Read Recently: “The Tennis Partner: A Doctor’s Story of Friendship and Loss” by Dr. Abraham Verghese:
Title: “The Tennis Partner”
Author: Abraham Verghese.
Synopsis: Dr. Abraham Verghese is an internist specializing in infectious diseases. In the early 1990s he accepted a job in El Paso, Texas. With his marriage failing and two sons to raise, he befriends a medical student and former professional tennis player David Smith. Smith, a former drug addict, relapses.
Backstory: “My Own Country”, Dr. Verghese’s first book about running an AIDS clinic in rural Tennessee in the early 1980s was a gift from my mother and a favorite of mine.
Notes: Much of the writing and storytelling gifts Verghese displayed in his first book are here (W.P. Kinsella called his prose “clear as spring water”). Short chapters will tempt you to speed up but don’t give in. You’ll throw the gentle, sad tone of the story off.
Verdict: Dr. Verghese’s writing is as strong as ever but there’s really not a booklength story here. More like a long magazine article. At times, “The Tennis Partner” feels stretched and padded to accomodate those demands. Or perhaps those of an anxious publisher, looking to capitalize on the success of “My Own Country”.
I hope Dr. Verghese has a third book in him. I wait eagerly for it.