THE TENNIS PARTNER by Abraham Verghese (HarperCollins, 1998)
A professor of medicine at Stanford University and most recently the acclaimed author of Cutting for Stone, Abraham Verghese, tells the true story of his friendship with a medical intern, David Smith, an Australian, former tennis pro and cocaine addict. Stories of treating patients in a busy urban teaching hospital in El Paso blend with fun-spirited tennis which mixes with Verghese’s own divorce and Smith’s inevitable break ups which all blend into a sad and tragic spiral into addiction. Altogether this is a moving elegy to an intense and genuine friendship between two doctors, two athletes, two smart men (8.5/10).
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Saturday, June 25, 2011
RollnSmoke Reviews: STATE OF WONDER by Ann Patchett
STATE OF WONDER by Ann Patchett (HarperCollins, 2011)
Patchett’s sixth novel is a fast and fun summer read situated in the steamy Amazonian tropics of Brazil where a doctor named Marina is sent by her employer, the head of a drug company that is funding research for an emerging fertility drug, to uncover the circumstances of a dear colleague who recently disappeared there. In spite of Marina’s poor sense of men and an overabundance of flashbacks and Larium dreams that serve to carry (unnecessary) backstory, the pace of the story is strong, loaded with attacking anacondas, pregnant old women, and poisoned arrows. Patchett’s writing remains strong and evocative, and the narrative ends with a winning and redemptive crescendo (8.5/10).
Patchett’s sixth novel is a fast and fun summer read situated in the steamy Amazonian tropics of Brazil where a doctor named Marina is sent by her employer, the head of a drug company that is funding research for an emerging fertility drug, to uncover the circumstances of a dear colleague who recently disappeared there. In spite of Marina’s poor sense of men and an overabundance of flashbacks and Larium dreams that serve to carry (unnecessary) backstory, the pace of the story is strong, loaded with attacking anacondas, pregnant old women, and poisoned arrows. Patchett’s writing remains strong and evocative, and the narrative ends with a winning and redemptive crescendo (8.5/10).
Friday, June 17, 2011
RollnSmoke Reviews: PILL HEAD by Joshua Lyon
PILL HEAD by Joshua Lyon (Hyperion, 2009)
As a budding, gay journalist living in New York, Joshua Lyon discovers Vicodin, his “perfect drug,” while undertaking research for a magazine assignment and here reveals his ensuing addiction to pills. He discusses the related science and trends behind painkillers, including the onset of online pharmacies, the practice of doctor shopping, the ineffectiveness of anti-drug programs and the prospect of an addiction vaccine. While he includes fascinating case stories of pill addiction, it his own private battle that is most engrossing as he writes the bulk of this debut memoir while still addicted. A quick, satisfying and informative read (8.5/10).
As a budding, gay journalist living in New York, Joshua Lyon discovers Vicodin, his “perfect drug,” while undertaking research for a magazine assignment and here reveals his ensuing addiction to pills. He discusses the related science and trends behind painkillers, including the onset of online pharmacies, the practice of doctor shopping, the ineffectiveness of anti-drug programs and the prospect of an addiction vaccine. While he includes fascinating case stories of pill addiction, it his own private battle that is most engrossing as he writes the bulk of this debut memoir while still addicted. A quick, satisfying and informative read (8.5/10).
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
RollnSmoke Reviews: PEOPLE OF THE BOOK by Geraldine Brooks
PEOPLE OF THE BOOK by Geraldine Brooks (Viking Penguin, 2008)
Australian-born, Pulitzer Prize winning author, Geraldine Brooks, brings us the story of the Hebrew codex known as the Sarajevo Haggadah, which originated in Seville in 1492 and ends up in worn-torn Sarejevo by way of Venice in 1609 and Vienna in 1894. Its story includes tentacles of various lives and wars and clandestine smuggling but centers on one contemporary book conservator, Hannah, whose personal life is revealed particularly through a love affair she has with a curator in Sarajevo. The tone throughout is serious, its subject is, at times, boring, and the ending is a bit too tidy (7/10).
Australian-born, Pulitzer Prize winning author, Geraldine Brooks, brings us the story of the Hebrew codex known as the Sarajevo Haggadah, which originated in Seville in 1492 and ends up in worn-torn Sarejevo by way of Venice in 1609 and Vienna in 1894. Its story includes tentacles of various lives and wars and clandestine smuggling but centers on one contemporary book conservator, Hannah, whose personal life is revealed particularly through a love affair she has with a curator in Sarajevo. The tone throughout is serious, its subject is, at times, boring, and the ending is a bit too tidy (7/10).
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
RollnSmoke Reviews: FAMILY ALBUM by Penelope Lively
FAMILY ALBUM by Penelope Lively (Penguin, 2009).
This masterful fiction writer from London has turned out another compelling psychological drama that centers around Allersmead, the run-down, sprawling family home that is the same scene of varying points of view on a family’s life. Alison strives to be the perfect archetype of motherhood, whose goal is to provide her six children with a blissful childhood, though that’s not how any of her children remember life at Allersmead, as they each recall, as grown adults and by way of brilliant omniscient narration, birthdays, Christmases and family summer vacations. Each recalls how the eldest son, Paul, falls into addiction, and they remember their father’s impassive stolidity and their quiet and plodding au pair, Ingrid, who remains at the house 40 years later. Lively’s exquisite writing is original and smart, her insights are profound, and her storytelling involves intriguing family secrets, revealed. At the heart of this magical narrative is Alison’s indissoluble conviction: “… This is a family. This shall always be a family.” (9.5/10)
This masterful fiction writer from London has turned out another compelling psychological drama that centers around Allersmead, the run-down, sprawling family home that is the same scene of varying points of view on a family’s life. Alison strives to be the perfect archetype of motherhood, whose goal is to provide her six children with a blissful childhood, though that’s not how any of her children remember life at Allersmead, as they each recall, as grown adults and by way of brilliant omniscient narration, birthdays, Christmases and family summer vacations. Each recalls how the eldest son, Paul, falls into addiction, and they remember their father’s impassive stolidity and their quiet and plodding au pair, Ingrid, who remains at the house 40 years later. Lively’s exquisite writing is original and smart, her insights are profound, and her storytelling involves intriguing family secrets, revealed. At the heart of this magical narrative is Alison’s indissoluble conviction: “… This is a family. This shall always be a family.” (9.5/10)
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... a cold Kalik, anyone?
