Rating: 
Summary: Excellent! Poignant and compelling. Couldn't lay it down!
Review: This is one of the best books I've read recently. Verghese was able to treat several very relevant themes (male bonding, drug-related problems, marriage problems) in great depth with the insight gained only by personal experience. The loss of his friend, in light of his vast medical experience, drives home the point very clearly that our journey through life is truly a very personal one, and although other people can impact it in many ways, we are all ultimately responsible for our own decisions. Sometimes no amount of caring or understanding can divert another from his or her path. I enjoyed very much the juxtaposition of the tennis and doctor themes, both of which he was a master, against the relationships he really could not control, diagnose, or cure. The style of writing used made me feel that I was looking into the very heart and soul of the writer.
Rating:
Summary: Simply Breathtaking
Review: This is the story of ending relationships, and begining new ones. Verghese is embroiled in the breakup of his marriage, as he meets a student who turns out to be his tennis partner. This is a heartbreaking story in so many ways. The dissolvment of the marriage, creating a new life, and the pain friendships can sometime cause. His friend is a recoving drug addict that doesn't have the smoothest path to recovery.Verghese's writting style is once again beautiful. Painfully honest revealing things about himself that so few of us are willing to do. You feel that you are in a long coversation with him as you read this book. He sets up chapters in this book with scenes in tennis matches and various quotes. These introductions serve as a setup for his narration, preparing you for the story that is about to unfold. Yet it is peppered with wonderful passages of humor. Many feel this a wonderful book describing the friendship of two men. I think it fits a category much broader than that. All people have had friendships that have undergone the good times as well as the pain, maybe it is refreshing to hear a man speak to openly and honestly about his friendship with another man. I highly recommend this book. Endings, beginings, it is what life is all about. It is very refreshing to have someone be so open with their life. A definate must read!
Rating: 
Summary: Tennis, Medicine and personal relationships
Review: This was an interesting emotional read about a man evolving emotionally through his relationships. Unfortunately, the first part of the book is very slow until the tennis partner, David, discloses his personal weakness. As a tennis player with no interest in medical study, I learned quite a lot. The payoff of the emotional ending is worth the read. This book is not entertaining but thought provoking and guaranteed to make you evaluate your personal relationships and interaction with loved ones. I recommend this book for those interested in evaluating their emotional capacity.
Rating: 
Summary: Dr. Perfect loses one
Review: What a self-righteous book this is. We have here a story of a doctor who, apparently, except for committing adultery once (boy, women can be touchy!), is everything anyone could ask for in a human being. He can diagnose any illness with ease. He can tell you how to run your life very easily, as well. You need free advice? Get it here! However, you need help in the middle of the night? Sorry, he's sleeping. I did not like this book about a doctor who seems to have very little compassion for his drug-dependent friend. As long as the doctor's needs for companionship are met, everything is all right. As long as his intern's life and decisions revolve around what the doctor wants, then things are going well, and aren't we all grateful? However, our doc gets very peavish when his friend demonstrates some independence about his choice of specialty. Our doc also gets jealous of the women his friend dates. Is there some hypocrisy here? The doc criticizes his intern for cheating on the women he sees, but hasn't he done that to his wife? And why is he coveting these women now? This book does tell a poignant story about drug addiction, but this story gets lost since the subject is only a satelite to the story teller. Except for the story teller, the other characters seemed very one-dimensional. I'm sure Dr. Verghese didn't intend to be the selfish protagonist of his book, but he comes across that way to me.
Rating: 
Summary: Sophomore slump?
Review: While not a bad read, "The Tennis Partner" lacks the vision and purpose of Dr. Verghese first book, the remarkable and extraordinary "My Own Country." It isn't just the sometimes long winded passages about tennis (which can easily be skimmed over without causing the reader to lose touch with the overall narrative) that make this less interesting, it is simply that the subject matter comes across a bit more ego driven at times. Granted Dr. Verghese's compassion for his drug addicted friend is most evident, but the purpose in relaying this story sometimes comes across as more for the purposes of writing a second book, whereas "My Own Country" clearly had a story that needed to be told. "The Tennis Partner" is still a decent read, and perhaps it is unfair to expect a second book, or any book for that matter, matching "My Own Country." If the subject matter of "The Tennis Partner" appeals to you read it, but be sure to read "My Own Country" as well.
Rating:
Summary: Thoughtful, sensative writing on the boundries of friendship
Review: Wonderful, thoughtful and sensative writing makes this second book by Abraham Verghese a must read for 1998. He writes in careful and sometimes shocking detail about his friend and tennis partner who is a drug user. More specifically it is about the boundries of friendship and how much we can help someone we care about. Lots of interesting medical stories are bound with tennis metaphors in this true tale. Verghese's first book, My Own Country was one of my book group's all time favorites -- if you missed it, I recommend you go back and read that book also.
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