Mountains Beyond Mountains

This Six Weeks I read Mountains Beyond Mountains, by Tracy Kidder. This is a brand new book, and it was published in February of 2013. The book is technically a nonfiction, because of all the medical items in it, but I think that it could also be classified as a biography, because it chronicles Dr. Farmer's life in such detail. The book presents some concepts that we have a hard time wrapping our minds around, or at least I did. The book begins with Farmer's childhood. He was born in a very modest family, with a VERY unorthodox lifestyle. When he turned 6, the family sold their home, and their father bought an old school bus, nicknamed the Blue-Bird inn, to be their new home. Soon it became apparent that farmer was different, he was certainly far more interested in school than his siblings were. Soon farmer graduated from a floridian High School and went to Duke on a full scholarship. While studying, he went to Haiti on a trip, and this shocked him to try to do everything he could to help Haitians. After that shocking trip he reconnoiters several times, to gather info on what he could do to best help Haiti. He graduates from Duke with a degree in medicine, and immediately thereafter starts a charity for Haiti, called Partners In Health. PIH's first venture is to establish a clinic in a remote area of the Haitian plateau. This soon evolves into Farmers brainchild, and before long he is running a large hospital for haitians-Free Of Charge. After his success in Haiti, he is called on to help many global health crisis, including an outbreak of TB in Russian Prisons. Upon reading this book, I thought that the authors real message is simple- Do all you can to make the world a better place.

       The story is told from a 3rd person POV, because it uses a narrator. Although this is a nonfiction book, and the author really didn't use very many literary elements, the story itself was thoroughly engrossing and I really liked it. The book impacted me after reading it by sort of sending me into shock. The thought of living in a world without any opportunity is, quite frankly, scary. I really admire Dr. Paul Farmer for his work and dedication to other people.

Steven Manning
11/6/13
My Rating: 4.5/5