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silodear's review
4.0
I enjoyed this book and found it to provide helpful context to the HIV work I do now. Verghese is a very good writer and though it took me over a year to finish this book, I would still characterize myself as enthralled. However, Verghese's homophobia grated on me throughout this text, culminating in rage when he commented that many gay men who were sexually abused as children were likely sexually precocious youth who enjoyed the encounters. Just can't hang with that sorta nonsense. Homophobia aside, this book offers an important telling of the early HIV/AIDS epidemic in the rural US.
abby_leigh's review
2.0
I was hoping more of a book on the epidemiology of aids in the 1980s. There was some of this but I felt it was more of a history of the LGBT population in the 80s which is not what I was interested in.
mprasad1963's review
4.0
A compelling story about Dr. Verghese's life treating AIDS and HIV patients in a rural town during the beginning of the AIDS crisis. It was sad to see how those patients were treated by other physicians, family members and the community in general.
booksandbecoming's review
4.0
A beautiful memoir about the experiences of a young doctor working with AIDS patients in a small town in Tennessee, just as people were beginning to learn about the epidemic (and were still relatively ignorant about it.) His patients’ stories, and their strength and pain slowly begin to fill his world, even as his commitment to them begins to create distance in his marriage.
bwguinig's review against another edition
3.0
I read this title as a book club entry. When I borrowed it from the library, I was surprised to find it under the biography section. And I guess that's what kind of threw me for a loop when reading. As a time period piece, it certainly is interesting to see the view of AIDS and HIV as it went from nonexistence to ever-prevalent, particularly as the disease affected a very specific population of people.
That said, reading the book today, I felt the narrative framework to be heavy-handed and not particularly illuminating outside of fulfilling any number of stereotypes of doctors, foreign-born subset. The language reads as someone wanting to be deep, not dissimilar to what I think when I re-read something I wrote when I was in high school.
It is not to discount the experiences or stories of those contained within the memoir. The memoir, itself, seems at times exploitive and patronizing of and to its many subjects. The story concludes in the early 90's, and no epilogue provides the certainly seemingly brighter outlook for many that have HIV.
That said, reading the book today, I felt the narrative framework to be heavy-handed and not particularly illuminating outside of fulfilling any number of stereotypes of doctors, foreign-born subset. The language reads as someone wanting to be deep, not dissimilar to what I think when I re-read something I wrote when I was in high school.
It is not to discount the experiences or stories of those contained within the memoir. The memoir, itself, seems at times exploitive and patronizing of and to its many subjects. The story concludes in the early 90's, and no epilogue provides the certainly seemingly brighter outlook for many that have HIV.
refinishednurse's review
4.0
This is the first book I have read all the way through in quite a while, and it was my second attempt at reading it. I am so glad I did. It was intriguing. It describes the time in the late 1980's when AIDS is first encountered in rural America. It was gut wrenching to read of the medical crises the patients went through and the incredibly inhumane way they were treated. Dr. Verghese was called to treat these patients, but not without a personal toll. He paid for his compassion, knowledge and human decency in emotional pain and isolation. He learned all he could about the treatment of AIDS, HIV and the subsequent diseases, symptoms and problems that came along with it. He was not prepared for the emotional toll and social isolation he would encounter because he was treating these patients. This book fascinated me. I would caution that it is medically graphic. This did not bother me for the most part, as I am a nurse, but there were times that even I could "smell the smells and see the sights" a little too clearly. Thank you to my friend Beth for recommending it to me and loaning me her copy.
One of my favorite quotes, page 427, "It all happened so suddenly. I left my own country, my beloved Tennessee. Perhaps my perennial migrations, almost hereditary, are a way to avoid loss. With deep roots come great comforts. Yet deep attachments are the hardest to lose Maybe that is why drifters avoid them."
One of my favorite quotes, page 427, "It all happened so suddenly. I left my own country, my beloved Tennessee. Perhaps my perennial migrations, almost hereditary, are a way to avoid loss. With deep roots come great comforts. Yet deep attachments are the hardest to lose Maybe that is why drifters avoid them."
margaret_adams's review
Read for a book group of fellow medical providers. Verghese's account of working as a foreign doctor treating HIV/AIDS in rural Tennessee is a classic, but I couldn't help but feel that he had written it too soon after leaving Tennessee--it's so clear that he's still too "in" it to have a clarity of perspective. There is a myopic focus on his own feelings and experience with very little insight into those of the rest of the medical community, except to touch on his occasional feelings of superiority and/or alienation. Conversely, some of his interviews with patients stretch too long, though even then, you get the sense that the takeaway is that they have let him into their lives. It's fine to focus this on the author's life and experience, but the lack of resolution on that front at the end of the book is palpable.
catmar19's review
4.0
I ordered this book on a whim from Amazon.com. I really enjoy finding good nonfiction books.
I couldn't help but inhale this book. Verghese writes so well. He seemlessly trasitions from paragraphs of informative medical background to heart wrenching narrative. He connected himself and the reader to each person in the book, each patient, doctor, nurse, and family member. I was vivid and touching. I found myself saying, "I never knew." I was a child during much of the setting of the book. I am enamored, truly.
And I wouldn't be me if I didn't point out the things that kept me from making this a 5-star book. I realize that medical knowledge changes and this book was published in the early '90s, but there were a couple of things, notably the "patient zero" references that are known to not be true now. Also, there were a few points when the personal connection usurped the narrative and sounded a bit whiney or melodramatic. I want to call it Krakauer-esque. But only a a couple of times.
I'm seriously considering reading Cutting for Stone. And this book has definitely caused me to buy a couple of AIDS memoirs.
I couldn't help but inhale this book. Verghese writes so well. He seemlessly trasitions from paragraphs of informative medical background to heart wrenching narrative. He connected himself and the reader to each person in the book, each patient, doctor, nurse, and family member. I was vivid and touching. I found myself saying, "I never knew." I was a child during much of the setting of the book. I am enamored, truly.
And I wouldn't be me if I didn't point out the things that kept me from making this a 5-star book. I realize that medical knowledge changes and this book was published in the early '90s, but there were a couple of things, notably the "patient zero" references that are known to not be true now. Also, there were a few points when the personal connection usurped the narrative and sounded a bit whiney or melodramatic. I want to call it Krakauer-esque. But only a a couple of times.
I'm seriously considering reading Cutting for Stone. And this book has definitely caused me to buy a couple of AIDS memoirs.
susanj13's review against another edition
5.0
Dr. Abraham Verghese's "Cutting for Stone" remains easily one of my favourite novels of all time, and I know this is true for many other readers I know. However, despite the immense popularity of the book, I had never seen any of his other writings on the shelves anywhere until I spotted this in one of the Charing Cross second-hand bookstores a few years ago.
This book, his first, is a memoir of his years spent working as an infectious diseases specialist in rural Tennesee in the 1980s when AIDS had become the "viral" buzzword in USA. This is top notch writing - painfully beautiful, intensely personal and filled with empathy. Dr. Verghese is today known to be the flag bearer of training young doctors in quality bedside practices, and his sincerity on the topic comes through in his writing. He writes effortlessly about trying to understand the epidemic, homosexuality, the gay community and how they and their families were being impacted by the illness, and all that he himself gained and lost during the period. There are bits which are very detailed, evoking very vivid imagery and bringing alive these patients and their stories in the reader's mind. It honestly felt like a privilege to read this account; and I sincerely hope he spends more time writing. I am moved beyond words.
This book, his first, is a memoir of his years spent working as an infectious diseases specialist in rural Tennesee in the 1980s when AIDS had become the "viral" buzzword in USA. This is top notch writing - painfully beautiful, intensely personal and filled with empathy. Dr. Verghese is today known to be the flag bearer of training young doctors in quality bedside practices, and his sincerity on the topic comes through in his writing. He writes effortlessly about trying to understand the epidemic, homosexuality, the gay community and how they and their families were being impacted by the illness, and all that he himself gained and lost during the period. There are bits which are very detailed, evoking very vivid imagery and bringing alive these patients and their stories in the reader's mind. It honestly felt like a privilege to read this account; and I sincerely hope he spends more time writing. I am moved beyond words.