Mountains Beyond Mountains
Reviews
“Mountains Beyond Mountains is an astonishing book that will leave you questioning your own life and political views. It is the perfect testament to a man who continues to reshape medicine and who has become, undoubtedly, an uncommon savior to a country that desperately needed one. If this book doesn’t scream Pulitzer, I don’t know what does.”
—Nicholas Thomas, USA Today
“A tale that inspires, discomforts and provokes.”
—Patricia Cohen, New York Times Daily
“If I ever go on a retreat again, this is the kind of book I’d like to take for spiritual reading… [Kidder] knows it is impossible to live like Farmer, but the impossibility is the very thing that can somehow give us life.”
—Thomas Geoghegan, Washington Post Book World
“Efficiently driven by [Kidder’s] passion for his subject… [His] book is a tribute to Farmer’s family of associates… and, above all, to their shooting star, their exasperating mobilizer.”
—Herbert Gold, Los Angeles Times Book Review
“This sensitive, compelling portrait just might, beyond its educational value and absorbing reading, spur at least some readers to help with the kind of action Farmer has dedicated his life to.”
—Steve Heilig, The San Francisco Chronicle
“Remind[s] us that we're implicated in all the problems Farmer’s working to solve… His complicated humanity only makes him more like the rest of us in our shortcomings - and leaves us asking why we all aren't a little more like him in our virtues."
—Philip Connors, Newsday
“A true-to-life fairy tale, one that inspires you to believe in happy endings. It is one of those books you’ll buy for your family and friends.”
—Laura Claridge, Boston Globe
“Extraordinary profile… a moving testament to Farmer as a tireless country doctor and ferocious public health warrior. It’ll fill you equally with wonder and hope.”
—Cathy Burke, People Magazine
“Mountains Beyond Mountains will move you, restore your faith in the ability of one person to make a difference in these increasingly maddening, dispiriting times. [Kidder has] held his writer’s mirror up to an astonishing comet of a man whose reflection flatters us all for what it says about our capacity for mercy and healing.”
—John Wilkens, San Diego Union-Tribune
“In this excellent work, Pulitzer Prize–winner Kidder immerses himself in and beautifully explores the rich drama that exists in the life of Dr. Paul Farmer… Throughout, Kidder captures the almost saintly effect Farmer has on those whom he treats.”
—Publisher’s Weekly, starred review
“[A] skilled and graceful exploration of the soul of an astonishing human being.”
—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“Mountains is typical Tracy Kidder—which is to say, typically great… [he] turns the small details of daily life into a sort of grand, universal poetry.”
—Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly
“Kidder’s wonderful book is an antidote for cynics.”
—Edward Morris, BookPage
“Recounts [Farmer’s] quest with grace and passion… both inspiring and guilt-provoking… the reader’s conscience will likely feel a deserved jab.”
—Andrew Rimas, Boston Magazine
“One of our finest writers of literary nonfiction brings his brilliant attentiveness to a Harvard-trained infectious-disease specialist, a real-life hero whose determination to improve health care in Haiti and elsewhere borders on the messianic.”
—Carlin Romano, Philadelphia Inquirer
“Tracy Kidder does not mouse around the edges of a story. He consumes it… Kidder’s words reveal Farmer with such startling clarity that sometimes you are not aware you are reading. Instead, you are scrambling up a Haitian hill alongside a genius. And you can’t wait to hear what he says next.”
—Daniel Dyer, Cleveland Plain Dealer
“A treatise on goodness… Kidder, one of the best nonfiction writers living today, is a methodical researcher and a penetrating interviewer. Those qualities serve his readers well here… vivid and heartrending.”
—Richard H. Weiss, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“Easily the most fascinating, most entertaining and, yes, most inspiring work of non-fiction I’ve read this year… With gripping descriptions of the plight of the people Farmer treats, Kidder makes us see the urgency of Farmer’s mission.”
—Charles Matthews, Mercury News
“[This book] gives us just the shot in the arm we all need… Kidder does a remarkable job bringing Farmer to life. As much a poet as a journalist, the author creates a three-dimensional hologram of the doctor… Farmer is remarkable, and Kidder has done his usual wonderful job. This is a book everyone should rush to read.”
—Curt Schleier, Minneapolis Star Tribune
"A profoundly inspiring and important book about one of the truly great men of our time."
—Ethan Canin, author of Carry Me Across the Water
“A fine writer and his extraordinary subject: Tracy Kidder, in giving us Paul Farmer, lifts up an image of hope—and challenge—that the world urgently needs. Simply put, this is an important book.”
—James Carroll, author of Constantine’s Sword
"The central character of this marvelous book is one of the most provocative, brilliant, funny, unsettling, endlessly energetic, irksome and charming characters ever to spring to life on the page…He wants to change the world. Certainly this luminous and powerful book will change the way you will see it."
—Jonathan Harr, author of A Civil Action
"Here is a genuine hero alive in our times. Mountains Beyond Mountains unfolds with the force of gathering revelation. Like all of Tracy Kidder's books, it is as hard to put down as any good and true story."
—Annie Dillard, author of The Writing Life
“Mountains Beyond Mountains is the only book I’ve read in years that made me feel like cheering. It left me uncomfortable, guilty, and exhausted—but it also inspired me, kept me up all night, and moved me to tears…Tracy Kidder has given us not only an unforgettable book but an unignorable life lesson. Hurrah!”
—Anne Fadiman, author of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down
