Amy Chan reviews The Last Lecture

“We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand” says
Randy Pausch, a Professor at Carnegie Mellon. This inspirational qoute conveys an
important message – Everyone is bound to meet many obstacles throughout the
course of their life and we need to learn to cope with it the best we can. Futhermore,complaining about the problem would not help make things easier for anybody,especially for yourself. Randy at his fourties has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and he is clearly trying to tell us that he cannot change his fate just like the gambler cannot change his cards that dealt out to him. He wanted to pass on his knowledge the gained from certain special past experiences; he does so by giving the last lecture.
In many ways, I think Randy is a believable character. I am extremely awed by
his optimistic attitude when he sees his cancer scan results. He knows that lamenting over the bad news won’t stop cancer from worsening so he might as well enjoy his life while he can. When Randy says “I just want you to know that it feels great to be alive, and to be here today, alive with you”(Pausch 62) to Jai, he displays not only courage and his ways of thinking positively but, also how affectionate he is towards his wife. His tone is calm and comforting, not the typical attitude of a dying man. Addtionally, Randy is a funny and easy going person. In his twenties, Randy had no kids of his own, however, he had a niece and nephew, Laura and Chris. Randy loved to take them out whenever he had the time. Once he drove his new Volkswagen Cabrio convertible to pick them up. While his sister was emphasizing the rule: don’t get Uncle Randy’s new car dirty, Randy “slowly and deliberately opened a can of soda, turned it over, and poured it on the cloth seats in the back of the convertible”(Pausch 70). This qoute evidently shows how humourous of a guy he is. Randy allows kids to be kids knowing beforehand that kids would eventually mess things up because they just can’t help it. Most importantly, his message is that “people are more important than things”(Pausch 70). As a teenager, Randy was creative. “I felt this urge to splash some of the thoughts swirling in my head onto the walls of my childhood bedroom”(Pausch 27) says Randy enthusiastically. He had a lot of imagination which he wanted to express and he does so on the walls of his bedroom. To this day, his bedroom walls stayed the exact same way he painted it years ago. Clearly, these characteristic traits show how realistic of a person Randy Pausch is.
I would recommend this novel to adults especially teenagers. This novel is richly filled with knowledge and wisdom from Randy’s past experiences that I find useful. Thus, I strongly believe that other teenagers could actually learn some things and apply these simple concepts into their daily lives. I think its never too late to change oneself and learn to appreciate life before its too late. Randy’s story is tragic and touching; I also believe others will find this novel to be interesting to read. I really enjoyed the novel myself. Although, the principles he mention seem very typical, Randy does a fantastic job explaning, making them sound less ordinary and exceedingly important. I feel like his words are both inspirational and admirable.