Book Review

Last night five members of our book group met to discuss Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese. I and two others had read the whole thing (and loved it), and the other two had stopped after a couple hundred pages—one because she found it too slow-going and the other because she found it too sad and depressing. 

This is a big, sprawling novel, beginning in India, settling in Ethiopia, and finally making its way to the Bronx. It tells the story of identical twins who are quite literally separated at birth in order to be delivered alive. Their mother, an Indian nun working as a nurse at a missionary hospital, dies in childbirth (you find this out right away, so no spoiler alert needed); their presumed father, a British surgeon, flees the delivery room and vanishes. The boys are raised lovingly by two Indian doctors at the hospital, and both are destined for medical school.

But not so fast. All kinds of tragedies befall these kids and their loved ones, from a government coup to a disloyal childhood friend to a false accusation to a rebel army and so on. I had known next to nothing about the recent history of Ethiopia, and I certainly wasn't aware that there is (was?) both a sizable Indian immigrant population and a thriving "little Italy" there. Verghese grew up in Addis Ababa, son of Indian schoolteachers, as he tells in this brief video at Amazon.

Verghese is a doctor, and all of the main characters in the book are doctors, so it's no surprise that there's a ton of medical descriptions in the plot, which I found mostly fascinating and only a little bit squeamishy. The characters were very realistically drawn and believable, and if the plot relied a bit heavily on coincidences, I was able to forgive that for the sake of the overall story.

Most of all, I loved the writing. Verghese crafts beautiful sentences, paints pictures with his descriptions, creates realistic-sounding dialogue, and explains foreign concepts clearly. For a long book, I found it effortless to finish—indeed, a pleasure to read.

We're skipping August and don't yet have a book picked for September—any suggestions?

Comments

[Wendy]

How high-falutin' does it need to be? If not so very, I highly recommend Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie detective mysteries -- The first one is Case Histories, and I just finished the fourth, Started Early, Took My Dog. Won't suggest the new Hilary Mantel, as I seem to recall you didn't much care for Wolf Hall, which I loved. I read a lot of nonfiction, which may not be what happens in your book group . . .

[Nancy]

Is it a fiction-only group? Then "Gone Girl," Gillian Flynn's new book. I'll say no more; just read it.

If you're open to nonfiction, I can't say enough good things about "The Swerve," by Stephen Greenblatt, and "The Righteous Mind," by Jonathan Haidt. Both are guaranteed to generate lots of stimulating discussion--especially the latter.

P.S. I'm a Kate Atkinson fan but was disappointed by "Started Early..."

[Karen]

Wendy: I'm the only one in the group who wasn't blown away by Wolf Hall; I'm sure they'll all read the sequel, but not for book group. I will look into Kate Atkinson.

Nancy: I suggested Gone Girl last night! I keep hearing about it. We do switch off with nonfiction, so I'll take a look at the Greenblatt and Haidt.

Thanks!

[Deborah]

Nonfiction: Escape from Camp 14 by Blaine Harden.

Fiction : 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami. It's kind of a long slog - a little longer than I thought necessary - but I was so glad I finished it. It was published as 3 books originally; the eBook I read was the entire set.

[Stephanie]

I loved that BOOK!!! Right now I am reading YES CHEF by Marcus Samuelsson, and I am enjoying it. He was African born - adopted by a Swedish family and is a famous chef. I recommend it!

[Horpagospep]

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