Rating: 
Summary: A satisfying read despite inherent flaws
Review: Whether or not you have a background in medicine, this book will draw you in and keep you interested. The only parts that may seem a bit tedious to run through are some of the tennis sequences. This may seem odd coming from a tennis player, but reading about tennis is like watching grass grow. However, the sequences do bring other parts of the book together, and they are tolerable.
My only other issue is Verghese's constant romanticizing of El Paso, neighboring Juarez, and their inhabitants. Having lived here for almost three years (*and* having worked as a physician in the hospital he mentions in his novel), I can promise you that the innocence, the bluster, and the graciousness of his side characters is almost completely fictional.
I don't think it would have detracted from the book to portray the city and the people more realistically.
Rating: 
Summary: Well crafted, engaging, and interesting.
Review: "The Tennis Partner" focuses on the author's friendship with a fellow doctor who had once been a tennis pro and also a cocaine addict. But the book also weaves together other aspects of the author's life during a five-year period: his profession (internal medicine), his passion for tennis, the breakup of his marriage, and his efforts to create a home for himself as a newly single man. I liked the way in which these themes were dealt with in short chapters, some of which were single-topic (such as a tennis lesson with Pancho Segura), and others of which brought together several threads of the author's life. The shifts from medicine, to tennis, to marriage, and so forth, were smoothly accomplished and kept me engaged and interested. I also liked that the book was informative, especially about drug addiction, diagnosis of diseases, and the subtleties of tennis. The author may strike some readers as a bit of a showoff where his medical skills and tennis are concerned, but I see his descriptions of these skills as realistic self-assessments: he's good at what he does. My only complaint is that Verghese (the author) seems humorless and not especially likable. But I guess I should cut him some slack here, considering that the book covers a dark period of his life. In reading his "New Yorker" pieces, Verghese has not struck me this way. I recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: Well crafted, engaging, and interesting.
Review: "The Tennis Partner" focuses on the author's friendship with a fellow doctor who had once been a tennis pro and also a cocaine addict. But the book also weaves together other aspects of the author's life during a five-year period: his profession (internal medicine), his passion for tennis, the breakup of his marriage, and his efforts to create a home for himself as a newly single man. I liked the way in which these themes were dealt with in short chapters, some of which were single-topic (such as a tennis lesson with Pancho Segura), and others of which brought together several threads of the author's life. The shifts from medicine, to tennis, to marriage, and so forth, were smoothly accomplished and kept me engaged and interested. I also liked that the book was informative, especially about drug addiction, diagnosis of diseases, and the subtleties of tennis. The author may strike some readers as a bit of a showoff where his medical skills and tennis are concerned, but I see his descriptions of these skills as realistic self-assessments: he's good at what he does. My only complaint is that Verghese (the author) seems humorless and not especially likable. But I guess I should cut him some slack here, considering that the book covers a dark period of his life. In reading his "New Yorker" pieces, Verghese has not struck me this way. I recommend this book.
Rating: 
Summary: An Outsider looks back
Review: "The Tennis Partner" is Abraham Verghese's story of his friendship with a young physician, David Smith, beset with cocaine addiction. Both their common love of tennis and the painful trials each experiences serve as a backdrop for the deeper issues that Verghese explores. Ultimately, this book is about secrets--that we call carry them. Some of us escape them, some of us don't, Verghese seems to say. Verghese's book asks to be treated as literature. Far be it from him to simply dwell on "the hellish depths of deception" and the "heights of intimacy" as the jacket cover reads. Verghese is an introspective writer, searching for illumination and subtle understandings, while acknowledging that the truths he reveals existed long before he discovered them--hidden in his sons' questions, the track marks of needle sticks along a forearm, a mother watching her son die of AIDS. As Verghese writes at the end: the stars unfolded before him in "a private showing," yet "they had been there all along." I find that Verghese's voice lingers with me. It is calm and focused, yet disconcerting--ironic, spare, and edgy. He is careful with his wit, dispensing it with sleight of hand that leaves me smiling broadly at his ability. Clearly Verghese is a writer of some talent. In this book, tennis is more than simple metaphor. It becomes the place where the psyche may escape, where one can transcend failings and secrets, the goal being to "get the ball back over the net just one more time." I find fascinating this subtext of tennis as escape, mirroring cocaine. Tennis as ritual, the pounding rhythm of shared volleys seemingly becomes Verghese's refuge from a failing marriage. Tennis greats such as Pancho Segura and Bill Tilden acquire almost godlike status as Verghese aspires to them. David's withdrawal into cocaine, however, transforms him into "a creature I knew but did not recognize." Despite his ability, tennis could never save David. For all the richness of their relationship, Verghese discovers that David in the end "still walks alone." The theme of intimacy juxtaposed against isolation is woven throughout the book. What Verghese never openly says is that he too walks alone. It is almost as if he never could really understand David or even his wife, whom he describes as unexpectedly blossoming after his departure. Verghese writes of "the paradox of the humane, empathetic physician, like David, who shows little humanity to himself." The parallel paradox is that of Verghese, the richness of his expression and feeling contrasted with the distance between himself and the people he loves. This tension is intriguing. I wish Verghese had included some thoughts on why he chose to write this book. The acknowledgement of such a process in "Tuesdays with Morrie" by Mitch Albom was vital to its honesty, I believe. A short account in an epilogue would have sufficed. All things considered, "The Tennis Partner" is a book that richly rewards, and I highly recommend it. Verghese is immensely talented, yet one gets the feeling that he is yet to reach the full extent of his ability. I look forward to his future work.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT BOOK!
Review: A great book. I had a chance to see Dr. Verghese in person when he came to Baylor College of Medicine to speak as a part of our "Compassion and the Art of Medicine" lecture series. He truly is an inspiration for aspring doctors... a very well written book. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Verghese's a great writer-this effort is very disappointing.
Review: A lot of people, if one reads the previous reviews, see this as a novel of male friendship and bonding. I do not see it that way at all. Rather, I see it as a novel about men who are congenital loners trying to break out and find a meaningful relationship--unfortunately without success. That failure seriously undermines the premise of the novel. Dr. Verghese, the author and narrator (although cited as fiction the book obviously is heavily autobiographical) and a fourth-year medical student named David Smith, encounter one another while working at the local teaching hospital in El Paso, Texas. Both are in the midst of breakups in their marital/significant other relationships and desperate for some sort of trusting, stable emotional bond. When they discover a mutual love of tennis-David has had limited semi-pro experience, Verghese has been enamored with the game all his life as an escape mechanism from his childhood loneliness-the basis is found for the beginning of the development of a relationship. Both bring substantial emotional baggage to the relationship. It develops that David is a "recovered" drug addict. Verghese, stigmatized by his minority status and unable to relate to anyone except through very limiting roles (patient, neighbor, boss) is divorcing and managing it very badly. That the relationship seems to work at all is due to the role reversal it requires-David, the student and receiver of medical knowledge becomes the teacher of tennis wisdom and Verghese the receiver of same. This is a deep, complex & ambitious book that fails. It fails because the central story, the relationship between David and Verghese never really exists-they never truly bond on an emotional level at any point. By the end we are supposed to be moved by the somehow deeply moving effect David has had on everyone in sight-Verghese, David's women, the other hospital folks, the local addict community and, presumably, the reader. Yet the man never really, at any point, truly touches anyone in the book at any sort of human level. There are worthwhile elements to the book. One does get a genuine feel for what teaching hospital life is like. Also, one gets a feel for what life in El Paso, Texas, a very unusual community I like a lot, it like. Verghese's love for tennis is genuine and his prose about the sport is almost poetic. There are little historical snippets-mini biographical pieces, really-about the lives and quirks of some of tennis' great players that are interesting and informative. And, finally, Verghese is a gifted writer with an engaging and riveting writing voice. In the end, I was really disappointed, though I was glad I read the book. But, the failure to deliver a convincing central story left this as much less of a book than it could have been.
Rating:
Summary: Verghese's a great writer-this effort is very disappointing.
Review: A lot of people, if one reads the previous reviews, see this as a novel of male friendship and bonding. I do not see it that way at all. Rather, I see it as a novel about men who are congenital loners trying to break out and find a meaningful relationship--unfortunately without success. That failure seriously undermines the premise of the novel. Dr. Verghese, the author and narrator (although cited as fiction the book obviously is heavily autobiographical) and a fourth-year medical student named David Smith, encounter one another while working at the local teaching hospital in El Paso, Texas. Both are in the midst of breakups in their marital/significant other relationships and desperate for some sort of trusting, stable emotional bond. When they discover a mutual love of tennis-David has had limited semi-pro experience, Verghese has been enamored with the game all his life as an escape mechanism from his childhood loneliness-the basis is found for the beginning of the development of a relationship. Both bring substantial emotional baggage to the relationship. It develops that David is a "recovered" drug addict. Verghese, stigmatized by his minority status and unable to relate to anyone except through very limiting roles (patient, neighbor, boss) is divorcing and managing it very badly. That the relationship seems to work at all is due to the role reversal it requires-David, the student and receiver of medical knowledge becomes the teacher of tennis wisdom and Verghese the receiver of same. This is a deep, complex & ambitious book that fails. It fails because the central story, the relationship between David and Verghese never really exists-they never truly bond on an emotional level at any point. By the end we are supposed to be moved by the somehow deeply moving effect David has had on everyone in sight-Verghese, David's women, the other hospital folks, the local addict community and, presumably, the reader. Yet the man never really, at any point, truly touches anyone in the book at any sort of human level. There are worthwhile elements to the book. One does get a genuine feel for what teaching hospital life is like. Also, one gets a feel for what life in El Paso, Texas, a very unusual community I like a lot, it like. Verghese's love for tennis is genuine and his prose about the sport is almost poetic. There are little historical snippets-mini biographical pieces, really-about the lives and quirks of some of tennis' great players that are interesting and informative. And, finally, Verghese is a gifted writer with an engaging and riveting writing voice. In the end, I was really disappointed, though I was glad I read the book. But, the failure to deliver a convincing central story left this as much less of a book than it could have been.
Rating:
Summary: A Quick and Entertaining Read
Review: A well written book. This is a touching and sad story but ultimately uplifting.
Rating:
Summary: Easy to read, honest, compassionate.
Review: A. Verghese has once again come up with a compassionate book with a style of writing that seems to flow with great ease. He is very honest with his feelings but his characters do not develop as much as one would want them to. I seemed to read the book more from a wife's perspective and empathized more with Ragini than with Verghese. I hope she has had as cathartic an experiece as he has seemed to have had with writing his two books. This book may get doctors to be more in touch with their feelings and could perhaps lead to the formation of support groups to help them deal with the issues they have to face everyday at the hospitals. Looking forward to his next book which I guess he is probably working on already.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent study of how great gifts can't save a flawed life
Review: Abraham Verghese is a physician, a deeply inquisitive student of human nature, and a dark, poetic writer. This book reminds me of another of my favorites, Norman Maclean's "A River Runs Through It," with tennis instead of fishing. In the years that have elapsed since "My Own Country," Verghese's marriage has collapsed, and he has moved to a teaching hospital in Texas. One of his students is a young man named David Smith, who had briefly played pro tennis before beginning medical school. Verghese, an avid tennis player, hesitantly asks if they might play together. Smith, like the younger brother in "A River Runs Through It," is charming, lovable, smart, and supremely gifted in his chosen sport; on the tennis court, he seems to be transformed into a different, and better, person. But his gifts aren't enough to save his life; he's an intravenous drug abuser, in and out of recovery and rehab. When the two men play tennis together, their support for each other, and their anger and frustrations, are all played out on the tennis court. As in "My Own Country," Verghese reveals his fascination with people from all walks of life. His emotional inquisitiveness leads him to take risks, as when he accepts a junkie's offer of a tour of "his" world. Yet for all his curiosity and his desire to learn to see the world through the eyes of others, Verghese was unable to save his friend, and he was even unable to save his own marriage. Sadly, he wonders if his marriage might have survived if he had invested himself in it as deeply as he invested himself in the minutiae of tennis.
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