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This double memoir tracks the lives of two prominent physicians and brothers. Deepak and Sanjiv Chopra were born and raised in India, then came to America for postgraduate medical training. They became U.S. citizens, distinguished doctors, and influential figures. Big brother Deepak is an endocrinologist. His association with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and Transcendental Meditation is well chronicled. He finds his way to integrative medicine, advocates the mind-body connection, and embraces traditional Indian medicine (Ayurveda). Sanjiv is a gastroenterologist and faculty member at Harvard Medical School. Both men reflect on their Indian heritage, karma, dharma, and pursuit of the American dream. Brotherhood contains anecdotes about their childhood, immigration, families, and careers. Sanjiv blissfully recalls his introduction to America: watching television, eating at a diner, and catching falling snowflakes. But he especially remembers and savors the generosity and openness of the American people. Brotherhood is an uplifting account of sibling affection and success, and of the promise and infinite possibilities of America.--Miksanek, Tony Copyright 2010 Booklist

Publishers Weekly
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The Chopra brothers, two sons of a British-trained cardiologist in India, grew up to embrace both Eastern and-Western medicine in America. They charmingly recount their experiences in alternate, temperamentally uneven takes in this memoir. Deepak is enormously well-known as the disseminator of the Indian holistic practice of Ayurveda in the West, through his score of books (Perfect Health et al.) and medical practice; his younger brother, Sanjiv, is less known but no less revered as a practicing liver specialist, teacher at Harvard Medical School, and also an author (Leadership by Example). The two affectionately vie in telling their family stories, from growing up in the 1950s and 60s in an educated Hindu family in India, moving (according to the dictates of their father's career as an army doctor) from Pune, to Jabalpur, to Shillong to Delhi, attending the Irish Christian Brothers schools, forming their own cricket teams (Sanjiv was the better athlete, Deepak the scholar), and ultimately both resolving to study medicine-to the delight of their parents. Yet while each immigrated to New Jersey and then moved to Boston to study and pursue his specialty--with Sanjiv focusing on gastroenterology, Deepak on endocrinology-Deepak's immersion in Transcendental Meditation led by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi steered him back to traditional Indian practices, ironically. The bifurcated memoir depicts some fascinating aspects of Indian assimilation in America, and the often hilarious, touching cultural clash. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.