Sometimes I do not read "bestsellers" because I do not want to hop on the bandwagon. Then I end up reading them later, sometimes years later, then having to kick myself for not reading them sooner, because of course they were not bestsellers by accident, it is because they were fabulous books. This happened to me with the novel Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese, which I read recently for my book club. The book has been around since 2009 at which time I steadfastly ignored it. I can admit because I can admit when I am wrong that once I started it, I raced through it.
I can also admit that I have never, in any way had any interest in medicine. Really, truly, the insides of the human body hold no fascination for me. Now, this being said, I found the parts of this novel involving medicine to be enthralling. At the heart of the book is the story of Marion Stone and his twin brother Shiva, whose births result in the death of their mother and the running away of their father. They are raised in Ethiopia, specifically Addis Ababa, as the sons of a gynecologist and an internist. Interwoven with their personal story is the story of Ethiopia as ruled by Haile Selassie. However, as the hospital in which their parents work is rudimentary at best, Marion and Shiva spend a great deal of time there and learn much before setting foot in a medical school, which Shiva never does, though he works very successfully as a gynecologist specializing in fistula.
The novel is part historical fiction and part romance, though both of these elements are secondary to the medical story which is literal as well as metaphoric. Parts of the book read like non-fiction, but at no point was I too disgusted or bored to stop reading. Verghese has a way of making the medical details so integral to the story that the reader does not even realize it is happening. These details are interwoven in such a way that they are indispensible to the arc of the story.
To be a bit more concise. I loved this book!