Review of "Cutting For Stone"

A CUT ABOVE THE REST

As a reader, I'm always in search of that book I would rate a "10" but, unfortunately, these books don't come around that often. Sure I've read books in the past year that I've given 5 stars to but their actual rating was less than a "10". They probably fell in the "8" or "9" range. I've read some really good mysteries this year but I rate them according to their genre so I don't really put them in the same category as good literature. I knew the second half of this year had some potential as three of my favorite authors, John Irving, Pat Conroy and Richard Russo, all have books coming out. But then I started hearing some buzz about this book, Cutting For Stone, so I thought I'd give it a try. It's not one I would have picked up on my own simply because the title was so weird. Cutting For Stone....what the heck is that? With the long 4th of July weekend looming before me, I knew I wanted to read something great and decided to take a chance with Verghese's novel. I'm so glad I did.

I've always been the type of reader that loves when an author takes me somewhere I've never been before and, while there, teaches me things I've never known. When they're able to do this teaching without preaching, it's an extra added bonus. I've never been to Ethiopia and I know I'll never go there. When I think of Ethiopia, I have visions of a totally undeveloped country. While I'm sure these visions are partially true, Verghese really opened my eyes to another part of the world in a country where medical teams still strive for perfection without the kind of money that easily flows into many of the hospitals of which we're familiar. Verghese's Ethiopia is filled with people who love their country and their food and their smells and their customs. And when a time comes that they leave their beloved country behind, they miss it as much as we would miss ours. Just recently, I was driving down a street in Manhattan and I saw an Ethiopian restaurant. Other than thinking that they surely have every single kind of restaurant in NYC, my other thought was, "Who would go to an Ethiopian restaurant?" After reading this book, it is clear to me how much business this restaurant probably gets from all of the people who have made their way to this country from Ethiopia and what a blessing it must be for them to get some real home cooking on foreign soil.

When you have an author who grew up in the country he's writing about, it makes everything seem so much more real as these are his real experiences. It reminded me of reading The Kite Runner by Hosseini and how much I got to learn about Afghanistan because it's where that author spent most of his life. In this case, not only did Verghese grow up in Ethiopia but he also became a doctor. The fact that a majority of this book takes place in a hospital lends itself to some more first hand knowledge from this very gifted author. Another part of the knowledge I amassed was about the politics of Ethiopia under the rule of Emperor Haile Selassie and the political coups during that time to try to take him down. I found this part of the book fascinating.

Before I give you the impression that this book has no story and it's just a learning experience about a country and its ruler, I have to say that it is every bit the story for which every avid reader is searching. It's a novel that's epic in scope and begins on a ship sailing from India to Yemen where a young nun meets a very seasick British doctor and is able to nurse him through that voyage. Some years later, they will meet again in a hospital in Ethiopia where she will become his right hand through every one of his surgeries. Until one day, she doesn't show up in the operating room and the real story begins. Twins are born, secrets are not revealed, lives are shattered and all of this will be narrated by one of the male twins...Marion. I am not even going to go into the entire summary of the book because too many other reviewers here have given too much away already. Suffice it to say that you will not be able to put it down. Every time I picked it up, I was wondering where each of these characters had been since I was last reading. The author does an amazing job of inserting you into their lives and developing characters you will come to love...Matron, the ruling nun of the hospital; Hema, the gynecologist; Ghosh her beloved husband and surgeon; Dr. Thomas Stone, head surgeon; Sister Mary Joseph Praise, his loyal assistant and the twins Shiva and Marion. I'm already making this review longer than I wanted so I'll leave the story there because I know you will be reading it yourself.

It's a tale of love and hope and desire and "enlightenment". I say enlightenment for two reasons. Clearly each of these characters will have their eyes opened in such a way that it will make a mark on their souls. But I can't help but think that there are some references to Buddha that can't just be coincidental. In two separate cases, the author has one character returning from prison...after 49 days of imprisonment...while he has another character becoming unconscious....after 49 days of the onset of an illness. This is the exact number of days (49) that Buddha meditated before he became enlightened. I would love to know if this was done intentionally.

Some other reviewers have stated that there were a lot of medical references and explanatons of surgeries that they found tedious. I found these fascinating. They were told in such a way that the lay reader could actually understand what the surgeon was doing. The book also opened my eyes to the importance of donations and how much these foreign organizations depend on us to keep them going. I'm always afraid that my money is not being used appropriately but it's clear to me now just how much these places rely on us to give them aid. My eyes were also opened to the fact that these foreign doctors come to America and never get interviews with the major hospitals which is why you'll find so many foreign doctors in remote areas of our country or hospitals where American doctors wouldn't think of working.

And how can I end without an explanation of the title...Cutting for Stone. It is part of the Hippocratic Oath taken by all doctors and it says..."I will not cut for stone, even for patients in whom the disease is manifest; I will leave this operation to be performed by practitioners, specialists in this art." So I guess the title wasn't that weird after all. The fact that one of the main characters has the last name "Stone" makes this title even more poignant. English Lit classes would have a field day analyzing this one. I'll just leave it at that.

I recently had a friend tell me that they had given up on reading books that had in excess of 500 pages. I can't understand this statement because most of my favorite books were definitely in that category. So what else can I say about the book that was clearly my favorite so far this year. I just wish there were more books like this and more authors who could tell a story like Verghese. All I can say is thank you for 534 pages of reading bliss.

5 out of 5 stars....It's a "10"