Abraham Verghese has two passions: being an internist and playing tennis. The Tennis Partner combines both with some other addictions thrown in. This is a memoir of a younger intern who Verghese befriends in El Paso, Texas. The young man, David Smith, is a former tennis pro and it awakens in Verghese all his inner tennis nerdiness. He keeps journals of every play and tip he's ever received. They begin to play together whenever possible. The book is also about Verghese's failed marriage and he and his wife's attempts to protect their children from any hurt or pain. But primarily it is the story of Smith's addiction and struggles with cocaine which Verghese slowly learns about.
The book reminded me of Ann Patchett's Truth and Beauty about her difficult friendship with Lucy Grealey, where at the end of the book you're not so enamoured with the self centered selfish Lucy but with Patchett. David Smith is pretty uninteresting but Verghese is so excited by the fact that he was once a pro that he ignores all his other flaws. And you get so carried away by Verghese's enthusiasm for both tennis and medicine that you don't mind David tagging along.
No comments:
Post a Comment