“Cutting for Stone” by Abraham Verghese
I found myself in a bit of a pinch a few weeks ago. I’d instigated a 15 books in 15 days with 15 blogs challenge, but still had to read Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese for my book group (and while it wasn’t exactly my pick, it had been one I’d suggested. So I was responsible for me having to read it.) I was lucky to be able to borrow it from a friend, as the library queue was ridiculous. But at 670 pages, and with the 15 challenge going to April 30 and my book group the first week of May, I was feeling a little pressed. Fortunately for me, it was a fast read, and a good one, too.
The story is narrated by Marion Stone, a twin born under curious circumstances in an Ethiopian hospital.
After eight months spent in the obscurity of our mother’s womb, my brother, Shiva, and I came into the world in the late afternoon of the twentieth of September in the year of grace 1954. We took our first breaths at an elevation of eight thousand feet in the thin air of Addis Ababa, capital city of Ethiopia.
He and his brother grow up learning third world medicine while the political climate shifts unpredictably and often violently. More of a summary than this might spoil it. This is a sprawling tale that crosses the world, with romance, betrayal, intrigue, and magical realism. It had elements of soap opera to it, and elements of 19th century coming-of-age epics, like Great Expectations. Often lovely, frequently sad, this isn’t a light read, but it is an involving, fast-moving and deeply satisfying one.