Reviewed by Anna Brinkmann

Paul Farmer is an exemplary doctor, and Tracy Kidder is an exemplary writer. Together, they have created a moving, truthful, intense, and humorous book in Mountains Beyond Mountains. Farmer, who has dedicated his life to treating the poor of Haiti, and Kidder, a Pulitzer-prize-winning writer, are similarly upfront and truthful. They won’t let anyone off the hook, including themselves. Farmer won’t let us be complacent about the poor and challenges the ability of every First World inhabitant to ignore his or her own conscience when confronted by the horrendous suffering in the second and third worlds. “Some people would say things will get so bad that Haitians will revolt. But you can’t revolt when you’re coughing out your lungs or starving. Someone’s going to have to revolt on the Haitian’s behalf, including people from the wealthy classes,'' he says.

Kidder relentlessly examines each facet of Farmer’s personality and of his own reactions to Farmer. He writes: ''It still seemed to me that he took a stance all too conveniently impregnable. . . . Any criticism of him amounted to an assault on the already downtrodden people he served. But I knew by now he wasn't simply posing.” Farmer is a complete original: a Harvard doctor (and now professor) who has worn the same suit for the last 15 years, and wittily, almost joyfully, remarks on the world to his friends and family along the way. The narrative could have become preachy or heavy with such intense subject matter, but Kidder’s skills are too fine-tuned, and Farmer is too funny, to allow such a thing to happen. The book is clear, insightful, plain wonderful, and a joy to read.