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4.2 AVERAGE
4.2 AVERAGE
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Colonisation, Classism
Reading this book was physically painful. Turning each page felt like pulling teeth. Every moment spent reading I could literally feel the time being wasted and trickling away from me never to return. The information I received from reading the Wiki page on Paul Farmer was a lot more useful, entertaining and valuable.
Reading roughly three hundred pages of Kidder patting himself on the back for his acquaintance with what is frankly a great man felt sickening and boring. The problems which should have been in focus of the novel (the poverty in Haiti, the ways in which sickness can be battered) were somehow pushed to the side in favor of recounting Kidder's own perceptions of Farmer as a misunderstood tragic hero.
I failed to recognise the novel as belonging to a particular genre - was this a travelogue? a biography? It felt to me merely as Kidder enjoying an unjustified ego trip over the fact that he is, in theory, doing soemthing to help, while in reality he is merely riding the coat-tails of a true activist.
As far as raising awareness goes, if one were to use only Kidder's book as a resource, they are more certain to be disgusted and turn their back away on the cause, than to pay any attention to it.
In addition to a bland, repetitive style of writing, and a dry personal sentiment of self-complaisant petty satisfaction, Kidder's patronising, diminutive tone in regard to Haitians, Peruvians and impoverished patients in general is almost accusatory, and quite painful to go through.
Would not recommend to anyone.
Reading roughly three hundred pages of Kidder patting himself on the back for his acquaintance with what is frankly a great man felt sickening and boring. The problems which should have been in focus of the novel (the poverty in Haiti, the ways in which sickness can be battered) were somehow pushed to the side in favor of recounting Kidder's own perceptions of Farmer as a misunderstood tragic hero.
I failed to recognise the novel as belonging to a particular genre - was this a travelogue? a biography? It felt to me merely as Kidder enjoying an unjustified ego trip over the fact that he is, in theory, doing soemthing to help, while in reality he is merely riding the coat-tails of a true activist.
As far as raising awareness goes, if one were to use only Kidder's book as a resource, they are more certain to be disgusted and turn their back away on the cause, than to pay any attention to it.
In addition to a bland, repetitive style of writing, and a dry personal sentiment of self-complaisant petty satisfaction, Kidder's patronising, diminutive tone in regard to Haitians, Peruvians and impoverished patients in general is almost accusatory, and quite painful to go through.
Would not recommend to anyone.
Wow. Wow. Absolutely incredible.
I often think, “what is good enough? How does one person caught in a wisp of human experience possibly do enough in one small lifetime to make lasting good? How do we avoid getting lost in the cascade of time and distraction?” and this book, I think, served as salve and guidance for a life given over to service and humanity. I’d never given much thought to Paul Farmer before his death this spring, not surprisingly, probably, for a privileged American far from the the impoverished landscapes that are debilitated by the infectious diseases that are largely a thing of wealthy communities’ past. His achievements, in humanity, in medicine, in general goodwill and in infrastructure and development is absolutely incredible, but his dogged determination and his unending commitment to his beliefs, that access to medicine is a basic human right, that impoverished communities are deserving of the same medical care and attention and chance at life as any individual in any affluent community is what crawled under my skin to stay. In the face of adversary, again and again, he simply said, “watch me” and then changed the world. Just incredible.
I really enjoyed the audiobook, which I borrowed through Libby, and I recommend it to anyone who feels despair or cynicism in the face of humanity, because, as Farmer is quoted - “Cynicism is a dead end.” May we all strive for a fraction of the positive impact Farmer imparted upon the human race in six decades.
10/10 recommend.
I often think, “what is good enough? How does one person caught in a wisp of human experience possibly do enough in one small lifetime to make lasting good? How do we avoid getting lost in the cascade of time and distraction?” and this book, I think, served as salve and guidance for a life given over to service and humanity. I’d never given much thought to Paul Farmer before his death this spring, not surprisingly, probably, for a privileged American far from the the impoverished landscapes that are debilitated by the infectious diseases that are largely a thing of wealthy communities’ past. His achievements, in humanity, in medicine, in general goodwill and in infrastructure and development is absolutely incredible, but his dogged determination and his unending commitment to his beliefs, that access to medicine is a basic human right, that impoverished communities are deserving of the same medical care and attention and chance at life as any individual in any affluent community is what crawled under my skin to stay. In the face of adversary, again and again, he simply said, “watch me” and then changed the world. Just incredible.
I really enjoyed the audiobook, which I borrowed through Libby, and I recommend it to anyone who feels despair or cynicism in the face of humanity, because, as Farmer is quoted - “Cynicism is a dead end.” May we all strive for a fraction of the positive impact Farmer imparted upon the human race in six decades.
10/10 recommend.
Review first published on my blog: http://memoriesfrombooks.blogspot.com/2012/01/mountains-beyond-mountains-quest-of-dr.html
Mountains Beyond Mountains - The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Would Cure The World is the inspiring story of Dr. Paul Farmer, an American medical anthropologist and physician. He is one of the founder of Partners In Health. The organization began in an effort to bring medical facilities to the poor in the central plains of Haiti. It has grown into a worldwide health organization. It made possible the treatment of diseases like AIDS and multi-drug resistant tuberculosis for the poorest of the populations in many parts of the world including Haiti, Peru, and Russia.
This book tells the story of Dr. Farmer's passion and his work. In addition, it tells the story of Dr. Farmer, the individual as he struggles to balance personal and family needs with the needs of his work.
The book, as a book, accomplished what it set out to do. It brought to life an inspirational story. The individuals come to life. Some of the medical cases are heart wrenching. Some of the situations described can be beyond understanding if you have never experienced a part of the world where such poverty exists. I have to say I did skim through parts. I was awed by the magnitude of what they overcame and the magnitude of what they accomplished. I got that understanding even while skimming the book.
As a story, the book is inspirational. It reminds us of the amazing things one person - or a small group of dedicated people - can accomplish. Dr. Farmer and his colleagues have truly changed the lives of the population they serve. They started with the knowledge that something needed to be done. And they did it. Many times, they did it at the expense of their personal lives. They continue to work for their mission day in and day out following Dr. Farmer's philosophy that "the only real nation is humanity."
Mountains Beyond Mountains - The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Would Cure The World is the inspiring story of Dr. Paul Farmer, an American medical anthropologist and physician. He is one of the founder of Partners In Health. The organization began in an effort to bring medical facilities to the poor in the central plains of Haiti. It has grown into a worldwide health organization. It made possible the treatment of diseases like AIDS and multi-drug resistant tuberculosis for the poorest of the populations in many parts of the world including Haiti, Peru, and Russia.
This book tells the story of Dr. Farmer's passion and his work. In addition, it tells the story of Dr. Farmer, the individual as he struggles to balance personal and family needs with the needs of his work.
The book, as a book, accomplished what it set out to do. It brought to life an inspirational story. The individuals come to life. Some of the medical cases are heart wrenching. Some of the situations described can be beyond understanding if you have never experienced a part of the world where such poverty exists. I have to say I did skim through parts. I was awed by the magnitude of what they overcame and the magnitude of what they accomplished. I got that understanding even while skimming the book.
As a story, the book is inspirational. It reminds us of the amazing things one person - or a small group of dedicated people - can accomplish. Dr. Farmer and his colleagues have truly changed the lives of the population they serve. They started with the knowledge that something needed to be done. And they did it. Many times, they did it at the expense of their personal lives. They continue to work for their mission day in and day out following Dr. Farmer's philosophy that "the only real nation is humanity."
I loved this book! Inspiring account of global health crisis and one man's efforts to change the world.
When I picked this up at the library, I thought it was going to be a travelogue. (Look, my list didn't have the subtitle.) It wasn't, but that was okay.
I'm not sure the concept would have appealed to me had you described it to me- how One Guy is doing healthcare in places that desperately need it, basically. With a lot on Haiti. Which, like any anything about Haiti, causes the reaction, "OMG, poor Haiti." Because .... poor Haiti. The country hasn't had a good break in like 200 years.
I am definitely less familiar with non-Spanish-speaking countries in this hemisphere, so this was a reacquaintance with it, combined with an awe-inspiring biography of three guys (ok, mostly one of them, but there's a liberal dose of Ophelia and Jim and a bit about some other players) who decided, we should do something about this. And they did. Plus fought TB places besides Haiti. Through a combination of personal action and international diplomacy and bullheaded focus, they created Partners in Health, which is enough of a big deal that even someone as removed as myself has heard of it.
The book jumps around a bit, which I found particularly annoying at the beginning, but there's so much to tell and it's so interesting (and, obviously, well told) that I got past that. And am glad I did.
It's a pretty inspiring but humbling book - what have you done to save the world lately? (Me, I've written a bunch of book reviews....imaginary Paul Farmer is not impressed.)
(And for the second book in this batch, policy is hard.)
I'm not sure the concept would have appealed to me had you described it to me- how One Guy is doing healthcare in places that desperately need it, basically. With a lot on Haiti. Which, like any anything about Haiti, causes the reaction, "OMG, poor Haiti." Because .... poor Haiti. The country hasn't had a good break in like 200 years.
I am definitely less familiar with non-Spanish-speaking countries in this hemisphere, so this was a reacquaintance with it, combined with an awe-inspiring biography of three guys (ok, mostly one of them, but there's a liberal dose of Ophelia and Jim and a bit about some other players) who decided, we should do something about this. And they did. Plus fought TB places besides Haiti. Through a combination of personal action and international diplomacy and bullheaded focus, they created Partners in Health, which is enough of a big deal that even someone as removed as myself has heard of it.
The book jumps around a bit, which I found particularly annoying at the beginning, but there's so much to tell and it's so interesting (and, obviously, well told) that I got past that. And am glad I did.
It's a pretty inspiring but humbling book - what have you done to save the world lately? (Me, I've written a bunch of book reviews....imaginary Paul Farmer is not impressed.)
(And for the second book in this batch, policy is hard.)
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
A beautiful true-story. Important for anyone interested in health care to reflect on as they enter the field.
Not as good as I'd heard, but Paul Farmer is a very interesting and inspiring guy. Definitely worth a read.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
Inspiring to know that I live in a world where people like Paul Farmer exist
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced