Tennis Partner: A Doctor's Story of Friendship and Loss Book

"Abraham Verghese has shown us once again that he is an old-fashioned physician of the soul. [He] writes in a miraculous style -- courageous yet tender. The Tennis Partner supersedes any memoir I've ever read. It is a wonderful examination of what it means to be alive."--Kaye Gibbons, author of On the Occasion Of My Last Afternoon

"Verghese weaves his own story with that of a place and another person to come up with something moving and insightful, as he writes, to tell a life story [is] to engage in a form of seduction, then Verghese is a master of romance."
--Publishers Weekly

Abraham Verghese's award-winning memoir My Own Country -- named one of the five best books of 1994 by Time magazine -- bore witness to the onslaught of AIDS in a small Tennessee mountain town. Dr. Verghese's treatment of and outreach to these patients revealed something vital about the American spirit, reminding us, wrote the Washington Post Book World, of "what is honorable and charitable in the way humans behave toward each other."

But that was just the beginning of the doctor's story. The Tennis Partner, Verghese, born in Africa to Indian parents, once again writes eloquently of his patients, his marriage, and most poignantly, of an extraordinary friendship with a medical student. Like Calvin Trillan's Remembering Denny, The Tennis Partner is a visceral, deeply honest book about one man confronting his own fears and insecurities with clarity and emotional truth. It is also a searing look at the phenomenon of drug abuse among physicians and the fragile nature of friendship.

In 1991, when Verghese moved west to the border town of El Paso, Texas, he crossed paths with David Smith, a medical student who had immigrated to America from Australia and played tennis on the pro tour before becoming a doctor. Just as Verghese needed a partner on the court, Smith needed a mentor in the county hospital.

What begins on the tennis court as a workout between two colleagues evolves into a tight relationship in which confidences are shared and secrets are kept; this developing friendship also serves as a soothing balm for Verghese's disintegrating marriage.

Yet, it is Verghese's spontaneous confession that his marriage is failing that provokes Smith to admit that he is a recovering intravenous cocaine addict, desperately struggling to hold on to his girlfriend, career, and sobriety. Smith admits that their tennis ritual and friendship are his only lifelines, without which he would have long returned to the needle.

When Smith begins shooting up with cocaine again, Verghese worries that the drug's lure will prove to be stronger than their relationship. His hope that his friend can find his way back from the abyss competes with his anger over Smith's weakness.

Join Book Talk to chat with Abraham Verghese about his heartfelt, illuminating new book, The Tennis Partner -- truly an examination of the care we must take with those we love.