Cutting for Stone

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
Fiction/Literature
This is an emotional saga which I could not put down.

Twins Marion and Shiva are born conjoined at birth. Their mother dies during childbirth and their father abandons them. Marion and Shiva are separated and raised by Indian doctors who are practicing in a mission hospital in Ethiopia.

Verghese spins an amazing story of these twins. This story involves the culture of Ethiopia and India, the medical problems of an African hospital, revolution, and the emotional development and interaction of the twins.

Verghese has written an elegant tale which has many many layers and leaves the reader still thinking several days later.

I read this for my book club. What a wonderful book to discuss!

First Line: "After eight months spent in the obscurity of our mother's womb, my brother, Shiva and I came into the world in the late afternoon of the twentieth of September in the year of grace 1954."
Rating:
(4.5/5)