The Tennis Partner : A Doctor's Story of Friendship and Loss - Hardcover

Verghese, Abraham

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0701165529 ISBN 13: 9780701165529

Publisher: Chatto & Windus, 1998

Synopsis

In January 1994, Abraham Verghese, an indian doctor in a Texan teaching hospital, was called to the morgue to identify the body of his close friend, student and tennis partner David Smith. David had killed himself because he could not deal with his addiction to intravenously injected cocaine. This book is Verghese's tribute to his dead friend; it is also an attempt to understand and explain drug addiction. Being both doctor and friend, Verghese offers us a unique insight into addiction, describing with clinical detachment the horrific physical symptoms of abuse, revealing how the stress of the medical profession leads to the paradox of doctors as users and movingly evoking the pain of seeing a friend suffer. Written with great clarity and tenderness, this is an extraordinary and important book about male friendship and a moving portrait of a brilliant young man who fought valiantly against a profound sense of inadequacy.

About this title

Review:

Abraham Verghese's first book My Own Country was about his experiences of dealing with AIDS sufferers; this, his second, is more personal. It is the story of his friendship with David, an intern at the hospital where Verghese is a Professor of Medicine. They meet at a time when both are in need of companionship and their friendship blossoms, imperceptibly developing dependencies until their lives are enmeshed professionally and personally. However, what Verghese does not realise is that David is wrestling with an addiction to cocaine, the profession's personal demon, which engulfed him once before and is hovering again. The harrowing descent into relapse that unfolds is as painful to read as it must have been to witness, until finally death swoops with tragic inevitability, leaving a debris of spent souls trying to piece together something that defies clinical definition.

The Tennis Partner is primarily about relationships; Verghese's with David, both with their families and partners, but most of all David's with cocaine, a telling hierarchy in itself. While Verghese's tennis improves, his opponent's shaky mastery of his own destiny deteriorates as he fails to put to rest the feelings of inadequacy and shame that are his true companions, a player who can control the ball to perfection but cannot get a grip on himself. As a doctor Verghese comes across as one of the rare breed who have not been de-sensitised, pointedly seeing a person rather than an ailment. He works in internal medicine, and prides himself on piecing together a diagnosis like a detective (David revealingly lusts after the buzz of emergency medicine). As a writer he displays similar qualities, but not without a searching candour that gives his account its expressive vitality. The truth is, though, that for all his humane lyricism he can only diagnose, there seeming to be an aspect that cannot be quantified to the addictive personality that refuses release. The very least to have come from the subordinated life of a doomed young man is this brilliant and sober book, which refrains from being a morality tale, and only gains in magnificence for it. --David Vincent

Review:

"With writerly grace, Verghese introduces us to the disciplines he holds sacred: tennis, internal medicine, fatherhood, male friendship. Everywhere he is a diagnostician, a teacher, a lover of physical presence. But finally as he walks the back alleys of El Paso searching for his drug-abusing colleague, we understand who Verghese is at his core, a man of honor who goes down mean streets and remains himself good enough for any world. This is an extraordinary book."-- Peter D. Kramer, author of "Listening to Prozac""Abraham Verghese has show us once again that he is an old fashioned physician of the soul. Most extraordinarily, he finds metaphors for the blessings of humanity in the arts of tennis as healing. He recounts the living abundance of friendship and the dissolution of a brilliant friend and doctor. Dr. Verghese writes in a miraculous style-courageous yet tender. The Tennis Partner supersedes any memoir I've ever read. It is wonderful examination of what it means to be alive."-- Kaye Gibbons, author of "On the Occasion of My Last Afternoon" "Hit[s] even closer to home than the AIDS epidemic of which he wrote previously . . . this is a compulsively readable and painful book, a work of compassion and intelligence." -- "Kirkus Reviews""This is a knockout book. Beautifully written, it broke my heart and made me happy all at the same time. I loved Verghese's My Own Country and this even ups the ante--more intense, even closer to the edge."-- Natalie Goldberg, author of "Writing Down the Bones""The Tennis Partner, by Abraham Verghese, is a tale of luminescent humanity. Set in El Paso, Texas, backyard to a shifting Frontera world of great beauty, turmoil and transformation, it goesdeeper than any book I have ever read to put its finger on the pulse of what friendship truly means. It is a book for everyone of us who has deeply loved and mourned the fragile, ever-changing nature of caring, with its inherent need to ultimately let go. A brave and honest book, The Tennis Partner, haunts and empowers with each volley."-- Denise Chavez, author of "Face of an Angel""Abraham Verghese is a wonderful storyteller. The language is irresistible, clear as springwater, sharp as the ring of fine crystal. I enjoyed every word."-- W. P. Kinsella, author of "Shoeless Joe" and "The Iowa Baseball Confederacy""Verghese is a fine writer, lyrical and controlled, and he captures the attachment between the two men--its motives, its allure--with both precision and charm. . . . Wise and compassionate."-- 'New York Times Book Review"Verghese writes with such searching lucidity and is so attentive and engaging a figure that he could hold us just by describing his drives around town. . . . At its core his is a brave and heart-baring story about how even a teacher of internal medicine could not see inside the person closest to him. . . . It will speak to anyone who has looked with his heart instead of his eyes." -- Time"Heartbreaking. . . . Indelible and haunting, [The Tennis Partner] is an elegy to friendship found, and ode to a good friend lost."-- The Boston Globe"Despite the poignancy of the subject matter . . . Verghese's telling of it never gets heavy-handed. Instead, he uses his bedside voice: caring, but also slightly detached and startlingly frank."-- New York"Elegantly written."-- Sunday Times (London)"Moving and insightful"-- Publishers Weekly"A melancholy and powerful readingexperience."-- Booklist"With an economy of words, Verghese has produced a haunting book of high literary merit that is certain to be a success."--Library Journal "Excellent. . . . penetrating. . . . [The Tennis Partner] is no small literary achievement."-- Sports Illustrated"Gripping. . . . moving. . . . Verghese shows himself to be a thoughtful and honest navigator through life. His pain . . . is impossible not to share."-- Detroit Free Press"[Verghese] displays perfect pitch in this emotionally charged tale. . . . Readers . . . . will be enthralled by his sleuthing into the human heart."-- Entertainment Weekly"Eloquent. .. . . a beautifully wrought memoir. . . . This is a terribly sad story, gorgeously expressed."-- Newsday"A compassionate book. . . .Verghese once again opens his heart to the reader."-- San Antonio Express News"Remarkable. It's a terrific read, even if you're not a tennis fan."-- Star Tribune (Minneapolis)"The Tennis Partner is beautifully written, an outstanding example of nonfiction writing that conveys facts about a subject without being pedantic. . . . Verghese's sincerity makes an indelible impression on his readers while his revelations enlighten us."-- Chattanooga Free Press"Poignant. . . . The metaphors that underlie tennis permeate the book and give 'The Tennis Partner' some wonderfully mythic moments. Such moments . . . give the book a power that resonates well beyond its topical interest."-- Chicago Tribune

About this edition

• Publisher: Chatto & Windus
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0701165529
• ISBN 13: 9780701165529
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352