Chapter 1:

This first chapter is an introduction of Dr. Atul Gawande. We start to get a backstory about him and learn that both his parents were immigrants from India and that they were also doctors. We learn about when he met his wife and a little bit about her. Then, we also get to learn about Alice, Dr. Atul’s wife’s grandmother. We learn her backstory and we learn that Dr. Atul never really grew up or knew any elderly people before.

Chapter 2:

This chapter talks about what happens to us when we age. It talks about how we live longer, better lives because of modern advances in medicine, but nothing is perfect and we will still eventually grow old and our health will dwindle. This is something that will happen to all people and the elderly often feel bad and embarrassed because of it. In fact, doctors sometimes even look down on it when they can’t fix it.

Chapter 3:

Here it talks about how the elderly are often more afraid of their decline in health than actually dying. They don’t want to have help for the things they have always been able to do by themselves. We see that Alice has been put in an assisted living home and she is just not herself anymore. She is not upset but withdrawn.

Analysis:

Basically, in the first three chapters, we get to meet Dr. Atul and his family. We get to learn about him and why he is where he is a little bit. But, we also get to see that he has not been around elderly people all his life, so Alice is a new figure in his life, even though she is the grandmother of his wife. This is all maybe a little new to him. This book is very interesting, I think, because in chapter two, after we have learned the stories and history of the people in this book, we get to see a doctor's approach. We learn about the standard progression of human health and how you decline over the years. Even though there are modern advances in medicine, we still cannot stop the inevitable. Then in chapter three, Dr. Atul is a little upset because he sees that Alice is not herself. She is living in the new home, but she has become very withdrawn and has been eating less. You start to see the progression of all of this building up to the rest of the book. I think it’s going to be interesting to read the rest of the book.

Questions:

What made Dr. Atul decide to follow in his parent’s footsteps?

What do you think about aging? What is your biggest fear?