I recently read MOUNTAINS BEYOND MOUNTAINS by Tracy Kidder. It’s a non-fiction book (people call Tracy Kidder’s writing “literary non-fiction”) about Paul Farmer, a doctor who has established successful medical programs in Haiti, Peru, and elsewhere. His accomplishments, motivation, and tirelessness are more than admirable: it’s actually shocking how much he’s been able to do with such limited resources. Mountains Beyond Mountains is first and foremost inspiring, but it also shows us the full scale of reactions that we might have to a person like Paul Farmer, who rarely sees his wife or children, gets almost no sleep, and travels constantly. Kidder even admits a couple of times to feeling annoyed at Farmer’s unflappable optimism and “saintliness.” It’s passages like these, that deal with the difficult fact that few of us can respond to poverty and suffering as actively as Paul Farmer does, that make this book so interesting and rewarding.
Check out Sam’s interview with Tracy Kidder on Monday’s edition of the Avid Reader!
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