MY LATEST READING: CUTTING FOR STONE

Encouraged by the enthusiasm of my daughter, soon-to-be a medical student, I opened "Cutting for Stone" by Abraham Verghese. The three opening paragraphs of the Prologue were enough to hook me to the book and I simply could not put it down.
It is a story of love and betrayal, of medicine and miracles, of dedication and adventure, set in a mission hospital in Ethiopia and then in New York City.
Marion and Shiva are identical twins born of the secret love between a beautiful Indian nun and a British surgeon, whose odd personality and behavior can be understood only in the last pages of the book. Their mother dies in giving birth and their father, unable or unwilling to take care of the babies, disappears. The twins are raised by Hema and Gosh, two doctors also working at Missing Hospital, with extraordinary love and dedication. Inseparable and almost indistinguishable at the beginning, they develop very different personalities and gradually grow apart; never completely apart, though, because they always "know" when one is in need.
We follow them through childhood and adolescence, witness their deep but different fascination with medicine and share their sorrows and successes. The historic events in Ethiopia, from life under the Emperor, to the Eritrean revolt, to the Menghistu years, provide the background, but also play a role in determining the fate of the twins. Marion is the narrator and we follow him through medical school, an internship and residency in the Bronx and the surprising twists of his life in the US.
I see a series of circles in the story: something happens at the beginning, then events develop and you almost lose track of that beginning, but then comes closure, be it in love, family relationships or friendship. Even the unhappy ending seems somehow right, a form of closure too.
I must admit that I raced through the detailed descriptions of medical conditions and surgeries, of which there is a certain abundance. A bit too much for the non medically disposed. But not enough to deter from the beauty of the story!