Sunday, November 9, 2014

Cutting for Stone (Abraham Verghese)



Wow, what a journey I’ve been on for the past few months.  The cover of Abraham Verghese’s Cutting for Stone always caught my eye at the bookstore, but it wasn’t until recently that I picked it up.  It took a very long time to read, not just because it’s close to 700 pages, but also because the language is so beautiful that you just want to savor every moment of it.

Cutting for Stone begins with Sister Mary Joseph Praise and Thomas Stone as strangers on a ship.  They both end up in Addis Ababa, working at a hospital together, and secretly fall in love with each other.  Sister does not tell anyone that she is pregnant and dies giving birth to twins.  Stone doesn’t want anything to do with the babies who caused Sister’s death.  He simply disappears for years and years, and Hema and Ghosh (who also work at the hospital) raise the two boys as their own.  The reader literally follows the boys throughout their lives, from birth all the way up to their adult lives as doctors.  And believe me, you’ll be so glad you took this journey with them.

This is not a frivolous novel for the beach or vacation, but it will take you on a roller coaster ride, making you feel every emotion there is. I highly recommend Cutting for Stone for the gorgeous read it is.

MY RATING - 5