[SOQ]⋙ [PDF] The Tennis Partner Abraham Verghese 9780060931131 Books

The Tennis Partner Abraham Verghese 9780060931131 Books

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The Tennis Partner Abraham Verghese 9780060931131 Books

I’ve read both of Abraham Verghese’s other works: Cutting for Stone and My Own Country: A Doctor's Story. I’ve given both my special “6-star” rating for superlative works. Could he do it a third time, and in an area that is my adopted home, the deserts of the American Southwest? I decided not to ponder the question long, for there was an additional special pull: the compelling weekly tennis game.

Verghese provides loving descriptions of the diverse places he has inhabited on this good earth, from the eucalyptus trees perfuming the high African city of Addis Abba, to the lush green wooded hills and dales of eastern Tennessee that he has declared to be his home, but one that he would depart for professional reasons, to settle for a piece in El Paso, Texas, and find a lovely tennis court, high on a hill, just north of the city, where he could look across the Rio Grande at night, and observe the twinkling lights of one of the most violent cities on earth, Juarez, Mexico.

Verghese is a medical doctor, and his novels so accurately depict the medical field, to those who have partaken. He is a “lowly” internist, as he would wryly note in “My Own Country,” at least in terms of financial remuneration. Like Chekhov, and a few others, the internists are the observers, always noting skin hues, abnormalities, a slight puffiness here and there, even in their friends, socially. The good ones can also observe the heart and soul. In Verghese’s own words: “My Luddite streak was aroused. Would that I could wave a wand and bring back a simple pedal bike, bring back wooden rackets, bring back doctors who didn’t need batteries of blood test to diagnose conditions that were staring them in the face, bring back…”

No need for a “spoiler alert.” The “medical outcome” is in the dedication: “In memory of David Smith, M.D, 1959-1994." Verghese and Smith balance their strengths and weaknesses. Verghese is now an accomplished doctor, based on his work in east Tennessee. Smith is the resident, still learning. Smith is also a very good tennis player, once out there on some loop of the semi-professionals. Verghese is aspiring, still learning. Smith accepts him on the Court, and Verghese accepts him on the medical rounds. Smith is Australian, and on a bit of a different career trajectory. And he has a “secret” that much of the hospital knows, and Verghese is late to discover: a history of opioid drug addiction. But all that is now safely in the past… or is it? As is well-known, on a percentage basis, those who work in the medical field are more likely to abuse drugs for two straightforward reasons: ease of access, and the pressure of always having to “get it right,” or, as the expression has it, you bury your mistakes. And it is the Emergency Room that is the worse place to work. Hum.

This work touched me personally more than the other two. I once worked in a vast open-air Emergency Room for a year. A fellow medic was addicted to the morphine we carried, and would shoot up all of his, and anyone else’s he could grab. And if a soldier was wounded, he would use Thorazine instead. A shudder from those who know the real implications of that. And what do you do about it? What is fair and reasonable for him, as well as the men in his unit? Turning him in, and he gets a one-way ticket to LBJ (Long Binh Jail), and the unit has no medic. Is an addicted medic better than none at all? It was a difficult call I did not have to make. But when Verghese wrote of his own rationalizations, the cover-ups, the “just one more chance…” I was right along, on edge the whole way.

Far more pleasantly, there were my own tennis games, with a medical doctor, who was NOT an addict. Neither of us were anywhere near the tennis league of Smith, nor even Verghese. But it was a lot of fun. The ritual, the passion, the wonderful exhaustion experienced thereafter, when two players are so evenly matched in their ineptitude. Every Tuesday night, a weekly highlight. Certainly it would be uncharitable to bring up my partner's dyslexic line calls…

And then there is the matter of my son’s long-term girlfriend, now finishing her third year of med school. We talk books over dinners, and this is the one she really wants to read. Bravo. But I really think it should be in the “core curriculum” of any medical school.

As a final point, Verghese would do the same as he did in east Tennessee; he’d visit his patients outside the hospital setting, and in this case, it meant walking along the Rio Grande, looking in the bushes, for his partner who once was on the other side of the net. Empathy, and more than a bit of courage. I complete the three works with another 6-star determination, and realize that Abraham Verghese is the only author I have read who has received that determination for every work. May there be a fourth.


Tags : The Tennis Partner [Abraham Verghese] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <P> When Abraham Verghese, a physician whose marriage is unraveling, relocates to El Paso, Texas, he hopes to make a fresh start as a staff member at the county hospital. There he meets David Smith,Abraham Verghese,The Tennis Partner,Harper Perennial,0060931132,11172011_17,General,Reading Group Guide,(Abraham),,1955-,Biography,Biography & Autobiography,Biography & Autobiography General,Biography & Autobiography Medical,Biography Autobiography,Biography And Autobiography,BiographyAutobiography,Biography: science, technology & medicine,El Paso,Medical - General,Physicians,Physicians - Texas - El Paso,Physicians;Biography.,Physicians;Texas;El Paso;Biography.,Texas,Verghese, A,Verghese, A.,BIO017000,Medical - Physicians,Regional Subjects - South,Specific Groups - General

The Tennis Partner Abraham Verghese 9780060931131 Books Reviews

Cutting for Stone is one of my favorite books and I've been meaning to read The Tennis Partner ever since. I bought it before a recent trip to Maui and read it in 3 days. It was a heartbreaking read, but a story that is so important. This is a book about friendship, tennis, medicine, addiction, love, heartbreak and so much more. I'd highly recommend this book.
With his skill at expressing vulnerabilities, fears, and the whole spectrum of emotions, Verghese certainly has captured the addict's mind and underlying foundations of his addiction. This was a hard one for me to get through due to my addictive past. I could feel the past shame arise within me as Verghese renders his subjects apart, exposes his own naivete, and touches the heart of the matter and me as the reader.

Every doctor should be reading this book. When I worked at the teaching hospital in Richmond, the doctors would treat the addicted patients like dirt, some of them lecturing them about a subject that they had no clue about, and others just shunning them as much as they could. Verghese has done his homework, and once again expresses superbly the role of a "healer", the role of a physician, and lucky the medical student who has him as his/her teacher/mentor.
I had loved Verghese's "Cutting for Stone", so could hardly wait to read "The Tennis Partner". I came away disgusted with Dr. Verghese's complete lack of awareness of what was happening to his friend, David. How could a physician NOT recognize that David had a serious underlying disease?? The concept of "dual diagnosis" was well-known by the late 1980's. David died in 1994. How could Verghese not see that his friend clearly had Bipolar Disorder?? (The old term was Manic Depressive Disorder.) David was treated for his addiction, but until the illness that was DRIVING his condition was addressed and treated, there was no way he could stop using drugs. He was self-medicating. How could that not have been obvious to EVERYONE who treated this poor, sick young man? Also, I couldn't help wondering why on earth Verghese didn't suggest to David that he simply do research work, rather than the most grueling of all experiences an Internship? Given David's multiple relapses, wasn't it obvious that the tremendous stress of an Internship was liable to drive him over the edge? And pushing him to be in touch with his emotionally abusive parents? Why?? I think Verghese thought only about how HE would behave in a similar situation, and gave no thought to why David reacted as he did. The final thing that made me throw down the book in disgust was when Verghese went on about how angry HE was about David's suicide. Hello David wasn't "thinking" when he killed himself. People who commit suicide aren't doing it to hurt other people. They commit suicide because the pain they are experiencing is completely unbearable. I've always explained to family members of people who commit suicide it is like an animal in a trap. The animal can stay in the trap and die, or the animal can chew off its leg and die. Your family member chose to chew off his/her leg. (Also, recent research has shown that the pain center in the brain is the SAME for physical AND psychological pain.) Dr. Verghese didn't do his homework, while David was alive, nor after David tragically died. I hope he has learned something since then.
I’ve read both of Abraham Verghese’s other works Cutting for Stone and My Own Country A Doctor's Story. I’ve given both my special “6-star” rating for superlative works. Could he do it a third time, and in an area that is my adopted home, the deserts of the American Southwest? I decided not to ponder the question long, for there was an additional special pull the compelling weekly tennis game.

Verghese provides loving descriptions of the diverse places he has inhabited on this good earth, from the eucalyptus trees perfuming the high African city of Addis Abba, to the lush green wooded hills and dales of eastern Tennessee that he has declared to be his home, but one that he would depart for professional reasons, to settle for a piece in El Paso, Texas, and find a lovely tennis court, high on a hill, just north of the city, where he could look across the Rio Grande at night, and observe the twinkling lights of one of the most violent cities on earth, Juarez, Mexico.

Verghese is a medical doctor, and his novels so accurately depict the medical field, to those who have partaken. He is a “lowly” internist, as he would wryly note in “My Own Country,” at least in terms of financial remuneration. Like Chekhov, and a few others, the internists are the observers, always noting skin hues, abnormalities, a slight puffiness here and there, even in their friends, socially. The good ones can also observe the heart and soul. In Verghese’s own words “My Luddite streak was aroused. Would that I could wave a wand and bring back a simple pedal bike, bring back wooden rackets, bring back doctors who didn’t need batteries of blood test to diagnose conditions that were staring them in the face, bring back…”

No need for a “spoiler alert.” The “medical outcome” is in the dedication “In memory of David Smith, M.D, 1959-1994." Verghese and Smith balance their strengths and weaknesses. Verghese is now an accomplished doctor, based on his work in east Tennessee. Smith is the resident, still learning. Smith is also a very good tennis player, once out there on some loop of the semi-professionals. Verghese is aspiring, still learning. Smith accepts him on the Court, and Verghese accepts him on the medical rounds. Smith is Australian, and on a bit of a different career trajectory. And he has a “secret” that much of the hospital knows, and Verghese is late to discover a history of opioid drug addiction. But all that is now safely in the past… or is it? As is well-known, on a percentage basis, those who work in the medical field are more likely to abuse drugs for two straightforward reasons ease of access, and the pressure of always having to “get it right,” or, as the expression has it, you bury your mistakes. And it is the Emergency Room that is the worse place to work. Hum.

This work touched me personally more than the other two. I once worked in a vast open-air Emergency Room for a year. A fellow medic was addicted to the morphine we carried, and would shoot up all of his, and anyone else’s he could grab. And if a soldier was wounded, he would use Thorazine instead. A shudder from those who know the real implications of that. And what do you do about it? What is fair and reasonable for him, as well as the men in his unit? Turning him in, and he gets a one-way ticket to LBJ (Long Binh Jail), and the unit has no medic. Is an addicted medic better than none at all? It was a difficult call I did not have to make. But when Verghese wrote of his own rationalizations, the cover-ups, the “just one more chance…” I was right along, on edge the whole way.

Far more pleasantly, there were my own tennis games, with a medical doctor, who was NOT an addict. Neither of us were anywhere near the tennis league of Smith, nor even Verghese. But it was a lot of fun. The ritual, the passion, the wonderful exhaustion experienced thereafter, when two players are so evenly matched in their ineptitude. Every Tuesday night, a weekly highlight. Certainly it would be uncharitable to bring up my partner's dyslexic line calls…

And then there is the matter of my son’s long-term girlfriend, now finishing her third year of med school. We talk books over dinners, and this is the one she really wants to read. Bravo. But I really think it should be in the “core curriculum” of any medical school.

As a final point, Verghese would do the same as he did in east Tennessee; he’d visit his patients outside the hospital setting, and in this case, it meant walking along the Rio Grande, looking in the bushes, for his partner who once was on the other side of the net. Empathy, and more than a bit of courage. I complete the three works with another 6-star determination, and realize that Abraham Verghese is the only author I have read who has received that determination for every work. May there be a fourth.