Name: My Own Country
Rating: 4 (0 reviews)
Author: Abraham Verghese

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Summary

Book Summary

Nestled in the Smoky Mountains of eastern Tennessee, the town of Johnson City saw its first AIDS patient in August 1985. Working in Johnson City was Abraham Verghese, a young Indian doctor specializing in infectious diseases who became, by necessity, the local AIDS expert. Out of his experience comes a startling, ultimately uplifting portrait of the American heartland.

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Media Reviews

"Writing with an outsider's empathy and insight, casting his chronicle in graceful prose, he offers a memorable tale that both captures and transcends time and place." - Publishers Weekly.

"This novelistic account, occasionally overly detailed, provides a heartfelt perspective on the American response to the spread of AIDS." - Library Journal.

This information about My Own Country was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

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Homraj Khadka

My Own Country
"My Own Country" by Abraham Verghese is a poignant and powerful memoir that explores the author's relationship with his father, who was a urologist and a complex and enigmatic figure in his life.

Verghese, who is also a physician and a writer, tells the story of his father's life and career, as well as his own experiences growing up in Ethiopia and India, and later immigrating to the United States. The book is a moving and deeply personal exploration of family, identity, and the complexities of modern medicine.

One of the strengths of the book is Verghese's ability to evoke a sense of place and culture, whether he is describing the vibrant streets of Addis Ababa or the bustling hospitals of New York City. His writing is vivid and evocative, and he brings a keen eye for detail to every scene.

Another strength of the book is the way Verghese weaves together his personal story with larger themes about medicine, ethics, and the human condition. He is a thoughtful and compassionate writer, and he brings a sense of humanity and empathy to even the most difficult and complex topics.

Overall, "My Own Country" is a beautifully written and deeply moving memoir that will resonate with anyone who has grappled with questions of family, identity, and what it means to be human.

Doraflora

A inspiring but extremely poorly written autobiography
My book club opted to read this true account of a doctor coping with AIDS victims in the early years of its detection. I found the doctor's style stultifying, monotonous and difficult to cope with. I am a prolific reader but this book stymied me. The style was onerous, burdensome, boring, filled with tedious descriptions and lacking much action or conversation among the participants.
Dr. Veerghese has a way with words, mostly vivid descriptions of his surroundings, but making passage through the text, an ordeal.
I struggled valiantly to endure, put the book down and then tried again several times to struggle through it, finally giving up. In total frustration.
The subject matter and his experiences could have been riveting. Instead it was impossible to complete. Much more vigorous editing, much less description of inoccuous surroundings,etc. and much more drama is required, in my humble opinion.

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Author Information

Biography
Books by this Author

Abraham Verghese Author Biography

Photo: Joanne Chan

Abraham Verghese is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop and the author of the NBCC Award finalist My Own Country and the New York Times Notable Book The Tennis Partner. His most recent book, Cutting for Stone, spent 107 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and sold more than two million copies worldwide. It was translated into more than twenty languages and is being adapted for film by Anonymous Content. Verghese was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Obama, has received six honorary degrees, and is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He lives and practices medicine in Stanford, California where he is the Linda R. Meier and Joan F. Lane Provostial Professor in the Stanford University School of ...

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Link to Abraham Verghese's Website

Name Pronunciation
Abraham Verghese: vur-gees with a hard 'g'