A l'aube d'une brillante carrière de neurochirurgien, Paul Kalanithi découvre qu'il souffre d'un cancer du poumon en phase terminale. L'avenir qu'ils ont imaginé avec sa femme disparaît brutalement.
Quand le souffle rejoint le ciel est le récit des multiples métamorphoses de cet homme, étudiant naïf devenu médecin chevronné, puis patient et jeune père à la fois. Ouelles sont les raisons qui poussent à vivre quand la fin est si proche? Que signifie donner la vie lorsque la vôtre s'amenuise? Paul Kalanithi meurt sans avoir achevé son manuscrit. Pourtant, ses mots lui survivent et touchent le monde entier.
Réflexion inoubliable sur le défi d'affronter sa propre mort et sur la relation médecin-patient, voici l'oeuvre d'un écrivain brillant, qui dut faire face à ces enjeux avec une totale sincérité.
THE NEW YORK TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER THE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER SHORTLISTED FOR THE WELLCOME BOOK PRIZE 2017 'Finishing this book and then forgetting about it is simply not an option...Unmissable' New York Times At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade's training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, the next he was a patient struggling to live.
When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi's transformation from a medical student asking what makes a virtuous and meaningful life into a neurosurgeon working in the core of human identity - the brain - and finally into a patient and a new father.
What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when when life is catastrophically interrupted? What does it mean to have a child as your own life fades away?
Paul Kalanithi died while working on this profoundly moving book, yet his words live on as a guide to us all. When Breath Becomes Air is a life-affirming reflection on facing our mortality and on the relationship between doctor and patient, from a gifted writer who became both.
Un médecin face à la vie et à sa mort A trente-six ans et juste à l'aube d'une brillante carrière de neurochirurgien, Paul Kalanithi découvre qu'il souffre d'un cancer du poumon en phase terminale. En un instant, l'avenir qu'ils ont imaginé avec sa femme, disparait. Un jour, il est ce médecin qui s'occupe des mourants, le lendemain, ce malade qui lutte pour survivre. Quand le souffle rejoint le ciel est le récit de ses multiples métamorphoses.
Celle du jeune étudiant, naïf et obsédé par la question existentielle de ce qui donne du sens à la vie, en ce neurochirurgien, gardien s'il en est de l'identité humaine. Puis celle, du médecin chevronné en ce patient et jeune papa qui doit faire face à sa propre mortalité. Qu'est qui pousse à vivre quand la mort est si proche ? Qu'est-ce que cela signifie d'avoir un enfant dans ces conditions ? Voici quelques-unes des questions auxquelles l'auteur répond dans ce témoignage profondément émouvant et pudiquement détaillé.
Paul Kalanithi meurt en mars 2015 alors que l'écriture de ce livre n'est pas achevée. Pourtant, ses mots lui survivent. Réflexion inoubliable et vibrante sur le défi d'affronter sa propre mort ainsi que sur la relation médecin-patient, Quand le souffle rejoint le ciel est l'oeuvre d'un écrivain brillant qui dut faire face à ces deux enjeux avec une totale sincérité. Un témoignage qui a bouleversé des milliers de lecteurs dans le monde.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST T his inspiring, exquisitely observed memoir finds hope and beauty in the face of insurmountable odds as an idealistic young neurosurgeon attempts to answer the question What makes a life worth living? NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review People NPR The Washington Post Slate Harpers Bazaar Time Out New York Publishers Weekly BookPage Finalist for the PEN Center USA Literary Award in Creative Nonfiction and the Books for a Better Life Award in Inspirational Memoir At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decades worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithis transformation from a naïve medical student possessed, as he wrote, by the question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life into a neurosurgeon at Stanford working in the brain, the most critical place for human identity, and finally into a patient and new father confronting his own mortality. What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when the future, no longer a ladder toward your goals in life, flattens out into a perpetual present? What does it mean to have a child, to nurture a new life as another fades away? These are some of the questions Kalanithi wrestles with in this profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir. Paul Kalanithi died in March 2015, while working on this book, yet his words live on as a guide and a gift to us all. I began to realize that coming face to face with my own mortality, in a sense, had changed nothing and everything, he wrote. Seven words from Samuel Beckett began to repeat in my head: I cant go on. Ill go on. When Breath Becomes Air is an unforgettable, life-affirming reflection on the challenge of facing death and on the relationship between doctor and patient, from a brilliant writer who became both.