Book #80: The Tennis Partner

Title: The Tennis Partner
Author: Abraham Verghese

"Write what you know," is something that beginning writers often hear. When I dream about writing the great American novel, I think about the things I know (things like running and mothering and baking and being a Mormon) and the places I know, and quickly dismiss them as too boring or too hackneyed. But reading Abraham Verghese's The Tennis Partner made me think that it might be possible to write a story about running and friendship and do it well. In The Tennis Partner, Verghese picks up about three years after he left off in My Own Country. He has just moved his family to El Paso, Texas, where he starts a job as an attending in infectious diseases at the local teaching hospital. Verghese is at a crossroads in his life-- he's just arrived in a new city and has few friends, and he and his wife, Rajani, have decided to divorce. Verghese discovers that one of his fourth-year medical students, David Smith, was once a professional tennis player, and Verghese proposes that they play together. Their relationship over the next few years, played out initially on the tennis court, becomes personal as they learn more about one another's families and pasts.

It turns out that David has quite a past-- one that involves several ex-wives, getting kicked out of school, alienation from his family, all the result of a drug addiction he can't shake. Verghese struggles with wondering if he's helping or enabling David as his life starts to spin out of control. Once again, Verghese uses the same observational skills he perfected as an internist (in one scene he takes us through a visual physical examination and helps his students see what they can learn about a patient before they run tests or even lay a hand on her) to guide his way as a writer. While the story is about David, and the relationship between David and Verghese, it's also rich in detail about Verghese's family, his patients, and his own self-doubts. I've now read both of Verghese's memoirs and his novel, and all three have been impeccably written about the things that are dear to Verghese's own heart and experience, and all three have been revelatory. I'm eager to see what he comes up with next.