Mountains Beyond Mountains
July 9, 2008Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder is the life story of Dr. Paul Farmer. This book was the “common book” of UW my freshman year. I picked it up, read the first chapter–as it was not very intriguing–I never picked it up again until 3 weeks ago.
Now that I have read it, I can see that it means more to me now than it would have two years ago. I have to admit life of Paul Farmer is quite…something…something so unbelievable that I would not have believed it, if it was not for the search I did on him. Still I have to say that I did not like the writing very much. I understand that this work is a non-fiction, but Farmer’s life has more events than any ordinary fiction can offer. Thus, the displacement of climaxes and the boring manner in which chapters were devised ruined a good story in my opinion! Furthermore, Kidder insists on the continual use of the Creole terms–even those that have English equivalent–which he only translates once 100 pages before the next use! (and he does not provide a glossary!) At least that is my beef with the writing!
On a personal level, I do not know if I can ever be like Farmer. There are many goals that I have that I “think” I need to achieve, and helping the poor is only one of them. I do not know if I am ready to devote my life completely, and I mean completely to that cause! Then again Farmer went through a similar phase, and also he does not, ever, advise anyone to do things the way he has (he knows how insane he is!). So we will see. First, I need to actually be a doctor, or do I?!
At the end, what do I recommend? Read it, maybe with another book on the side.
I never finished the book because his prose was a little too grating. My FIG got to see him speak in Kane Hall, but I don’t remember much other than coming away thinking he was really arrogant.