- Paperback: 352 pages
- Publisher: Harper Perennial (Oct 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0060931132
- ISBN-13: 978-0060931131
- Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 13.5 x 2.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
230,113 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #8 in Books > Biography > Social & Health Issues > Cultural History > United States
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More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk 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 --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
One would think that Mr. Verghese could not come up with anything better than "My Own Country". He has certainly proved me wrong with this book. The intertwining of tennis with his growing relationship with David is a work of art, and I doubt if many authors have the ability to write with such senstivity. Someone once said that a good book is one which makes you wish that the author is your personal friend, and you can sit down with him and talk about his book. This book did excatly this for me. I wish I could have sat down with Mr. Verghese and discussed his relationship with David. I found myself so immersed in the book that I felt a part of all the emotions, the joys and the desperations as if I myself was going through them.
And in the end, I sniffled, enough for a concerned fellow passengar on the train to ask, "Are you okay mate?"
Don't miss it !!
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I love this book to bits and have read it many times over the last few years. What "makes it" is the warm attention to detail Verghese brings to his descriptions of relationships; as the central theme, the subtleties what go with a close relationship between men such as himself and David, and the effects of drug abuse both on the user and those around them - but also his interactions with patients, his passion for medicine, the multiple childhood insecurities which linger into adulthood, the problems of being an "outsider," the difficulties of a failing marriage and its repercussions on young children. You will weep, but you'll feel better for it! A quick search on Google will also reveal the ways in which Verghese has initiated very welcome projects intended to help keeping medical students "human." He's a good guy.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It has been a long time since I have wept at the end of a book, surprising since I had realized from the Dedication what would happen. I had fallen headfirst into "Cutting for Stone, Verghese's more recent book and so wanted to read others. He has a way of showing you every detail of the story, whether it be the minutiae of medicine and cures, or the feelings of his characters. He remains humbly the story teller, no matter how involved he is as a character, and unrolls the tale in a way you cannot resist following. Tennis was such a full metaphor for how to conduct ones life. As I said, I wept, not just for David and Verghese himself, but also for the countless people who are left less than human and destroyed by the addictions of our world.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Magnificent memorial to a forgettable person
If you read the dedication you know from the start that David Smith will die before the book is written, so there is no dramatic suspense. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Pipistrel
The Tennis Partner
The Tennis Partner by Abrham Verghese - so different to Cutting for Stone which was a more polished piece of writing. This was turgid, at times felt indulgent and adolescent. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Carol Thwaites
The Tennis Partner
Recieved in good time and in very good condition.
Good second book from Abraham Verghese. Would recommend if you enjoyed the first book. Read more
Good second book from Abraham Verghese. Would recommend if you enjoyed the first book. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Mrs. S. Parnell
No book no answer
Amazon has requested a review which I would love to give but as the book has not been delivered and there has been no response from the seller I sadly cannot review the item!
Published 7 months ago by Gail Arnesen
Verghese at his best
Verghese's books are out of the ordinary. This, together with My Own Country, I bought having enjoyed Cutting for Stone and I can't wait for the next. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Maggie
One set all
After reading 'Cutting for Stone' I wanted to read something else by this author'
.The Tennis Player filled the bill. Read more
.The Tennis Player filled the bill. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Catherine E. Kay
pre used book
tidy book arrived promptly, good value, an interesting read. I wanted to read more Abraham Verghhese
because cutting for stone is so brilliant, this one was different, and not... Read more
because cutting for stone is so brilliant, this one was different, and not... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Mrs. Tracy D. Saunders
Its good
like the other reviewer I too was captivated by Dr Verghese. I wish there more doctors around like him.
Published on 27 Jun 2008 by C. Rao
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