Abscond

Abscond is a short story by Abraham Verghese that I downloaded to my kindle for free. I think I like this author’s writing, but his novels are LONG and therefore quite a commitment for me. I’m glad I made it through The Covenant of Water and need to decide whether to attempt Cutting for Stone. I worry I won’t have the stamina. 

After reading Abscond, I noticed the repetition of cultural themes in Verghese’s work. He clearly writes from what he knows, and much of that knowledge seems to revolve around Indian and Scottish idiosyncrasies, as well as an interest in academics and medicine. I recognized the similar subtleties of characterization in both of his stories, and I suspect the same will be true in Stone.

So in summary, Abscond was entertaining. The story centers on the life of 13-year-old tennis prodigy Ravi Ramanathan, during the summer of 1967 in New Jersey. The description on Goodreads begins, “Fate challenges a boy to find his place in the world …” Ironically, I felt there were some areas that could have been fleshed out more. In other words, think I would LOVE this author if his books were “just right” in length (like Goldilock’s porridge). Not too short and not too long :)