The Tennis Partner (Paperback, New Ed)

The acclaimed author of My Own Country(1996) turns his gaze inward to a pair of crises that hit even closer to home than the AIDS epidemic of which he wrote previously. Verghese took a teaching position at Texas Tech's medical school, and it's his arrival in the unfamiliar city of El Paso that triggers the events of his second book (parts of which appeared in the New Yorker). His marriage, already on the rocks in My Own Country, has collapsed utterly and the couple agree to a separation. In a new job in a new city, he finds himself more alone than he has ever been. But he becomes acquainted with a charming fourth-year student on his rotation, David, a former professional tennis player from Australia. Verghese, an ardent amateur himself, begins to play regularly with David and the two become close friends, indeed deeply dependent on each other. Gradually, the younger man begins to confide in his teacher and friend. David has a secret, known to most of the other students and staff at the teaching hospital but not to the recently arrived Verghese; he is a recovering drug addict whose presence at Tech is only possible if he maintains a rigorous schedule of AA meetings and urine tests. When David relapses and his life begins to spiral out of control, Verghese finds himself drawn into the young man's troubles. As in his previous book, Verghese distinguishes himself by virtue not only of tremendous writing skill - he has a talented diagnostician's observant eye and a girl for description - but also by his great humanity and humility. Verghese manages to recount the story of the failure of his marriage without recriminations and with a remarkable evenhandedness. Likewise, he tells David's story honestly and movingly. Although it runs down a little in the last 50 pages or so, this is a compulsively readable and painful book, a work of compassion and intelligence. (Kirkus Reviews)

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 hisdead 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 symptons 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.

General

Imprint:	Vintage
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Release date:	May 1999
Authors:	Abraham Verghese
Dimensions:	198 x 129 x 22mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback - B-format
Pages:	345
Edition:	New Ed
ISBN-13:	978-0-09-973501-4
Categories:	Books > Fiction > True stories > General
LSN:	0-09-973501-6
Barcode:	9780099735014

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