Welcome to The Advocate’s new monthly book review.
This August, I’m recommending Being Mortal by author and surgeon, Atul Gawande. The child of an immigrant from India, Gawande is a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a staff writer for The New Yorker, and a professor at both Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health. He’s also the director of Ariadne Labs and is Chairman of Lifebox, a nonprofit dedicated to making surgery safer on a global scale.
Being Mortal is Gawande’s fourth book, and in it he explores the marvels of modern medicine and how those same marvels can sometimes hinder the ultimate goal which is “not a good death, but a good life – all the way to the end.” It’s a new way of looking at this one life we are given, and how we must question the way we relate to our aging family and community members as we ourselves move toward death.
This book was loaned to me after the death of my grandmother, and while I decided to read it out of politeness, I quickly determined that this may be one of the most powerful and stunning books I have ever read.
While grounded in solid research, what really held my interest were the stories of his own practice and family. Turning the spotlight on his own journey through the final years of his father’s life, Gawande weaves a tale of discovery and foundational change, revealing the failings of a system that honors safety and cures above all else while forgetting the inevitable – we are all mortal.
From live birds flying around in a nursing home hair salon, to a 110–year–old man riding his 100 acres every night at sunset on horseback, to an apartment landlord who couldn’t bear to see her tenants go, you’ll read stories of people who have triumphed over the complexities of the healthcare system and have won independence and a new way of life and death for those they care for.
Being Mortal fundamentally changed the way I look at the American healthcare system, and challenges all I ever thought I knew about death and dying. You’ll laugh, cry, rage, and smile throughout this intricate tapestry of words. I simply cannot recommend this book highly enough.
Being Mortal was released in 2014 by Metropolitan Books. You can special order this book online from Grassroots Bookstore.
By Kyra Blank
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