. Coming from a family of doctors, he is uncertain that the field of medicine is where he wants to be. But he soons discovers his place in the world and he knows he wants to make a difference in people's lives. Some lives that other people give up on. He is all most finished with his residency and he and his wife will soon be choosing their next medical jobs. That's when, after ignoring the symptoms he knows so well, he is diagnosed with Stage IV Lung cancer.
To say that this is devastating is stating the obvious, but his oncologist gives him hope. He did manage to live longer than expected and even have a daughter with his wife before he passed away. But this book, his book, will make a difference in more lives than he could ever have touched with his very talented hands.
I laughed, I cried, and even though I knew the outcome, I even hoped along with him. He had an amazing talent to tell a story and to make you want to find a way to be a better person. His book will not preach at you, but you will want to take up his unassuming banner and try to make yourself and the world a better place. Isn't that all we can hope for? Don't take my word for it. This is one book you need to read each and every word because they are all so beautifully written.
When reading the short description of this book, I was definitely intrigued. The premise of dying and re-living your own life over again sounded like a interesting theme for a book. Who wouldn't want to redo and change some of the decisions that we have made in our lives.
Harry August was born on the floor of a ladies restroom while his young, unmarried mother died giving birth to Harry. The wealthy family of the Harry's biological father, places Harry in the home of their gardener and wife with compensation to bring
him up. Harry's father rapes Harry's mother while she worked as a maid in the estate home. Harry's parents are good parents, but his adopted mom dies young and his father never recovers from the loss.
When Harry figures out that he is continually coming back into his same life after each death, he tries many different paths. He eventually meets a member of the Cronus Club, who are other humans that are born over and over like Harry. She takes him under her wing and explains how their mission in life works. As Harry comes to the end of a life, a newer generation member tells him that the world is going to be destroyed and that it is happening at a faster and faster time period.
Harry searches for the answers to why this is happening. We all come to figure out the cause as Harry works toward stopping the eventual outcome. This book reads like a memoir part of the time, along with a science fiction, and sometimes a thriller. While it
did make for a lively and thought-provoking discussion amongst my book club, Don't look for happy endings. :)
Trying to clean up today and look what I found not hiding on my desk (in plain view!) It took forever to scan them all into my GoodReads shelf of "Books that I have bought but not read yet."
Looks like I have my work cut out for me. I'm trying to pick out a good scary book for my next Book Club host date. I do
not read horror, but a good psychological thriller sounds like the perfect match for October. Do any of you have
suggestions? Please let me know!
