Product Description
Now in paperback comes the moving account by an extraordinary young woman who mounted a daily struggle with cystic fibrosis in an effort to lead an ordinary life.

Twenty-one-year-old Laura Rothenberg had always tried to live a normal life -- even with lungs that betrayed her and a constant awareness that she might not live to see her next birthday. Like most people born with cystic fibrosis, the chronic disease that affects primarily the lungs, Laura struggled to come to grips with a life that had already been compromised in many ways. Sometimes healthy and able to attend school, other times hospitalized for weeks, Laura found solace in keeping a diary. In her writing, she could be open, honest, and irreverent, like the young person she was. Yet behind this voice is a penetrating maturity about her mortality, revealing a will and temperament that is fierce and insightful.

Amazon.com Review
It would be easy to assume that the story of Elizabeth Rothenberg's battle with cystic fibrosis is one of a brave young woman staying constantly positive in the face of tremendous adversity. But situations such as hers are rarely that simple. Thankfully, the portrait that emerges in her memoir, Breathing for a Living, is that of a complex and very real human being who experiences joy, anger, despair, and hopefulness while struggling to live the kind of normal life most of her fellow college students take for granted. And while her candor is admirable, what makes Rothenberg a remarkable author is her dedication to just getting words written down on the page at times when many would simply retreat from the world. Through an agonized process of waiting for a lung transplant, she writes down exactly what she's feeling. She writes extensively as her body fights the disease and struggles to accept the new lungs. And as she is shuttled back and forth between her New York home, her academic career at Brown, and numerous emergency hospital stays, she keeps on writing. Diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at three days old, Rothenberg spent much of her life in and out of hospital rooms so her medical knowledge is extensive and well documented. One gets the impression that staying on top of this information helped her feel at least somewhat in control of her own situation and it lends a steady gravity to her emotionally charged memoir. The book is a pastiche of e-mails to friends, journal entries, and the occasional snapshot. It looks very much like a college kid's scrapbook, which, in many ways, it is. Rothenberg’s energetic prose is highly informal and probably more guileless than one would see from a more seasoned writer. But that intimacy and simplicity adds to the charm and, as Rothenberg's health deteriorates, the heartbreak as well. By the end of Breathing for a Living, the reader loses a friend but gains a greater appreciation of what it means to live. --John Moe

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 17 reviews)

A must-read

One of the best memoirs I have read in recent years, and I've read a few. As a person with CF who also had a lung transplant (more than 2 years ago), I found many personal similarities between myself and Laura, and found myself underlining the passages I related to. There were times where I laughed aloud and other times when I very much related to her feelings of loneliness and isolation. A wonderful book.
October 30, 2007

Yes, But...?

I agree with others that this is a compelling and touching book. But I don't think it correctly portrays the true Laura Rothenberg. Towards the end of the book, friends and family write what Laura meant to them. In these short bits we learn about Laura's true personality, and her passion for writing. I feel like I am missing something - this book needs Laura's true essence infused in it. I would have liked this book to have included more of her poetry, more of her personal writings, and more about her personal life and self. The moments where we glimpse into her soul shine forth with passion and are the things that make the book shine, but are needed in greater amounts. While it was terribly sad to read about the medical hell she went through, I felt I couldn't connect with who Laura really was. Perhaps one day her family will release some more of her writings, and I feel that these will be even more powerful than this current volume.
March 21, 2005

heartfelt and sad but ultimately not compelling

this book is well enough written, and its author goes through hell. her struggles were difficult; her death was tragic. however, this book doesn't capture the deepest level of her experience. it's somehow not very personal, although it's a memoir about the author. it reads a lot more like a diary, with events noted and visitors named but not much reflection on the meanings of things or explanation of the relationships the author had. not a bad book, but somewhat flat.
March 19, 2005

please read this book

I am a 26 year old woman with cystic fibrosis. In reading Laura's memoirs I found a very real and honest view of what we (cf patients) go thru everyday. Laura had an amazing strength and courage to endure all her trials and I found reading her personal story helped me understand some of my own feelings.

I think this book is a wonderful read for all persons...if you face an illness, know someone who does or just want to be touched by a lovely young womans story.
July 26, 2004

Don't Hate Me, But...

I have a lot of respect for Laura Rothenberg, for having lived her whole (entirely too short) life struggling with health issues that most of us can't imagine, and for trying to give others a glimpse into the world of the chronically ill. That said, I would be lying if I claimed to find her memoir as compelling as so many others have. I think my biggest problem was that I didn't feel I got to know much about Laura as a person. Most of the book seemed to consist of detailed descriptions of the procedures performed on her, using medical jargon that I am not familiar with, so while I definitely got a sense of the hell she went through on a daily basis, and the frustration it caused her, I didn't garner any real knowledge of her disease. That would have been okay if the book was balanced out with more about her life away from the hospital - her family, friends, and school, and how she balanced these with her illness. So many friends and relatives were mentioned in passing, but we never got to know them. The emails she wrote to the people she cared about are presented anonomously, so we don't know who she's writing to. I didn't even know that she had a boyfriend until the epilogue, when she mentioned moving in with him. I just didn't feel that I got to know much about this young woman at all, and I really would have liked to.
June 27, 2004

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