Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World
Book Review: Great Writer writes of a great man
Summary: 5 Stars
Dr. Paul Farmer is a rare character: a genius whose infinite compassion drives him to lalbor around the clock and around the world to find ways to cure drug-resistant tuberculosis and AIDS in the most primitive of conditions in such places as Haiti and Russian prisons. This rare man deserves a rare bographer, and he has him in Tracy Kidder who spent years of his life in tracking Dr. Farmer and then writing an admiring but not fawning biography. This improbable life all rings true.
Book Review: Mountains Beyond Mountains
Summary: 4 Stars
Mountains Beyond Mountains
From a high school student - 2 March 2008
Tracy Kidder, author of the Pulitzer Prize winner The Soul of a New Machine, veers off on a different course as he explores new areas of the world and the problems they face. Upon his inquiry, Kidder encounters Paul Farmer, a prominent physician and anthropologist. It is there where Kidder's interest in Farmer's work grows and he realizes the great impact this one man has on so many people. Kidder describes Paul Farmer's unorthodox childhood and the conditions in which he grew up, from living in a secondhand bus and leaky boat to starting a herpetology class in forth grade. Despite Farmer's childhood, Kidder describes him as a gifted person and Farmer his headed on the path of a "big-shot Boston doctor" in which he attended college at Duke and later Harvard where he studied to earn his MD and PhD. Later in the book, Kidder describes Paul Farmer's accomplishments and his work in countries such as Haiti, Peru, and Russia. Paul Farmer did not just practice his medical and life-saving work in these countries - he lived it to the fullest. Farmer, with the help of some generous donors, built a health and social-wellbeing organization titled Partners in Health. There he helped and cured thousands of patients and not only gave them the physical ability to live, but the hope as well. Farmer once said, "It is the curse of humanity that it learns to tolerate even the most horrible situation by habituation" (Kidder 61). Farmer worked day in and day out to prevent this mindset and reeducated the improvised communities to strive for success and a new life; he was not just a doctor, he was a mentor, a life-saver, and a gift to everyone he met. In one passage, Tracy Kidder describes Farmer's dedication and devotion, "He told me he slept fours hours a night but a few days later confessed, `I can't sleep. There's always somebody not getting treatment. I can't stand that'" (Kidder 23). It is Farmer's complete focus on the task at hand that Kidder says makes him so outgoing and so successful in everything he does. Paul Farmer is a man of action, and in doing so he has given up his life to changing the world and making it a better place. When reading this book, you will wonder why everyone is not as caring as Paul Farmer and hopefully you will be inspired to make a change in your community. Reading this book, you may feel a rejuvenation of your soul and will be encouraged to act out in generosity and love to your neighbor as Paul Farmer did. Kidder's well-crafted words clearly express the conditions of Haiti and the poor around the world, as well as the brighter aspect of human nature and the ability to love. This book is truthfully an inspiration and well worth the eleven dollars you spend. Those readers looking for an outlet or a way to make the world a better place may be inspired to send donations to Partners in Health so people like Paul Farmer can continue to spread life and hope throughout the world.
Book Review: Fantastic Read!
Summary: 5 Stars
Mountains Beyond Mountains Book Review
Tracy Kidder's excellence in writing is proven yet again, as he brings to life the history of one man who changed the lives of many people around the world. Read and used by Reader's Circle, a nation-wide book club, it proves its greatness as it describes the disturbing, yet motivational work that Paul Farmer accomplished while living in countries stricken by the political wound of poverty.
Growing up in a second-hand bus, once used as a mobile tuberculosis clinic, and later a hull ship that was repaired by his father, Paul shows the true transformation - from rags to riches - any motivated person can accomplish. Even from a young age, he became familiar with the deprived nation of Haiti, starting with his early occupation picking citrus with Haitians, as his father, referred to as the Warden, "described, briefly the epic poverty of their country" (Kidder 51). Paul excelled in class, only to later receive a "Ph.D. in anthropology from Harvard" (Kidder 7), and begin his numerous trips to Haiti, where he doctored the deprived Haitian citizens and cured many cases of tuberculosis and other dangerous diseases. His life story takes the reader through the troubling path of Farmer's double identity as a "big-shot Boston doctor [...], a professor of both medicine and medical anthropology at Harvard Medical School" (Kidder 10), and a meticulous savior to the dying people in poverty-infected regions. This true story breaks open the boundaries of one's mind, and makes the reader question their own legacy in life, motivating the reader to help in the potential change that can occur around the world.
Book Review: An extraordinary man in a harrowing place
Summary: 5 Stars
I love everything written by Tracy Kidder. This book was chosen because he was the author listed, not because of the subject matter. In fact, Kidder doesn't disappoint and Paul Farmer, the main character in this true story is a subject I long to know more about. I am glad to not have read the Amazon reviews prior to forming my own opinion of the book. Yes, Farmer stole supplies from Yale to give to the poor. Yes, Farmer does alienate some people in his zeal to help the sick poor people. However, none of that overshadows the fact that Farmer accomplishes miracles while others sit and contemplate what to do. Book Review: Inspiring and informative, but dry at points
Summary: 4 Stars
Tracy Kidder's Mountains Beyond Mountains is an account of the life and deeds of Dr. Paul Farmer, a brilliant Harvard graduate who works wonders for the world's poor and sick. He puts almost all of his time into his work helping the poor, and a very large portion of his money as well. He never sees his paychecks of about $125,000 a year, which are all sent to a bookkeeper at Partners in Health, his charity, who pays his bills and then deposits the remainder in the charity's treasury. Because he hardly keeps any money for himself, the bookkeeper once told him, "Honey, you are the hardest-workin' broke man I know" (Kidder 23).
Kidder's account of Farmer's work becomes very dry at several points, especially when it is describing in detail the medical issues Farmer's patients undergo, and may be hard for some to understand without some background in medicine. This book would provide a reality check for many readers, showing how terrible the living conditions are in poor nations of the world today. For example, the house Dr. Farmer lived in while he worked in Haiti was similar to most of the other peasant housing, but "[...] exceptional in that it had a bathroom, though without hot water" (Kidder 23). Another example of Haiti's living conditions is put bluntly by another doctor who worked there, who stated, "There's no electricity here. It's just brutal here" (Kidder 80). The majority of the Haitians live in severe poverty, in conditions most Americans would cringe at, without running water or electricity.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone, especially those who are interested in the fields of charity or medicine.