This delightful book , Cutting For Stone, by Dr. Verghese is truly a novel novel.
I question whether it is purely fiction or if perhaps it may contain the seed of a true familial history. Or perhaps legend. Several people from India travel to Ethiopia to work in a charity hospital several decades ago, during the reign of Haile Selassie.
Every possible human emotion is tenderly and viciously portrayed as the individuals encounter very real life in the conditions of northern Africa in the late 1940s and early50s. We find a vanishing doctor, a frighteningly out of date X-ray machine, A cherished and rare radio, a pregnant nun, peculiar medical conditions indemic to the African continent, abandoned children, loving foster care, magickal twins, female mutilation, and every odd take on religion you could imagine. And lots of love in many variant forms.
Not a thriller, but thrilling. Not a romance, yet romantic. Not a mystery, yet intriguing. Not a history book, yet historical.
I was not planning on reading it, because I was stuck within a couple of genres that were good escape reading, but Dr. Verghese himself stopped in to do a signing, and personally requested that I give it a chance. And so I did. And I am so glad. Thank you, Dr. Verghese for giving us all such a truly marvelous book.
Reviewed by Victoria
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