This next one is a good example of the many steps that lead me to a new book. After the earthquake in Haiti, I really felt compelled to learn more about the country, but didn't know quite how to accomplish that. It was around that time that I saw/heard about the organization Partners in Health as one of the "recommended" charities. Shortly thereafter, I stumbled onto to this from Amazon's Omnivoracious book blog that led me to this book, Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder, with the central figure being the driving force behind PiH, Dr. Paul Farmer. A couple of days later, it was time for a new book... and voila! A book I had never heard of... about an organization I had never heard of... about a man I had never heard of... about a country I wanted to learn more about... all within the span of a few days! It's no wonder I never (and never ever will) get through my to-be-read list!
[On a quick side note, that Omnivoracious blog entry did report that PiH's facilities in Haiti's central plateau were undamaged. This area is quite remote/desolate and a couple of hours away from Port-au-Prince.]
While is not a book about Haiti, it is very much the heart of it as Farmer has devoted his life to Haitian people and although its reach is now global, the spirit of Partners In Health was born there. The book more than accomplished my goal of getting some basic knowledge about Haiti. There is a little bit of everything: the historical, political, religious, geographical, and certainly socio-economic. As you likely heard during news coverage, Haiti was already the poorest country in the Western hemisphere before the earthquake, so that only adds to the tragedy. The book gets its title from Haitian proverb that seems to embody this seemingly constant string of bad luck (among a very superstitious people)... "Beyond mountains, there are mountains" or when one problem is solved, there will only be another one lying in wait. Not a terribly optimistic life view.
Published in 2003 (so long before this humanitarian disaster), as mentioned, Farmer travels the world feeling it is a moral imperative to provide health-care to the world's poor. The reader goes from the halls of Harvard Medical School to Siberian prisons to the Chilean slums to the surprising (or not, if you've seen Michael Moore's documentary Sicko) health-care oasis of Castro's Cuba. Farmer is providing just the most basic of medical services, treating curable diseases that run rampant in third-world countries. Much of the book is devoted to the treatment of tuberculosis, an infectious disease that you hear little to nothing about in this country.
While Farmer sounds like a hero or angel sent from heaven (and he is), Kidder does gives us a the full portrait of the man. One has to be a bit crazy to take on seeming such insurmountable odds, and Farmer is an odd character, not always likable, at times moody and a bit of a diva. But at the proverbial end of the day you have to respect the man for plowing ahead and pushing that snowball back up the hill each and every day of his life (at the expense of a personal life, despite having a wife and child).
This book had one of the highest percentages of 5-star ratings that I have seen in some time. On Amazon, an amazing 75% rated it 5 stars with another 17% at 4 stars. For me, this was a case of hands-down 5-star story, but a wavering 4-star book. Perhaps it is Kidder's regular appearances on the non-fiction bestseller list or his Pulitzer Prize win that has upped his reputation. While there is certainly nothing wrong with this book, I just thought it lacked a strong narrative drive. It is a compelling story, but with the exception of a couple stories, I did not find myself reading faster or reaching for the book at every free moment. But 4-stars is still a thumb-up recommendation for eye-opening, educational, enlightening, and entertaining work.
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