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A review by rlambertdo
My Own Country: A Doctor's Story by Abraham Verghese
3.0
Dr. Verghese earned four of my stars for his fictional [b:Cutting for Stone|3591262|Cutting for Stone|Abraham Verghese|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327931601s/3591262.jpg|3633533], but I only offer three for this memoir. He tells of his years as a rural Tennessee internist, in the era of the discovery of HIV. Verghese shares many vignettes of the HIV patients he managed and the resistance and fear often encountered in the community.
The story is historically interesting, as HIV/AIDs is discovered in urban centers and migrates silently to small-town America. Certainly Verghese performed an enormous service to the Johnson City, TN area in accepting patients otherwise shunned and educating the community concerning the illness. His story must represent many similar scenarios that played-out throughout the United States.
However.
The book became an exercise in tedium and redundancy. And sadly, I often find that physicians often come-off as self-serving when presenting autobiographical material. This may be my problem, because Dr. Verghese is an excellent writer and apparently, a compassionate and gifted physician. Per his memoir. Just sayin'.
The story is historically interesting, as HIV/AIDs is discovered in urban centers and migrates silently to small-town America. Certainly Verghese performed an enormous service to the Johnson City, TN area in accepting patients otherwise shunned and educating the community concerning the illness. His story must represent many similar scenarios that played-out throughout the United States.
However.
The book became an exercise in tedium and redundancy. And sadly, I often find that physicians often come-off as self-serving when presenting autobiographical material. This may be my problem, because Dr. Verghese is an excellent writer and apparently, a compassionate and gifted physician. Per his memoir. Just sayin'.