Photo Credit and Blog advertisement: A Cup of Jo is written by Joanna Goddard. Your BHS media specialists read her blog on the regular. Joanna's sister was married Dr. Paul Kalanithi, the author of this book. Check out this post if you want to read more about Paul and his family (including two essays also written by him). | When Breath Becomes Air - a review by Greg Soden "When Breath Becomes Air" is the memoir of Dr. Paul Kalanithi. Dr. Kalanithi was a father, husband, son, brother, writer, and Stanford University neurosurgeon. At the end of a grueling six year neurosurgery residency, Dr. Kalanithi began to experience excruciating back pain, exhaustion during eight hour surgeries, and a persistent cough. As a physician, he knew these classic symptoms, went to the doctor, and shortly thereafter was diagnosed with terminal, metastatic lung cancer. Dr. Kalanithi was always a lover of literature and had envisioned himself spending his golden years writing memoirs about his experiences in medicine. Nearing the end of his life, he chose to write the book "When Breath Becomes Air," left as an unfinished word document on his laptop at the time of his death. His wife, fellow physician Lucy Kalanithi, shepherded his book through to publication. The book documents his diagnosis, his relationship with his wife and family, the completion of a surgical residency, and the birth of his young daughter, to whom the book is dedicated. The book is an incredible and emotional journey for any reader, regardless of experiences with cancer, untimely death, parenthood, marriage, or profession. Reading this book will help you get to know a brilliantly gifted man with an unshakeable vision of performing life-saving brain surgery. Paul knew death and suffering even before he stared it in the face himself. In a profound moment, the moment I finished reading the book, my two year old daughter walked in my room, wanting to show me something. In the state I was in upon completing the book, it took every ounce of my own willpower to not burst completely into tears at the sight of her. Thinking about Paul's story, his 8-month old daughter, and my own family, it made me realize that if I live to my daughter's fifth birthday or her fiftieth birthday, I need to cherish family for everything it's worth. |
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We are excited to share with you our next book review because it was by one of our students. Come see us in the MC if you'd like to check out this book. It's Kind of a Funny Story: A Lighter Look at Adolescent Major Depression by BHS junior, Catt Harvey It's Kind of a Funny Story, by Ned Vizzini, published in 2006, was inspired by Vizzini's brief hospitalization for depression in November 2004. This novel goes out to show that depression is not all that society has dressed it, it can be shown in a lighter way. It effectively extinguishes some of the burning stigmas surrounding mental illness, such as depressed people having the inability to succeed or recover. It also shows the reality of major depression as felt by a teenager: the difficulties getting class work done, the effect friends may have, the shame or embarrassment felt surrounding the fact that they're just not normal, and worst of all, eating. It effectively extinguishes some of the burning stigmas surrounding mental illness Craig Gilner is a 15 year old that aced the test to get into an incredibly prestigious private school in Manhattan, Executive Pre-Professional High School, after studying intensely for the entire school year prior. As the work load becomes more intense, Craig's depression does as well. All of his "tentacles," the things that stress him and make everything worse, are getting to him: his best friend is a genius and a stoner, who also happens to be dating the girl Craig is in love with, his family is supportive, but sometimes too much, and his classes are almost impossible, not to mention his psychiatrist is as cliche as they come. He gets low enough that he has planned his suicide; he will leap off the Brooklyn Bridge while his family is asleep. As he readies himself to leave, he picks up a book that directs him to call a suicide hotline. He does so and the man on the other end tells him that he should go to the hospital, Craig follows this advice. He is admitted to a nearby hospital, in the adult ward while the adolescent is being renovated. Craig is quick to make friends friends during his stay, but also reignites a childhood passion, and makes a life changing decision involving his school and his old friends. This book is written entirely in first person, from Craig's point of view. In using this view point, Vizzini solidifies the idea in the audience's mind that this is a book about adolescent depression, and gets a wider message across; depression doesn't make someone inherently lazy, negative or just generally bad. Craig talks like a teenager, thinks like a teenager, and is displayed as a teenager should be. He parties, deals with peer pressure, lies to his parents about his own activities, and is extremely curious about his own sexuality, which makes him a little awkward. Vizzini writes Craig's character very realistically. He has his ups and downs, at one point saying that he "made that test his bitch," when discussing the admission test for Executive Pre-Professional High School. Later, he calls like a nightmare when discussing how he feels with his psychiatrist. What this "up-and-down" language accomplishes is showing that Craig is a teenager, and the possibility of feeling good when you have major depression. There are many recognizable themes in this novel; the most over-arching being self-acceptance and the reality of being placed in a mental hospital. A majority of this book is placed in a mental hospital and is, as Vizzini himself stated, 85% true. There is a certain diversity with the patients, one fears that gravity will turn off, another is the self proclaimed president of the floor and deals with psychosis, then there are plenty that are never seen because they don't leave their rooms. There are also patients that are social, that seem almost completely normal, excluding the fact that they are in a mental hospital. Vizzini begins simply with "it's so hard to talk when you want to kill yourself," but pieces from the final part are far different. Craig chooses that he's done with having regrets, bad friends, and his tentacles. Even so, he is aware that he still suffers with depression, "I'm not better you know. The weight hasn't left my head... I could fall back into it... head to the Brooklyn Bridge. All of that is still there." This awareness shows an amount of control and acceptance. He can cope, he knows his limits well now. Craig's situation is relatable to some, but others may pity him. He's only a kid after all, but to the young adults that suffer with similar things reading it see themselves in this 15 year old boy, trying to make it through. Due to the fact that this novel is based on Vizzini's own life, it adds a certain authenticity. Craig has weaknesses, some found when speaking to some of the people from the hospital, like he's pretty bad with girls. He has his strengths, which shine when he draws his maps. The maps are his coping mechanism, and coping mechanisms are a universal concept. Everyone has their way of dealing with life when it gets to be too much, some read, some write, some do drugs. Any form of distraction may be a coping mechanism, even reading It's Kind of a Funny Story. It's Kind of A Funny Story has been well received since it was written. The novel received recognition as the Best Book For Young Adults from the American Library Association only a year after being published. Critics gave some mixed reviews, but was met with applause from some major publications, like the New York Times. Then in late 2010, a film adaptation was released. Vizzini's hit book reportedly took only a month to write. For a book written in that small time frame, with that kind of recognition, it must be pretty damn good. Thank you for sharing your insights about this book, Catt!
And readers, we would LOVE to hear from you about your reading. If you would like to share a book review, please contact us! What. A. Story. Our faculty book club met to discuss a non-fiction book, The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace by Jeff Hobbs, this morning. I think we would all agree that this book is compelling, relevant, engaging, overwhelming, and difficult to shake - not that we would actually want to do that. For a little more information, check out this Blendspace. For now, I'm going to let Mr. Greg Soden speak about this story through his thoughtful book review. If it moves you, come check out this book in our library. You won't regret it. Unheeded Advice: A Review of “The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace” Greg Soden Picture a friend you’ve known your entire life that makes questionable decisions. Imagine yourself urging, pleading, begging, and nudging that friend towards what appears to you to be the “sound” decision in any given dilemma. Now visualize as the friend makes the opposite decision regarding the most critical pieces of offered advice, making the decision life and death. Feel the pain as your friend dies, knowing that all of this could have been easily avoided. Such is the wrenching experience for the reader of “The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace,” by Jeff Hobbs. Before reading a single page, the title itself gives the reader the knowledge that Robert Peace will die. It is a dilemma a reader must acknowledge before reading the text itself. Yet, from the very beginning, I was compelled to carry on through the story of a person whose life I knew would tragically end. However, the worry immediately subsided and I became entranced in Rob’s life, based on 300 hours of interviews (NPR, 2014). I watched his mother reading to him as a baby to his father’s questionable imprisonment; from his sporting prowess to his youth leadership abilities; from his study sessions to his full scholarship to Yale University; from his teaching career to his years of wandering towards his untimely, and indeed tragic, death. All eras of his life are gripping, and while you know Rob will not to see the ending of the book dedicated to his life, his life is worth knowing. Reading a book in which a reader knows the ending is a surreal journey of watching a person make decisions that will potentially lead to the moment in which their life ends. As I read, I literally begged Rob aloud to not sell drugs, to not get involved in business with certain men, to heed to the pleadings of his friends, family, and teachers. And then the moment arrived, catching me by surprise, though I knew his death was imminent. After finishing “The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace,” I Facebook-stalked Rob Peace and found myself staring face-to-face with the man himself on his still-active profile. I couldn’t help myself; I felt I knew him and I wanted to feel like he was still alive. I lingered, dejectedly, looking at a poorly lit photo emphasizing his radiant smile. I struggled with the idea that he was no longer a living person. I sent him a message to say hello and clung to a shred of hope he’d write back... I befriended Rob Peace and reading this book shook me. It was too real. I pleaded with Rob, gone from this earth now for four and a half years, to make slightly different choices. Perhaps, in some way, he heard me and is showing his captivating smile to those around him. Notes: NPR Staff (2014). Remembering the Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/2014/09/23/350577398/remembering-the-short-and-tragic-life-of-robert-peace Share away, my friends. Thank you for the review, Mr. Soden! |
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